The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on the maintenance operations

i MASTER FINAL THESIS The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations Author: Nicola Pendezini Director / Co-director: Francesc Trisan Segui / Roberto Sala Examination session: Autumn, 2024/2025 Document: Report Degree: Master’s Degree in Technology and Engineering Management The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations ii iii Abstract Mixed Reality usage is growing fast and it’s spreading across many fields. The technology, which is a combination of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, is utilised by the users through visors to interact with useful tools around them. In particular, it can be applied to Facility Management operations, offering innovative solutions for interactive maintenance procedures, remote assistance, online technical inspections, troubleshooting and immersive training programs, among others. The thesis aims to find valuable analysis on the savings consequent to the usage of MR devices for FM operations, validating the use cases shared by CBRE Group and its account DEUTSCHE Bank. The latter are analysed and compared with the articles from the literature, in order to go back to the company and give relative insights and recommendations on the data they are retrieving, differently from what any previous studies have done. This is possible by performing a deep analysis of the use cases available from earlier research, which represents the first step of the study. The study identifies the key saving parameters to evaluate how much MR technologies enhance effectiveness and reduce the time and cost of FM operations. In particular, maintenance operations are stressed. The thesis includes both the benefits of using such a technology, remarking on the ones that the company is not considering, and the drawbacks, in particular comparing to alternative solutions. Thanks to the close collaboration with the CBRE Global XRS team, through meetings, surveys and interviews, also qualitative data are collected to show new evidence of the usefulness of such resources. In this part, the focus is on the innovative Industry 5.0 where the people's well-being is at the centre of the company. A step forward is carried out also taking into account the integration of IA in the MR devices, which is the next future step for this kind of device, to show how MR usage could become even more profitable. Finally, the results of the study are shared with the community, by preparing articles for IFMA España and Associació Catalana de Facility Management, to then present the results in Madrid and Barcelona. The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations iv Resumen El uso de la Realidad Mixta está creciendo rápidamente y se está extendiendo a muchos campos. Los usuarios utilizan la tecnología, que es una combinación de Realidad Aumentada y Realidad Virtual, a través de visores para interactuar con herramientas útiles a su alrededor. En particular, se puede aplicar a las operaciones de Facility Management, ofreciendo soluciones innovadoras para procedimientos de mantenimiento interactivos, asistencia remota, inspecciones técnicas online, resolución de problemas y programas de capacitación inmersiva, entre otros. La tesis tiene como objetivo encontrar análisis valiosos sobre los ahorros resultantes del uso de dispositivos de MR para operaciones de FM, validando los casos de uso compartidos por CBRE Group y su account DEUTSCHE Bank. Estos últimos se analizan y comparan con los artículos de la literatura, para volver a la empresa y brindar información y recomendaciones relativas sobre los datos que están recuperando, de manera diferente a lo que han hecho estudios anteriores. Esto es posible realizando un análisis profundo de los casos de uso disponibles en investigaciones anteriores, que representa el primer paso del estudio. El estudio identifica los parámetros clave de ahorro para evaluar en qué medida las tecnologías de RM mejoran la eficacia y reducen el tiempo y el coste de las operaciones de FM. En particular, se enfatizan las operaciones de mantenimiento. La tesis incluye tanto las ventajas de utilizar dicha tecnología, destacando aquellas que la empresa no está considerando, como los inconvenientes, en particular en comparación con soluciones alternativas. Gracias a la estrecha colaboración con el equipo de CBRE Global XRS, a través de reuniones, encuestas y entrevistas, también se recopilan datos cualitativos para mostrar nuevas evidencias de la utilidad de dichos recursos. En esta parte, la atención se centra en la innovadora Industria 5.0 donde el bienestar de las personas está en el centro de la empresa. Se está dando un paso adelante teniendo en cuenta también la integración de la IA en los dispositivos de RM, que es el próximo paso futuro para este tipo de dispositivos, para mostrar cómo el uso de la RM podría volverse aún más rentable. Finalmente, los resultados del estudio se comparten con la comunidad, mediante la elaboración de artículos para IFMA España y la Associació Catalana de Facility Management, para luego presentar los resultados en Madrid y Barcelona. v Acknowledgements I want to express my gratitude to all those who have supported me during my Master’s Degree path. I cannot start other than thanking my thesis director in Terrassa, Professor Francesc Trisan Segui, who I had the pleasure to meet during the first semester at UPC and has immediately transmitted his teachings, devotion and expertise on Facility Management, a spirit that has convinced me to work with you. Thank you for always being available and encouraging, even during the difficulties we have encountered. It was a pleasure to learn from you. Thanks to CBRE, DEUTSCHE Bank and all their members who freely decided to help me even when I was unceasing in demanding answers to my doubts. I would also like to thank Dr. Roberto Sala, my thesis director in Italy, whose academic expertise and support were very helpful in the completion of the study. Thank you for the quick replies and the suggestions that motivated me to reach higher standards of academic excellence. A heartfelt thanks to my family, whose support has been fundamental, especially in the most stressful periods. Thanks in particular to my mother, who has always supported me in my university studies, especially financially, and pushed me to go for experiences abroad that have opened many possibilities and helped me to mature. I am sure that I have repaid all the sacrifices you made and I promise that I will continue to do so. The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations vi Table of contents ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................. III RESUMEN................................................................................................................................................... IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................... V TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................................................. VI LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................................... VIII LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................................... VIII LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS / GLOSSARY ......................................................................................................... IX 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 PROJECT DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................. 1 1.2 SCOPE .......................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2.1 Deliverables ........................................................................................................................ 2 1.2.2 Milestones .......................................................................................................................... 2 1.2.3 Inclusions and Exclusions .................................................................................................... 3 1.2.4 Constraints ......................................................................................................................... 3 1.2.5 Assumptions ....................................................................................................................... 4 1.2.6 Stakeholders ....................................................................................................................... 4 1.2.7 Success Criteria ................................................................................................................... 4 1.3 REQUIREMENTS .............................................................................................................................. 4 1.4 RATIONALE – JUSTIFICATION OF THE NEED FOR THIS PROJECT ....................................................................... 5 2 BACKGROUND AND REVIEW OF THE STATE-OF-THE-ART ..................................................................... 6 2.1 VIRTUAL, AUGMENTED AND MIXED REALITY........................................................................................... 