Last week saw Athlone software company, Mersus Technologies winning the ‘Best Training & Development Program’ category at the annual Irish Manufacturing Research, Manufacturing and Supply Chain awards, the government body for research in Ireland’s vibrant advanced manufacturing industries.
The award, sponsored by IBEC, recognises the excellence of Mersus’ enterprise softwareplatform ‘Avatar Academy’ which utilises virtual reality to train people in simulated work environments. Mersus, together with global Life Science leader, Boston Scientific were announced the overall winner in the face of stiff competition from fellow finalists.
The Avatar Academy platform digitised a highly sophisticated process, capturing and transferring tacit knowledge from the UK back to the Boston Scientific (BSCI ) site in Cork, during the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. The Avatar Academy platform uses computer gaming technology to recreate virtual laboratories and cleanrooms, allowing employees to familiarise themselves with a work environment and processes. By wearing a virtual reality headset, a trainee can experience and practice fully immersive training material, working at their own pace from any location, learning how to carryout any task. Immersive training allows for autonomy in the learning journey.
Gamification keeps people motivated while providing a continual learning experience. Key Performance Indicators measure success across the training experience. Immersive learning technologies can collect usage statistics ie. frequency of training, duration, completion, tasks performed, questions answered and monitor engagement levels (measured in terms of eye tracking, head movement, clicks,and other learner interactions ), while the analytics produced confirm that trainees achieve a deep level of understanding of the material.
“The training experience within Avatar Academy allows us to train people on complex chemical processes in a safe environment, allowing them to get used to the process, make mistakes safely before they are introduced to the actual environment where they will be carrying out the process,” Joe Devlin, Director of Process Development at Boston Scientific Cork, stated.
From their base in Golden Island, Mersus has developed this software platform which holds immense value for Life Science operations so prominent across Ireland. Skills training is in high demand, with many companies struggling to fill positions in ever-expanding operations. The strong demand for talent is driving competition, and transitioning new operators onto production lines faster is an attractive proposition for these companies.
You can find out more about how Mersus Technologies created AVATAR ACADEMY at AVATARACADEMY.IO or for a demonstration please call 0906465977.
