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Stepping Into the Industrial Metaverse

Manufacturers invest in digital transformation technologies as the foundation for an immersive plant floor experience.

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In social settings, the metaverse environments like Second Life, Meta Horizons (Facebook), and even Fortnite provide an entertaining way of connecting people in a virtual community. In manufacturing, the metaverse is also about connecting people, but it is focused on improving operational efficiencies, building new markets, and unlocking measurable value.

According to a recent report from Deloitte and the Manufacturing Leadership Council (MLC), a division of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the manufacturing industry is expected to be fundamentally transformed by the industrial metaverse.

The report, titled “Exploring the Industrial Metaverse,” was published in September 2023 as the result of an online survey of over 350 senior executives in the US manufacturing industry (not identified by segment). The survey was conducted in May followed by a series of executive interviews in June.

Before diving into the results, it would be helpful to understand how Deloitte and MLC is defining “industrial metaverse.” According to the report: “The industrial metaverse is the convergence of individual technologies that, when used in combination, can create an immersive three-dimensional virtual or virtual/physical industrial environment. As technology evolves, the industrial metaverse will likely allow access to these immersive 3D environments from any internet-connected device, including virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) devices, as well as smartphones, tablets, laptops, and equipment, from anywhere in the world.”

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