6 2.2 THE DEVICES ON THE MARKET ............................................................................................................. 8 2.3 THE CHOICE OF THE BEST DEVICE ........................................................................................................ 11 2.3.1 Microsoft HoloLens 2 characteristics ................................................................................. 16 2.4 THE INTEGRATION OF AI ON MR DEVICES ............................................................................................ 19 2.5 FACILITIES MANAGEMENT................................................................................................................ 22 2.6 MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS IN FACILITY MANAGEMENT ......................................................................... 23 2.7 WELL-BEING OF PEOPLE – MR SUPPORTS THE TRANSITION TO INDUSTRY 5.0 ................................................ 26 3 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................ 30 3.1 EXPLANATION OF THE METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 30 3.2 REVIEW OF THE STATE-OF-ART PROCESS ............................................................................................... 31 3.3 METHODOLOGIES ADOPTED ............................................................................................................. 32 4 CONSIDERATION AND DECISION REGARDING ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS .......................................... 35 5 MICROSOFT HOLOLENS 2 USE CASES ................................................................................................ 37 5.1 USE CASE 1: ANALYSIS OF THE SAVINGS OF EIGHT MANUFACTURING COMPANIES WITH EXPERIENCE USING MICROSOFT HOLOLENS 2............................................................................................................................................. 43 5.2 USE CASE 2: SANOFI REDUCES THE TRAINING TIME FOR NEW OPERATORS FROM EIGHT TO SIX WEEKS ................... 45 5.3 USE CASE 3: REMOTE-ASSISTANCE MAINTENANCE - A COMPARISON OF THE BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS OF THE HOLOLENS COMPARED TO TRADITIONAL TOOLS .................................................................................................. 46 5.4 USE CASE 4: BENEFITS MEASURED THROUGH INTERVIEWS ON 30 DIFFERENT INDIVIDUALS USING THE ARSGS. ....... 49 5.5 CBRE USE CASES ........................................................................................................................... 51 5.5.1 CBRE Group, Inc. and DEUTSCHE Bank .............................................................................. 51 5.5.2 CBRE use cases - Training .................................................................................................. 52 5.5.3 CBRE use cases - Remote Assist - Maintenance .................................................................. 53 5.5.4 CBRE use cases - Remote Assist – Installations ................................................................... 56 5.5.5 CBRE use cases - Inspections ............................................................................................. 59 5.5.6 CBRE use cases - Final analysis .......................................................................................... 64 vii 6 USERS’ FEELINGS ON MIXED REALITY, TOWARDS INDUSTRY 5.0 ....................................................... 66 6.1 INTERVIEW WITH A MICROSOFT HOLOLENS TECHNICAL LEADER USER: JOSÉ MANUEL BARRAGAN OF CBRE – DEUTSCHE BANK ..................................................................................................................................... 68 6.2 SURVEY ON USERS’ FEELINGS: CBRE TECHNICIANS REPORT THEIR THOUGHTS ON MICROSOFT HOLOLENS USAGE .... 71 7 BENEFITS AND DRAWBACKS OF MIXED REALITY ............................................................................... 81 7.1 RESUME OF THE BENEFITS OF MIXED REALITY AND MICROSOFT HOLOLENS ON FACILITY MANAGEMENT .............. 81 7.2 RESUME OF THE DRAWBACKS OF MIXED REALITY AND MICROSOFT HOLOLENS ON FACILITY MANAGEMENT .......... 82 8 BUDGET SUMMARY .......................................................................................................................... 84 9 ANALYSIS AND ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS ............................... 86 CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................................................................................... 89 APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................................. 91 A.1 ARTICLE AND PRESENTATION FOR IFMA ESPAÑA .......................................................................................... 91 A.2 ARTICLE AND PRESENTATION FOR ACFM (ASSOCIACIÓ CATALANA DE FACILITY MANAGEMENT) ................................ 95 A.3 INTERVIEW WITH A CBRE TECHNICIAN USING MICROSOFT HOLOLENS ............................................................... 97 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................ 100 The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations viii List of tables TABLE 1: COMPARISON BETWEEN VR, AR AND MR (AGAPE ET AL., 2024). ................................................................... 7 TABLE 2: VR DEVICES THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL FOR FM PURPOSES (AUTHOR'S OWN WORK FROM WEBSITES INFO). .................. 10 TABLE 3: AR DEVICES THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL FOR FM PURPOSES (AUTHOR'S OWN WORK FROM WEBSITES INFO). .................. 10 TABLE 4: MR DEVICES THAT MIGHT BE USEFUL FOR FM PURPOSES (AUTHOR'S OWN WORK FROM WEBSITES INFO). ................. 10 TABLE 5: COMPARISON OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF MR DEVICES (AUTHOR'S OWN WORK FROM WEBSITES INFO). ................. 13 TABLE 6: COMPARISON OF MICROSOFT HOLOLENS 2 AND MAGIC LEAP TWO STRENGHTS (AUTHOR'S OWN WORK). ................ 15 TABLE 7: COMBINATION OF SEARCH TERMS (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). .......................................................................... 31 TABLE 8: CATEGORIES OF HOLOLENS 2 APPLICATIONS (WIJESOORIYA ET AL., 2023). ....................................................... 39 TABLE 9: RESUME OF THE QUANTITATIVE BENEFITS IN THREE-YEAR TIME (ROGER NAUTH ET AL., 2023)................................ 45 TABLE 10: QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE COMPARISON HOLOLENS 2 – SMARTPHONE (VORRABER ET AL., 2020). ......................... 47 TABLE 11: BENEFITS OF MR FOR TRAINING. A COMPARISON BETWEEN CBRE AND THE LITERATURE (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). .... 53 TABLE 12: QUANTITATIVE SAVINGS OF THE BOILER ROOM REPAIR CASE (CBRE - CONFIDENTIAL). ......................................... 54 TABLE 13: QUANTITATIVE SAVINGS OF THE REMOTE REPAIR OF A MATRICAL TRACK SPRAYER CASE (CBRE - CONFIDENTIAL). ........ 55 TABLE 14: QUANTITATIVE SAVINGS OF THE GENSET CRITICAL OPERATION CASE (CBRE - CONFIDENTIAL). ............................... 56 TABLE 15: QUANTITATIVE SAVINGS OF THE SUPERVISION OF INSTALLATION OF CLIMATE CONTROL MACHINE CASE (CBRE - CONFIDENTIAL). ..................................................................................................................................... 57 TABLE 16: BENEFITS OF MR FOR REMOTE ASSIST – MAINTENANCE AND INSTALLATIONS. A COMPARISON BETWEEN CBRE AND THE LITERATURE (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ......................................................................................................... 58 TABLE 17: QUANTITATIVE SAVINGS OF THE PLANT ROOM INSPECTION CASE (CBRE - CONFIDENTIAL). ................................... 59 TABLE 18: QUANTITATIVE SAVINGS OF THE SITE VISIT FOR PWG MEETING CASE (CBRE - CONFIDENTIAL). ............................. 60 TABLE 19: QUANTITATIVE SAVINGS OF THE IT ROOM RISK ASSESSMENT CASE (CBRE - CONFIDENTIAL). ................................. 61 TABLE 20: QUANTITATIVE SAVINGS OF THE ROOFTOP AUDIT CASE (CBRE - CONFIDENTIAL). ............................................... 62 TABLE 21: BENEFITS OF MR FOR INSPECTIONS. A COMPARISON BETWEEN CBRE AND THE LITERATURE (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). 63 TABLE 22: QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE BENEFITS OF MIXED REALITY AND MICROSOFT HOLOLENS (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ......................................................................................................................................................... 81 TABLE 23: DRAWBACKS OF MICROSOFT HOLOLENS ON FACILITY MANAGEMENT (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ........................... 82 List of figures FIGURE 1: EXPECTED MILESTONES OF THE PROJECT - JUNE 2024 (AUTHOR'S OWN WORK). .................................................. 2 FIGURE 2: ACTUAL MILESTONES OF THE PROJECT - DECEMBER 2024 (AUTHOR'S OWN WORK). ............................................. 3 FIGURE 3: THE SWORD OF DAMOCLES WAS THE NICKNAME OF THE WORLD’S FIRST HMD (EVANS & SUTHERLAND – HISTORY, 2024). ................................................................................................................................................. 