When Medtronic plc openly shared their Puritan Bennett™ 560 (PB560) ventilator plans back in April to help boost global ventilator production, the blueprints were downloaded more than 200,000 times across the globe.

The medical technology company was an early user of the Jig Workshop Pro commercial software, so assisting them create specific and high-quality 'Jigs' for 3D assembly and maintenance training guides was a great way we felt we could support the initiative.

These Jigs reduce the time it takes manufacturers to learn how to assemble, operate and maintain the ventilator specifications provided through the blueprints – an important consideration given the global ventilator demand and the complexity of the technology.

“What we saw with the public sharing of the ventilator design specifications was that for rapid ventilator manufacturing at scale, manufacturers needed a consistent 3D knowledge sharing solution. Our goal was to transfer knowledge as quickly as possible to help doctors and patients dealing with COVID-19” says CEO and co-founder of JigSpace, Zac Duff.

The 3D Jigs are viewed in augmented reality via an iPhone or iPad and allow manufacturing or healthcare partners to visually guide themselves through assembling specific components or operations in-situ with their relevant factory, lab or work environments.

“We understand the urgent need, across the globe, for ventilators as a life-saving device in the management of COVID-19 patients,” said Liz Carnabuci, vice president, Medtronic Australasia.

“No single company can meet the global ventilator demand alone. We are pleased to work with JigSpace to increase global ventilator manufacturing capabilities.”

About 7,000 manufacturers who downloaded Medtronic’s PB560 design plans are now using or going to use various AR training guides in Jig Workshop, with part of this success down to an easily accessible app, and not requiring additional hardware, unlike other expensive technologies. This has led to extensive usage in developing countries, as well as traditional manufacturing centres in OECD countries.

“We are seeing a maturation of how AR technology is applied due to COVID-19. Typical knowledge transfer processes have proved to be brittle in this new environment. JigSpace represents the future of how durable manufacturers collaborate, adapt and scale up complex supply chains," says Zac.

You can view the complete ventilator guides here https://workshop.jig.space/resources/medtronic-ventilator

It is easy to fall into the trap of under-selling when you manufacture products that are big, complex and expensive.

Unlike food or clothing manufacturers, who can send out samples to customers or distributors at a very low cost, heavy industrial manufacturers traditionally had to bring customers to their sites or transport their products to trade shows at great expense.

With today's reality of travel bans and supply-chain interruptions, this physical barrier has never been more pronounced.

Hino Motors USA - a Toyota Group company - uses Jig Workshop Pro to demonstrate class-leading vehicle and engine features to customers, and to train its USA dealer network on the latest product updates.

Hino produces all Class 6-7 conventional Hino Trucks for the U.S. market at its Williamstown, West Virginia plant, with its largest model checking in at 33,000 GVW (15 metric tones).

When Hino Dealer Operations in Michigan needs to get its national sales network across new product features, they have an engaging sales training tool that can bring these large and complex vehicles into any meeting or showroom - all with the touch of an app.

Hino Trucks marketing team have also found success with its franchised dealer network incorporating the AR presentations into their product and sales learning programs, thanks to the interactive and realistic spatial perspective they provide. Each dealer can learn in their own way, exploring visual, technical and marketing information in a self-directed format.

"The results were impressive and received a positive response from sales, training, executive management, our dealerships and customers. We would highly recommend working with JigSpace" says Dominik Beckman, Director, Marketing & Dealer Operations

By using JigSpace, Hino Trucks USA are able to effectively have all their products at every dealership, trade show, and sales pitch.

This is a big win for both Hino and the industry at large, enabling major cost reductions and sales opportunities.

Find out more about Jig Workshop Pro by clicking here 

How do you train remote communities to operate the latest drone technology, who have never seen an aeroplane up close or flown in one?

A piece of 3D software was the last thing Eric Peck, CEO of airborne logistics company Swoop Aero, thought he needed. But his mind quickly changed after seeing his CAD files get transformed into realistic and immersive presentations. Most importantly though was the ease and effectiveness in scaling this new way of learning out to hundreds of users on the ground.

