Separation plants for solid-liquid separation, soil washing plants or plants for processing sand, gravel and minerals: no matter what type of plant a Schauenburg customer was interested in, sales manager Norman Perten always faced the same problem until recently. In order for a prospective customer to get an idea of the product, an appointment had to be made at a construction site where the desired model was currently in use. A huge effort for the plant and mechanical engineering company from Mülheim an der Ruhr - in terms of time, organization and money.

Thanks to a VR solution from the Berlin start-up WeAre, such an appointment now takes place in a completely different way. "The meeting takes place at the customer's premises. I have everything I or one of my sales colleagues needs with me in a handy case," explains Perten. All he needs is a pair of VR glasses, a powerful laptop and so-called lighthouses to delimit the virtual space. The customer puts on the goggles and finds themselves in a realistic 3D model of the system. Daniel Hübner awaits him here for a joint inspection. The design engineer is responsible for the use of VR at Schauenburg. "The ability to make an appointment in virtual reality, regardless of whether the participants are in the same room or on a different continent, is a unique selling point that WeAre has over comparable systems," says Hübner.

One solution, many advantages

The improved sales opportunities are a decisive advantage that Schauenburg now benefits from thanks to the WeAre solution. Everyone who takes the glasses off after a virtual tour has a smile on their face, says Perten. "If we can offer customers such a positive and novel experience, it's naturally easier to get them excited about our product." However, the customer appointment is not the only application in which Schauenburg relies on VR. It is also proving to be a valuable sales tool at trade fairs.

Even the smallest system in Schauenburg's product portfolio is six meters long and two and a half meters wide. If such a system is to be exhibited at the bauma trade fair in Munich, for example, the transportation alone incurs high costs. In addition, a correspondingly large exhibition stand is required, which is also expensive. As a result, only a single model of the numerous different Schauenburg systems can be presented. "With the VR solution, we can show any number of different systems and save on transportation and stand costs at the same time," says Perten. "Of course, this is even more important for appearances at international trade fairs, for example in Dubai."

However, VR technology is not only suitable for presentation purposes. It can also be used in the planning and construction phase. Because the system already exists virtually, potential weak points can be identified even before it is built. Perten recalls a case in which corrections had to be made to a system for an Australian customer even after it had been installed. The reason for this was that the installed foot rail had to have a different dimension than in Germany in order to comply with Australian legislation. This entailed a great deal of effort at the time. "Today, we can simply invite the customer's safety officer into the virtual system so that they can identify any hurdles in advance. Unnecessary effort of this kind is therefore avoided."

Easy handling, optimum collaboration

As a design engineer, Daniel Hübner is responsible for creating the 3D models. He is particularly impressed by the uncomplicated handling of the application. "The native file from the 3D CAD program is simply dragged and dropped into the WeAre application, where it is automatically converted into the required format within a few minutes. The source program is irrelevant," he explains. The result is a 3D model that can be scaled and accessed as required, which also allows for exploded views or sectional views.

He is equally satisfied with the collaboration with the start-up's developers. Schauenburg passed on numerous suggestions to WeAre during the development phase. Many of these have already been implemented or will be included in one of the regularly published updates. The exchange between WeAre and Schauenburg is a continuous process so that the plant and machine manufacturers can also influence future innovations. For example, a model in which each individual part can be virtually "grabbed" and placed in a shopping cart is conceivable. An ERP connection could then be used to automatically order the corresponding part. At the moment, however, Schauenburg is very satisfied with the current status of the VR solution. "We are completely convinced and have already recommended the purchase to all companies in the Schauenburg Group," confirms Hübner.

Philipp Laufenberg, journalist from Bonn.