7 FIGURE 4: APPLE VISION PRO (APPLE VISION PRO WEBSITE, 2024). .......................................................................... 14 FIGURE 5: MICROSOFT HOLOLENS 2 (MICROSOFT WEBSITE - HOLOLENS SOLUTIONS, 2019). .......................................... 15 FIGURE 6: MAGIC LEAP TWO (MAGIC LEAP WEBSITE, 2024)................................................................................... 15 FIGURE 7: MICROSOFT HOLOLENS (MICROSOFT WEBSITE - HOLOLENS SOLUTIONS, 2016). ............................................. 16 FIGURE 8: THE ELEVEN CORE COMPETENCIES OF FACILITY MANAGEMENT (IFMA, 2022). ................................................ 22 FIGURE 9: MAINTENANCE TYPES CATEGORIZATION (SARJITO, 2020). .......................................................................... 24 FIGURE 10: CORE VALUES OF INDUSTRY 5.0 (XU ET AL., 2021). ................................................................................ 27 FIGURE 11: THE TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE (DEBNATH, 2023). ....................................................................................... 28 FIGURE 12: QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE FIELDS THE ARSGS ARE USED FOR (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ....................................... 40 FIGURE 13: QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE PRIMARY TASKS THE ARSG ARE USED FOR (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ............................. 40 FIGURE 14: THE GREATEST BENEFITS OBSERVED BY THE PARTICIPANTS THAT REPORTED AN IMPROVED PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK FROM CBRE CONFIDENTIAL RESOURCE). ....................................................................... 49 FIGURE 15: QUESTIONNAIRE ON THE COST SAVING OR REDUCTION IN ERRORS (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK FROM CBRE CONFIDENTIAL RESOURCE). .......................................................................................................................................... 50 FIGURE 16: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 1 OF THE SURVEY (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ............................................................ 71 FIGURE 17: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 2 OF THE SURVEY (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ............................................................ 72 FIGURE 18: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 3 OF THE SURVEY (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ............................................................ 73 FIGURE 19: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 4 OF THE SURVEY (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ............................................................ 74 FIGURE 20: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 5 OF THE SURVEY (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ............................................................ 75 FIGURE 21: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 6 OF THE SURVEY (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ............................................................ 76 ix FIGURE 22: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 7 OF THE SURVEY (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ............................................................ 77 FIGURE 23: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 8 OF THE SURVEY (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ............................................................ 78 FIGURE 24: ANSWERS TO QUESTION 9 OF THE SURVEY (AUTHOR’S OWN WORK). ............................................................ 79 List of abbreviations / Glossary AI Artificial Intelligence AR Augmented Reality ARSG Augmented Reality Smart Glasses ARSGS Augmented Reality Smart Glasses System BIM Building Information Modeling BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke CAVE Cave Automatic Virtual Environment CBRE Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis CEN European Committee for Standardization CMMS Computerized Maintenance Management System CO2 Carbon Dioxide COVID Coronavirus Disease CPU Central Processing Unit DE&I Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion DRAM Dynamic Random Access Memory EAM Enterprise Asset Management FM Facility Management FMM Facility Maintenance Management FOV Field of View GDPR General Data Protection Regulation GWS Global Workplace Solutions HMD Head-Mounted Display HVAC Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning IE Industrial Edition IFM Integrated Facility Management IFMA International Facility Management Association IoT Internet of Things IPD Interpupillary Distance IVAS Integrated Visual Augmentation System MAIA Mixed-Reality Artificial Intelligence Assistant MP Megapixels MTBF Mean Time Between Failures MTTR Mean Time to Repair MWC Mobile World Congress The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 6 2 Background and review of the state-of-the-art This chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge, research and developments related to the field of study. The aim is to present the context after the revision of the relevant literature, and to explore the challenges that the thesis wants to address. Starting from the identification of the best of the Extended Realities, the focus will move to the devices available on the market, to then identify the most appropriate for the study, Microsoft HoloLens. Finally, a review of Facility Management, especially of maintenance processes, and of the transition to Industry 5.0 is necessary as a theoretical introduction for the explanations of the next chapters. 2.1 Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality The recent innovations in the field of computer science have brought a big improvement of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) technologies. To include the three different technologies, a broader term has been introduced, called XR which stands for Extended Reality. XR includes all the real and virtual environments combined where humans and computer-generated images interact. The differences between VR, AR and MR are slight, but very important to be explained. Virtual Reality is “an immersive, completely artificial computer-simulated image and environment with real-time interaction” (Sim et al., 2016). VR allows users to feel present and interact in a virtual world. The environment is created with the help of computer technology and involves the use of VR headsets to create an artificial and immersive virtual environment around the user, completely excluding the real world (Agape et al., 2024). Furthermore, VR has the characteristic of recreating environments or circumstances that may be impossible to have in the real world (Nguyen and Dang, 2017). The fields of applicability are many, from video games, training simulators in different environments, learning experiences (medical, aviation, military, but also to practice a normal job) and entertainment applications (Agape et al., 2024). Augmented Reality is “the concept of digitally superimposing virtual objects on physical objects in real space so that individuals can interact with both at the same time” (Azuma, 1997). Computer-generated images are overlaid on normal real-world images and then displayed typically on tablets, computers, projectors or special glasses (Tepper et al., 2017). We find this technology in applications for location and object recognition on mobile devices, in games, but also in assistance in medical or engineering fields (Xiong et al., 2021). With the evolution of the technology in the recent years, experts agree that every organization needs an augmented reality strategy (Porter and Heppelmann, 2017). 