For some of the most remote communities on Earth, getting access to life-saving vaccines is an ongoing challenge. In Vanuatu, an archipelago of 83 volcanic islands in the South Pacific, many children miss immunisations as their homes are so hard to reach. But with the help of drone technology and Jig Workshop Pro augmented reality (AR) app, that’s beginning to change.

In 2018, Swoop Aero, in conjunction with UNICEF and the Vanuatu Ministry of Health, launched the first medical drone delivery service in Vanuatu. Its first recipients were 13 children and five pregnant women on the remote island of Erromango. And to prepare them for this momentous landing, Swoop enlisted the help of JigSpace.

“As soon as Eric saw JigSpace, he asked us to help them solve a problem – how to educate and train people to use their drone technology,” says Zac Duff, co-founder and CEO of JigSpace.

The Kookaburra drone, as displayed in the Jig Workshop Pro app.

And that’s how Swoop Aero started their collaboration with JigSpace, converting their drone model from a standard STEP CAD file into a Jig. This Jig (3D model presentation) was to become a core part of the training for inhabitants of Vanuatu, including healthcare staff in the region. The Jig could accurately convey the size of the drone, how it would land and how to offload the cargo – right on the ground in front of them.

Peck says that this training method not only helped everyone involved feel more at ease with the drone, but also sped up the entire vaccine delivery process. 

“It’s allowed us to deliver the most cost-effective heath outcomes we can, and rapidly expand the number of recipients that we were able to train,” he says.

In 2019 Swoop Aero commenced delivery of medical supplies to other locations in Malawi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And in 2020 they will join forces with UK Aid to transfer TB samples via drones in Mozambique.

“Excitingly for JigSpace, the AR app is at the centre of all the training packages that we’re rolling out, everywhere we operate,” says Peck.

The AR training content is easily managed and kept up to date too. When engineering modifications are made to new Swoop Aero drone models, the CAD-based engineering content is easily updated from SolidWorks 2019 via the STEP format to Jig Workshop Pro which can be edited and formatted by operations or marketing staff.

The Jigs are instantly updated to healthcare workers in the regions who need to be aware of any changes to the drone instructions. Swoop Aero staff can also monitor the presentation of the Jigs to ensure they are being rolled out to the target communities by each local partner.

Another key Jig Workshop Pro feature for Swoop Aero was the offline mode, which enables healthcare staff to view or present the Jig content without an internet connection or with low-internet speeds which frequently occur in remote communities.

To find out more about Jig Workshop Pro, and how it can elevate your learning and development or product training, click here.

JigSpace is spatial presentations made easy and one of the world's top augmented reality apps - a platform to explore, create and share truly interactive, 3D knowledge for anything, whether you are a teacher, salesperson, designer or engineer.

The seeds of JigSpace were planted in 2014, when co-founders Zac and Numa met while teaching game development at a college in Australia.

As restless soon-to-be entrepreneurs they began prototyping a live teaching platform for virtual reality (VR), to give remote students the opportunity to learn alongside their classmates.

Initial results were extremely positive, but one thing stuck out:

"If we can learn in a 3D environment where anything is possible, why are we still using 2D resources?"

There was no simple way to easily create 3D knowledge.

The following week Zac took time off to prototype what he described as a “tool to make 3D instructions for anything” and JigSpace was born.

Zac Duff is the CEO and a co-founder of JigSpace, the platform for creating and sharing interactive, 3D instructions for anything. Zac hails from Tasmania, and spent a decade making award-winning video games across a range of platforms. As an artist, designer, and sometime engineer (when allowed), Zac has a wide range of expertise and takes a holistic approach to development.

Zac’s interests lie at the intersection of technology, learning, and art, and how we can use the latest advances in augmented reality or virtual reality to take our understanding of the world, and each other, to a whole new level.

Numa Bertron is the CTO and co-founder of JigSpace. With a background in both art and programming, he has spent the past 10 years turning code into beautiful visuals. From scientific visualisations to video games and educational apps, Numa loves providing elegant solutions to tough problems. He is a firm believer in releasing code often and iterating fast, prioritising putting new features in the hands of users. 

When he’s not working on JigSpace's augmented reality apps, Numa spends most of his time surfing and building awesome machines.