7 Mixed Reality is a combination of the two, created by mixing the physical world with the digital one. In the recent years, it is the technology that has attracted more attention from the companies and the public, thanks to its fewer limitations; in fact, opposed to VR, it allows to have the representation of the real world around the user, and, as well as AR, it allows to interact with overlaid 3D images (Morimoto et al., 2022). There are plenty of cases where MR is used with success: interaction between the environments of research, observation, surveillance, execution and information; helping the decision-making of the surface team and their command to the team in the working environment; design applications and engineering to test prototypes in simulated and real environments; conducting trainings and simulations involving the integration of virtual and real environments (Gyawali, 2023). Table 1 resumes the main differences between the three Extended Realities. Table 1: Comparison between VR, AR and MR (Agape et al., 2024). Factor Virtual Reality Augmented Reality Mixed Reality Interaction Completely virtual, not related to the real world Overlaid of virtual elements on the real world Simultaneous interaction with virtual and real elements Presence Intense sense of presence in a fully virtual environment Interface between physical and virtual world Concurrent experience of real and virtual environments Use Simulation, immersive games, specialized training Mobile application, training, support in various fields Interactive training, design and engineering Let’s have a brief look at the history of MR. The foundations of Mixed Reality can be found back to Ivan Sutherland, who in 1968 conceptualized “The Ultimate Display,” a simulation that could replicate reality. Sutherland then developed the first head-mounted display (HMD), showed in Figure 3. This device, quite rudimentary, displayed simple wireframe rooms that users could interact with and is considered a precursor to VR and AR technologies (Evans & Sutherland - History, 2024; Sutherland, 1968). Figure 3: The Sword of Damocles was the nickname of the world’s first HMD (Evans & Sutherland – History, 2024). The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 8 Other important steps have been carried out by Steve Mann’s work on mediated reality in the 1970s. Mann’s research focused on augmenting human perception through digital overlays in the real world (Mann, 1999). During this decade and the following one, many signs of progress were made to improve the integration of human and computer (HCI) with simulation technologies. The already existing flight simulators, as well as other training tools, began to integrate the first prototypes of AR by overlaying information on real-world views. Starting from this idea, Paul Milgram and Fumio Kishino introduced the Reality-Virtuality continuum in 1994. This continuum defined the spectrum between the real environment and the fully virtual environment and placed the new word “Mixed Reality” between AR and VR (Milgram et al., 1994). In the same 1990s, Thomas Caudell and David Mizell (working for Boeing) developed the first optical see-through HMD (Caudell and Mizell, 1992). Coming to the new millennium, also the military forces began using MR technologies, mainly for training and for general simulation purposes. An example is the helmet used by the pilots for the famous fighter jet F-35, which was integrated with the displaying of critical flight data alongside the pilot's view of the real world, improving the awareness of the hazards and the situation around them during the flight. The devices started to be used also in the industries, even with their limitations. Companies in automotive manufacturing started to use MR for the design of the parts of the vehicles. From the 2010s the development of the devices has experienced a rapid growth. This was due to the release of Google Glass in 2012, which brought a lot of interest in the tech sector, even if it didn’t achieve the expected results in the market (Montagna, 2023). The success was obtained by Microsoft that, in 2015, released Microsoft HoloLens, an MR device that allowed users to see and interact with holograms in the real world, making a significant step forward regarding the innovation of the product (Carter, 2024). Since then, a lot of products have been available on the market, each of them with different uses and characteristics. In the next paragraph we are going to analyze them in detail. 2.2 The devices on the market In general, there are many devices that can be used for VR/AR/MR purposes. They are categorized based on their type (Gleb and Oleksandra, 2020; Yatsuta, 2023). 9 Head-Mounted Displays (HMD): wearable devices that place a display in front of the user's eyes, creating an immersive visual experience. E.g., Microsoft HoloLens. Heads-Up Displays (HUD): the information is projected on a transparent screen in the user's field of view, commonly used in aviation and automotive. Smart Glasses: wearable glasses that can overlay information on the real world, often used for AR applications. Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE): installations of the size of a room with multiple projection screens that surround the user, providing an immersive VR experience without the need for wearable displays. Projection-Based AR Systems or Spatial AR Devices: projectors to overlay digital images on physical surfaces in the surrounding environment. They are usually adopted for interactive exhibits. Handheld Devices: devices like smartphones and tablets that use their cameras and screens to create AR experiences by overlaying digital content in the real world the users frame. Glove Controllers and Haptic Devices: provide tactile feedback and track the movements of the hands to get an immersive experience. In particular, there are various devices launched by different tech companies, including wellknown ones. Each device usually deals with one of the three extended realities, but they might also cover more than one. For the purpose of our study, we’ll focus on those devices that are most popular on the market. In the tables below, we list the devices, by dividing them based on their “type of reality” usage, i.e. VR, AR and MR. Note for the reading of Table 2-4: prices are reported from the 2024 US market and are pretax, meaning that they do not include any applicable taxes. Taxes will be added at the point of sale. Prices are taken from the manufacturers’ websites. Some devices are sold with different options on the internal memory capacity; in this case, it was taken the lowest price available. The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 10 Table 2: VR devices that might be useful for FM purposes (author's own work from websites info). Device name Company Release date Price (2024) Meta Quest 3 (it follows Oculus Quest 2) Meta October 2023 $499 pre-tax Pimax Crystal Light Pimax May 2024 $699 pre-tax Pico 4 Pico October 2022 $430 pre-tax Table 3: AR devices that might be useful for FM purposes (author's own work from websites info). Device name Company Release date Price Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 Google May 2019 $999 pre-tax Microsoft HoloLens 2 Microsoft November 2019 $3500 pre-tax Xreal Air 2 Ultra Xreal July 2024 $699 pre-tax Vuzix M4000 Vuzix November 2020 $2500 pre-tax Xreal AIR 2 Ultra Xreal January 2024 $699 pre-tax Table 4: MR devices that might be useful for FM purposes (author's own work from websites info). Device name Company Release date Price Microsoft HoloLens 2 Microsoft November 2019 $3500 pre-tax Magic Leap Two Magic Leap September 2022 $3299 pre-tax Apple Vision Pro Apple February 2024 $3499 pre-tax It is impossible not to mention the latest news from Meta. In October 2024, Mark Zuckerberg, the president of the company, announced and showed to the world the new prototype of most innovative Augmented Reality glasses which might be launched to the market in the future. In their prototype, the glasses include all the best features of the other device in a very simple pair of glasses, very similar to the normal one that people wear every day. Its limitation is the cost to produce it, which is estimated to be around $10,000 and therefore out of the market (Meta, 2024). 11 2.3 The choice of the best device Our objective is to select the device that best integrates with Facility Management operations. To choose it, different criteria have to be considered: ease of use, field of view, processing power, connectivity, audio and video quality, compatibility with other systems, battery durability, weight, etc… (Adamska, 2023). Obviously, the evaluation varies based on the different implementation each organisation would do. Before selecting the device that would best fit for the various types of FM operations, we start by deciding between the three extended realities. The choice goes definitely on Mixed Reality; this technology gives a more complete comprehension of the environment compared to VR and AR, by combining the digital world with the real one. VR is excluded because the user is alone in a virtual world and there won’t be the possibility of remote assistance. AR, instead, does not allow a complete interaction with the “virtual objects” around the user, something that gives to MR a huge advantage (Agostinelli and Nastasi, 2023). Once Mixed Reality is found as the best solution for FM operations, the next step is to identify the most appropriate device. To do so, we describe the most important characteristics that a device should have, analysing the criteria we mentioned before. Starting from evaluating the ease of use, it is important to specify the difference between tethered and untethered devices. The devices differentiate based on a characteristic that is really important for their usage. In fact, some of them, require the connection to a computer or a phone in order to work, while many others are completely independent (standalone or untethered) (Brown, 2024). Connected (tethered) headsets usually have graphics of higher quality and a wider field of view but they are less mobile because they need a cable connection to the operating platform (SphereGen, 2023). On the contrary, standalone headsets don't need any connection since they rely on an internal CPU and various sensors to provide the Mixed Reality experience. As said, these headsets are more mobile and convenient to use, however, they usually have graphics of lower quality and a narrower field of view, being less powerful than a computer (Bailey et al., 2022). For FM purposes, so to consider a headset for a work environment, standalone headsets are a great advantage because they allow users to work hands-free while experiencing a The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 12 visual display. The only fatigue can be represented by the weight of the device (SphereGen, 2023), that is obviously higher for untethered devices. Another very important criteria is the field of view. The FOV (Field Of View) is basically the angle of view that the user can see with the device worn through the lenses (in Table 5: ‘hz’ means horizontal view, ‘vt’ vertical view, ‘dg’ diagonal view). Keep in mind that this value does not mean that the user is blind outside the lenses screen. This characteristic is very important for the choice of a device. A higher field of view is not only better for navigation (i.e., when walking) and immersion, but it also allows to avoid turning the head in constrained conditions, and just move the eyes to look where needed (Ren et al., 2016). A wider view possibility (i.e., hz, vt and dg) improves especially the awareness for the user. This point is the most important factor for maintenance activities; in fact, due to safety reasons, having a wider view allows the operator to be conscious of most of the environment around him, reducing the risk of mistakes due to visibility (Gagnon et al., 2021; Park et al., 2021). A wide FOV also has a significant impact on task completion time and performance (Ren et al., 2016). This factor is significant in the decision on the best device for the facility management operations. Video and audio quality are also fundamentals. On the video side, it comes naturally to look for a better resolution of the screen. But this is not the only factor that affect the user’s view; also the refresh rate (frequency), pixel density, colour accuracy and latency are important. Finally, the implementation of the eye tracking (and its accuracy) is a real advantage for a device (Nguyen et al., 2023). As was mentioned, also comfort and ergonomics are important. Since the device is studied for an extended usage, its weight and its general comfort are an important point to reduce the fatigue of the user (Gagnon et al., 2021). Durability is a factor to be also considered. Thinking about the usage for maintenance operations, the device would face tricky conditions. The most famous companies are typically a synonym of reliability. Still imagining a situation of usage for maintenance purposes, and in general in the FM areas, a good battery life would be preferred; in fact, the device might be used for an entire 13 shift during the day and the need for a long duration of the battery or for the possibility to swap batteries is crucial to avoid stops and guarantee continuity (Salman and Ahmad, 2023). The last two criteria that again deal with the reliability that a big manufacturer can guarantee are the compatibility with existing software solutions (and easy integration with facility management systems) and the support and regular updates by the seller, to ensure the device remains functional and secure over time (Chung et al., 2018). In the following Table 5, the available most important characteristics are reported (Apple Vision Pro Website, 2024; Magic Leap Website, 2024; Microsoft Website - HoloLens 2 specifications, 2024). Table 5: Comparison of the characteristics of MR devices (author's own work from websites info). Device name Type FOV Display resolution Weight Battery durability Microsoft HoloLens 2 Standalone 43° hz 29° vt 52° dg 1440 x 936 per-eye 566 g 2-3 hours of active usage (2 weeks of standby time) Magic Leap Two Standalone 44° hz 53° vt 70° dg 1440 x 1760 per-eye 260 g 3.5 hours of active usage (7 hours in sleep mode) Apple Vision Pro Standalone Not official but wide 3660 x 3200 per-eye 650 g 2 hours of general usage The table contains some factors that can help to the identification of the best headset for FM usage. But there are many other characteristics that should be considered. Let’s compared directly the three devices. Even if the recently released Apple Vision Pro’s characteristics look very good for the market, this device is not indicated to be used in the workplace. In fact, the headset was primarily developed for gaming purposes. It is great for watching movies, viewing 3D videos, and using it as a display for a Mac, but people have struggled to find a day-to-day use for it. Moreover, the user does not directly see the real world with his/her eyes, but some cameras project the surroundings on the screen in front of the eyes (Figure 4); this is not ideal when working with machinery in harsh environments, where the perception of reality is very important for safety reasons. These factors lead to its exclusion from the analysis (Porter, 2024). The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 14 Figure 4: Apple Vision Pro (Apple Vision Pro Website, 2024). On the other side, Microsoft HoloLens 2, is specifically indicated for enterprise purposes, focusing more on productivity and training. Thanks to its advanced handand eye-tracking with 1-MP Time-of-Flight depth sensor and infrared cameras, it provides a very good experience for professional users. Also the Azure Cloud storage is a strength of American company’s device (Stewart, 2024a). Moving to Magic Leap Two, there are two characteristics that are visible: the wide FOV and the low weight. The difference in weight with the competitors is huge; it weighs less than the half of the HoloLens, which is lighter than the Apple Vision Pro. This lightless makes Magic Leap Two extremely comfortable, reducing long-time fatigue. But it’s not over. Magic Leap Two is equipped with a robust AMD processor (while HoloLens 2 relies on an older Qualcomm processor), allowing the device to efficiently run intensive applications, also thank to its 14 processing cores (the HoloLens has only 8 cores). Magic Leap Two excels in the quality of the display, having a higher resolution and leads regarding the refresh rate (120 Hz vs 60 Hz). However, it’s important to underline that Magic Leap 2 has a closed system, which mean that is not easy to integrate with other existing systems, which is instead a main strength of the HoloLens. The latter can provide a versatile choice for a wide range of enterprise applications (e.g., Microsoft Teams, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Edge, etc…) that are developed directly from the software giant and are a guarantee of reliability and security. The Magic Leap’s device uses environmental coloration for tracking, while the HoloLens is adept at saving various spatial environments online, simplifying multi-user experiences. This is a good point in favour of the HoloLens, since multi-user experiences are requested by the organisations (Cureton, 2023; Kalipatnapu, 2023). As state by (Pii, 2023), the great advantage on the characteristics of Magic Leap Two are the three-year difference of development, since it was released in 2022, three years later than Microsoft HoloLens, which is becoming a device to be upgraded. 15 Table 6: Comparison of Microsoft HoloLens 2 and Magic Leap Two strenghts (author's own work). Microsoft HoloLens 2 Magic Leap Two Advanced handand eye-tracking Large FOV 1-MP Time-of-Flight depth sensor High display quality Infrared cameras High refresh rate Open system Low weight Integrable with Microsoft applications Long battery durability Manufacturer’s name is a source of reliability Robust processor Simplified multi-user experience Three-year technology development advantage To conclude, Magic Leap Two is more indicated for those professionals who are looking for visual clarity, having a very good quality of the display, and comfortability, for its lightness (Brise, 2024). What, ultimately, advantages Microsoft HoloLens 2, beyond the strengths just described, is a characteristic that is not visible on the technical specifications’ tables, but from the picture of its shape (Figure 5). Differently from Magic Leap Two (Figure 6), the HoloLens allows the user to be aware of what is happening laterally, having no barriers to impede the eye to look outside the lenses FOV. As mentioned before, this is crucial for FM purposes, in particular during maintenance procedures; the safety of the employees in an organisation is a primary objective (Lang, 2022). Figure 6: Magic Leap Two (Magic Leap Website, 2024). Figure 5: Microsoft HoloLens 2 (Microsoft Website - HoloLens solutions, 2019). The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 22 operations through content and holograms overlaid to the real world (Cheng, 2023; Microsoft Website - HoloLens and AI, 2019). AI enhances Mixed Reality systems basically in all the fields and, since it keeps innovating, it will bring MR to new horizons in the next years. 2.5 Facilities Management In this chapter, an introduction on Facility Management is dutiful, in order to understand what it includes. Facility Management includes a wide range of activities which objective is to ensure the functionality, efficiency and safety of workplace and people. Therefore, it not only includes the physical building and assets but also the services and processes that support the business of a company. The International Facility Management Association (IFMA) defines Facility Management as “an organizational function which integrates people, place and process within the built environment with the purpose of improving the quality of life of people and the productivity of the core business” (IFMA, 2024). The Facility Manager is the position of the person who has to master various core competencies, such as Leadership and Strategy, Occupancy and Human Factors, Performance and Quality, Technology Management, Finance and Business, and many others, as indicated in Figure 8. Figure 8: The eleven core competencies of Facility Management (IFMA, 2022). 23 One of the core competencies of a Facility Manager is Operations and Maintenance, which deals with the implementation of comprehensive strategies to run and keep the physical assets in the best condition. 2.6 Maintenance Operations in Facility Management Maintenance operations are a critical subset of Facility Management. For this reason, the specific term Facility Maintenance Management (FMM) has been utilised to describe all the activities related to the field, which regard “the planning, organization and execution of work that maintains and optimizes the functioning of buildings, equipment and grounds” (IFMA, 2024). In practice, FMM focuses on buildings and their systems, such as HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning), electrical, mechanical, plumbing, security and antifire systems, among others. An effective Facilities Maintenance Management is crucial to optimize performance, minimize machine downtime and maximize the longevity of the assets; it can be applied to both a single asset and a large complex infrastructure. Let’s study in deep these crucial activities, as detailed by (Ensafi and Thabet, 2021). Effective FMM aims to extend the life of the assets. Each asset, which could be a machinery or the facility in general, is an investment for the company. The role of FMM is to protect and preserve the value of these assets over time, by doing the proper maintenance operations, which can positively impact the asset value, the leasing opportunities and the overall asset portfolio performance. Thanks to the implementation of predictive maintenance management practices (which are explained at the end of the paragraph), companies identify and address issues even before the asset or the machine breaks or fails, saving the cost and the time for its emergency repair. A well-maintained facility contributes to operational efficiency. When the equipment and the systems are in optimal condition, disruptions are minimized and so productivity is improved, allowing the business to deliver products or services quickly to satisfy the customers. A safe environment is also needed for the health of the workers. An effective FMM guarantees compliance with safety regulations, standards and protocols, reducing the risk of accidents and injuries not only for the employees who regularly attend the workplace, but also for customers and visitors. The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 24 Finally, efficient maintenance practices contribute to the sustainability of a facility, thanks to the optimization of the usage of energy and the reduction of waste, minimizing the environmental impact of the activities. As standardized by the (CEN - European Committee for Standardization, 2001), maintenance operations can be categorized into two main types: preventive maintenance and corrective (or reactive) maintenance. Moreover, these two categories include their subsets, as represented in Figure 9. Figure 9: Maintenance types categorization (Sarjito, 2020). Preventive maintenance involves scheduled inspections, cleaning, lubrication and adjustments when the asset is still functioning (e.g., running or rest conditions) to prevent its failures and extend the asset life. It basically aims to identify and address potential issues before they cause a disruption. Preventive maintenance can be either time-based (i.e., scheduled) or usage-based (e.g., every 1000 km) (Molęda et al., 2023). A typical example Is the periodical check of the air pressure of the car’s tyres to ensure a normal wear and avoid abnormal values that may cause an accident; or, in a similar way and valid for a lot of machinery, the regular check of the liquids levels. Corrective (or reactive) maintenance, on the contrary, focuses on fixing the assets or the system failures when they occur. Its objective is to restore the functionality of the asset and minimize downtime and therefore the breakdown costs (Molęda et al., 2023). There is a very nominated subset of preventive maintenance that represents an innovation and is considered by some papers as the third maintenance type, which is predictive maintenance. Predictive maintenance utilizes advanced techniques such as data analytics, sensors and 25 condition monitoring to predict when maintenance should be performed. By analyzing the assets performance trends and patterns, predictive maintenance allows organizations to anticipate and address maintenance needs, optimizing resource allocation and minimizing costly downtime (Schmidt and Wang, 2018). By the way, it is not very adopted yet, due to the effort to gather and analyse the data, which makes sense only if the company is interested in predicting where, when and which components may fail in the future (Achouch et al., 2022). For the two main types, preventive should be the most adopted, with an ideal proportion of 80% preventive and 20% corrective, due to the economic advantage of reducing machine downtime, maintenance costs and penalties (Soralink, 2022). On the other side, most of the companies do not have a budget for preventive maintenance and prefer to act only when a failure occurs. In fact, in reality, beyond the mandatory tests and inspections (e.g., for critical equipment such as boilers and chillers), the majority of maintenance activities are corrective, simply responding to users’ complaints or unplanned failures (Bouabdallaoui et al., 2021). Some papers mention also another type of maintenance, called urgent maintenance or emergency maintenance (Dui et al., 2024; Osmani et al., 2020), which is considered integrated into corrective maintenance by the standards, in particular in the “immediate maintenance” subset (CEN - European Committee for Standardization, 2001; Erbiyik, 2022). Preventive maintenance is also further divided into condition-based maintenance and predetermined maintenance. The first one is a preventive maintenance strategy where maintenance actions are performed based on the actual condition of the assets, which is determined through continuous monitoring and analysis. Predetermined maintenance is, instead, a preventive maintenance strategy based on fixed time intervals without considering the actual condition of the assets; this strategy can lead to unnecessary maintenance and increased costs (“over-maintaining”) (Jimenez et al., 2020). Companies use various processes and techniques to decide which equipment to include in maintenance plans, how to schedule maintenance and how to manage materials needed. The correct implementation of these strategies depends on controlling, documenting and continuous updating of the data related to assets’ repair history (Molęda et al., 2023). Usually, these data are stored in the Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS), which is part of the broader Enterprise Asset Management (EAM). The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 26 The CMMS, in fact, is a maintenance-based software utilized to plan, schedule, manage and monitor maintenance activities related to equipment, machinery or other facilities and services. Its application in the industry allows to increase organization, productivity and safety. CMMS can help to apply effective maintenance strategies, by, for example, assisting to identify the critical assets to which maintenance should be prioritised and assessing their performance, safety and expected life. It Is also useful to monitor maintenance KPIs, such as the Mean Time to Repair (MTTR), the downtime and the Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) (Shankar et al., 2023). In this context, the Internet of Things (IoT) and AI are great tools to empower CMMS applications. The IoT is the connection of the physical devices (e.g. sensors, machinery, vehicles, etc.) between each other and the internet, which are capable of collecting and transmitting data, generating a huge amount of real-time values about various aspects of the physical environment, such as temperature, humidity, pressure, etc. The data collected by the installed devices are usually sent to the CMMS, which is in charge of automatically updating asset lists, monitoring equipment health and generating alerts or alarms when problems or anomalies are detected that may require maintenance. However, with the continuous increase of data collection, CMMS may signal multiple types of faults, leading to a heavy burden on the system. To address the problem, AI has been implemented to filter the data, analyze them and prioritize failure alarms, among others (Liu et al., 2022). Furthermore, by leveraging on AI algorithms (e.g., machine learning and predictive analytics), CMMS can predict equipment failures, optimize maintenance schedules and automate asset management processes (Shankar et al., 2024). 2.7 Well-being of people – MR supports the transition to Industry 5.0 If the Internet of Things and AI were the main topics of the fourth industrial revolution, whose goal was the digitalization and automatization of operations, Industry 5.0 places greater emphasis on the role of humans and their well-being in the production process. Industry 5.0 focuses on three fundamental values: human centrality, sustainability and resilience (Figure 10), as published by the European Commission (Breque et al., 2021) and explained also by (Xu et al., 2021). 27 Figure 10: Core values of Industry 5.0 (Xu et al., 2021). The new human-centric approach places the needs and interests of the person at the centre, switching from a technology-centric approach (Industry 4.0) to a completely society-centric approach (Industry 5.0). Workers should no longer be seen as a cost for the companies, but as an investment. The European Commission refers to “Technology at the service of people and societies” (Breque et al., 2021), meaning that the technology used has to adapt to the needs and diversity of workers. Companies should create a good work environment, in order to prioritise physical and mental health and well-being, guaranteeing the workers’ rights, such as autonomy, human dignity and privacy. Moreover, industrial workers must be continuously trained to improve their skills for better career opportunities. The industry has to be sustainable to respect and maintain the planet. It should develop circular processes to recycle the natural resources, reduce the waste and the environmental impact and lead to a circular economy with improved resource efficiency and effectiveness (Narkhede et al., 2023; Patyal et al., 2022). Finally, resilience refers to the need to develop a good robustness for the organizations; companies have to be ready to face difficulties by having the ability to save the infrastructures in times of crisis. They must be resilient to be able to deal with geopolitical changes and natural emergencies, as it has been during the COVID-19 crisis, and quickly overcome them (Leng et al., 2023). The worker also plays a fundamental role; in fact, the concept of "Resilient Operator 5.0" was introduced to indicate a competent operator who uses human creativity, ingenuity and innovation to overcome obstacles, create new solutions and ensure the continuity of The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 28 production activities and the well-being of the employees, especially in difficult and unexpected conditions (Hattinger and Stylidis, 2023). The concept of the three core values of Industry 5.0 is strictly related to the Triple Bottom Line (TPL) theory. The term, coined by (Elkington, 2023) in 1994, suggests that the industry and the companies should not only focus on profit, so the “traditional bottom line”, but also on social and environmental impacts (Figure 11). The TBL is used as a framework and measurement tool to assess the performance of a company in these three dimensions. Figure 11: The Triple Bottom Line (Debnath, 2023). It is trivial to understand the connection between the TBL and Industry 5.0. The social dimension (People) of the TBL evaluates all the people and stakeholders (e.g., employees, customers, communities and society at large) of an organization, focusing on social responsibility, ethical business practices and contributions to social well-being. This dimension is easily linked with the human-centric approach of Industry 5.0 (Miller et al., 2007). The environmental dimension (Planet) evaluates the ecological footprint of a company, focusing on resource conservation, waste reduction and efforts to mitigate environmental degradation. It is related to the sustainability value of Industry 5.0 (Alhaddi, 2015). Finally, the financial impact (Profit) focuses on the economic aspects, such as profitability and cost-effectiveness. This is linked to the resilience value (Debnath, 2023). 29 There are various strategies through which people can be brought to the centre of the industry. For example, the development of technologies, such as Mixed Reality, that create a motivating, safe and inclusive work environments, engages more the employees. In the production industry, human centrality can be obtained by involving all the stakeholders in all the processes of idealization, design, planning, control and production (Orso et al., 2022). Other strategies to improve workers well-being include providing flexible work schedule times, implementing job rotation, improving their skills and qualifications for a position or changing it if necessary and guaranteeing an ergonomic and safe workplace. A healthy workplace is related to reduced stress, improved mental and physical health, higher job satisfaction and better overall quality of life. This is the definition of a good work-life balance (Khamaisi et al., 2022). The knowledge of a person is important to be retained and upgraded to be ready for future challenges, together with the experience, to guide the innovations and transformations in the industry (Eriksson et al., 2022). As it will be described with real case studies further down in the thesis, Mixed Reality supports the transition to Industry 5.0, following the dimensions of the TBL. Starting from the sustainability dimension, the possibility of usage of the device remotely, eliminating the need to be on-site to provide support, leads to a huge reduction in travel, with a related decrease in Carbon Dioxide (CO2) emissions. This is strictly connected to the economic side, because reducing travel means spending less in terms of costs and time of the geographical movement of the workers, but also in a decrease of downtime of the machine, which is always a great saving. Finally, the social dimensions, so the people. Once again, avoiding travel, which might also be transoceanic, and allowing them to work from their office or even from home, has a great benefit on their stress level (health), productivity and flexibility, significantly improving their work-life balance. Let’s imagine the time wasted on transfers and the related days spent far from home. This extra time could be dedicated to family, hobbies or relaxation. Many examples will be shown and analysed in chapters 5 and 6. The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 30 3 Methodology The methodology chapter is fundamental to explain how the research objectives have been addressed. It will be explained why and how a mixed-methods approach was adopted to get the results needed. The approach included evaluation of relevant data from articles and industry reports, analysis of CBRE use cases, an interview with a MR user and a survey to the technicians. Each step was designed to achieve a complete exploration of the effectiveness of Mixed Reality technologies. 3.1 Explanation of the methodology To prove the problem statement, i.e. to validate the effectiveness of Mixed Reality, information has been gathered using a mixed-methods approach including quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. The first method followed was to gather depth qualitative insights into the perceptions, experiences and challenges of facility managers using MR technologies. This has been performed, first of all, by interacting during the weekly meeting with the supervisor Professor Francesc Trisan Segui and its collaborators, who could share their experience with the technology they are dealing with. In fact, thanks to these interviews with FM professionals it was possible to understand the current practices, challenges and expectations regarding Mixed Reality. To facilitate the process, specific qualitative questions have been prepared before each meeting, leaving the possibility to open answer to the interviewed experts. By analysing the use cases, it was also possible to gain more detailed insights behind the numbers listed in the CBRE PDFs, which represent one of the quantitative data collection, together with the articles and papers explored online, and document different real-world examples of MR in the manufacturing and maintenance fields. Moreover, thanks to a set of semi-structured questions focused on the feelings and human centrality of the usage of Mixed Reality in the maintenance field, it was possible to submit an interview to the technical team leader of the Castellana 18 building in Madrid for CBRE, in order to get insight beyond the data represented by the cases shared. It was preferred to perform a semi-structured interview because it is typically designed to get specific answers from respondents to suit the study objectives, but with the possibility for the interviewer to deviate from the set of questions prepared to explore interesting points raised by the interviewed, by asking more in-depth explanations. Furthermore, due to the limitation of the time available, it has been possible to group those questions that were 31 similar and skip, depending on the flow of the interview, the least important ones previously selected, thus making the process faster. Finally, thanks to a specific survey, it was possible to get information on technicians’ feelings on their use of the HoloLens, in order to capture qualitative insights on the people themselves beyond the pure mathematical benefits. 3.2 Review of the state-of-art process Coming to the different phases in the writing of the thesis, first, a review of the state-of-art was conducted in order to identify all published papers, articles, but also news, on the topic of Mixed Reality usage. The papers were mainly found through Google Scholar, and, secondly through ResearchGate. Other online platforms that were useful to find articles and select them were Scopus and Web of Science. A citation has to be done also for LinkedIn, whose members’ articles have been useful in gathering knowledge and insights on the matter. To look for the correct source of information, terms were searched based on their correlation to Mixed Reality. Table 7 lists some of the keywords that were searched on the platforms in order of time (from the beginning of the searching onwards), separating them also between the primary term and the secondary one. The secondary term refers to the keywords that were adopted for searching articles after they were discovered from readings consequent to the first research. The research for papers was mainly conducted in the period from July to September 2024, with a final revision in December 2024 to include the most recent news and findings. It was preferred to include those papers that were recently published, taking as a reference from 2022 onwards. Some articles, mainly due to historical or regulation reasons, are from previous years. Table 7: Combination of search terms (author’s own work). Primary term Secondary term Mixed Reality (MR) Extended Reality (XR) Virtual Reality (VR) Head Mounted Display (HMD) Augmented Reality (AR) Mixed Reality costs Microsoft HoloLens Mixed Reality time saved Facility Management Magic Leap Two Field of View (FOV) Apple Vision Pro The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 38 another case, in automotive companies, MR is used to train employees on complex pieces of machinery, allowing them to “touch” the equipment, but without any risk associated. Another application of MR devices is for design and engineering. Designers can create and modify their products (in 3D) in a MR environment, in order to have a better visualization and so understanding of the items, before producing the physical prototype. Moreover, different people or teams can work together on the models (project collaboration), designing in real-time. In the same way, engineers and architects can show the customer virtual representations of personalized machines or buildings, helping them to make or modify the layouts. In fact, also the customer has become central in the MR experience since its feedback in the early stages of the process has shortened the discussion phase and improved the final output. One of the main advantages of MR is the remote collaboration. Virtual meetings can be created to make participants feel as if they are in the same room, enhancing communication and collaboration. For example, a technician who is repairing a machinery can be helped from remote by an expert. Normally the conversation would take place through a mobile phone, with obvious limitations; but, with the innovative technology, the expert would directly see and suggest to the technician how to perform his/her work. In particular, for manufacturing and maintenance operations, workers can receive real-time instructions without the need to use their hands (e.g., for holding a phone) and with overlays of information directly in their field of view (e.g., schemes, repair instructions, asset conditions, maintenance history), improving accuracy and efficiency and reducing errors and downtime. Another case that is helpful to introduce some data on the usage of Microsoft HoloLens 2, is the one from (Wijesooriya et al., 2023), who collected information on 451 HoloLens headsets from the Microsoft Web Portal, in order to get the categories of the lenses’ applications, as resumed in Table 8. At the top, all of them around 14% of the total applications, there are entertainment, education and productivity, with business ranked 4th. 39 Table 8: categories of HoloLens 2 applications (Wijesooriya et al., 2023). In 2024, the CBRE employee Kenneth O’Brien interviewed, directly and/or through a questionnaire, thirty different individuals, to find out, among others, for what specific fields the ARSG (Augmented Reality Smart Glasses), another name to indicate the same technology, were used for. The results that came out are represented in Figure 12, where facilities and pharmaceutical industries lead the ranking. Confidentiality note: all the information reported in this thesis about Kenneth’s research was directly shared by him for this project's success, in order to include just the data that could be analysed. The notes that he used to get to the results cannot be directly shared. Research note: the paper focuses on all the ARSGs that the companies interviewed used, but the majority of them (78%) adopted HoloLens 2. The other devices are the Real Wear glasses and the Vuzix glasses, two headsets that have similar characteristics and fields of usage to the HoloLens, but are simpler and provide a less immersive experience. In fact, their usage is mostly related to training, for which the AR experience is very adopted. These devices are sometimes preferred for their lower costs (Real Wear Website, 2024; Vuzix Website, 2024). The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 40 Figure 12: questionnaire on the fields the ARSGs are used for (author’s own work). In the same questionnaire, it was asked about the task that was mainly performed through the device and the frequency of usage. Figure 13 resumes the answers given related to the task mainly performed. The inspections lead the ranking, followed by maintenance and troubleshooting. Figure 13: questionnaire on the primary tasks the ARSG are used for (author’s own work). Regarding the frequency of usage, the large majority of the interviewed (52%) reported using the lenses “every few weeks”, while the rest is equally spread around 10/15% each using it weekly, monthly, quarterly or very rarely. 30% 30% 18% 5% 5% 4% 4% 4% Facilities Pharmaceutical Laboratory Construction Lift Engineer HSE Mail Service Medical Device 13% 17% 17% 21% 32% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% Training Vendor Management Troubleshooting Maintenance Inspections 41 Before exploring the use cases that contain data and numbers on the savings that the usage of such a device brings (which are reported in the next subparagraphs), some general examples of the Microsoft HoloLens application are described. The goal of these examples is to make the reader aware of the general potentiality of the technology, before coming to the quantitative analysis, but also to introduce some qualitative benefits. The objective is, in fact, to bring cases related to those industrial activities that this thesis is going to cover, so focusing on Facility Management and maintenance operations, also integrating with the well-being of the workers, a topic which will be better discussed later on. Chevron makes the inspection work for a pregnant woman more flexible with Microsoft HoloLens 2 In 2021, a Chevron (a US oil company) Process Engineer, Vanessa Fruge, was expected to be forced to take a step back at work while she was seven-and-a-half months pregnant. Her belly was growing and she was worried about the possibility of moving in tight spaces and climbing ladders for her daily work of inspections. But before giving up, she turned to Chevron to propose a solution: giving a colleague of hers a pair of Microsoft HoloLens lenses that would allow the user to share his/her view with Vanessa, who could work remotely from her tablet in real time, collaborating for all the operations. The company accepted the proposal, investing in the new tool, conscious of the qualitative benefits it would have brought. In fact, thanks to the implementation of the device, Vanessa has been accommodated in such an important period for her, “making her work-life balance amazing” (Chevron, 2022). Quantitative benefits, which were not assessed or reported in the article, include, among others, the monetary and time savings for the avoidance of disruptions and for the identification and training of a substitute employee, who also gathers expertise from the direct knowledge transfer, as well as the future faster reintegration of Vanessa, who has kept updated, into the company. Eaton uses Dynamics 365 Remote Assist for troubleshooting In 2019, Eaton (a power management company) purchased an initial set of HoloLens devices, which were quickly upgraded to HoloLens 2 by the end of the year, together with the expansion to Dynamics 365 Remote Assist. The workers of a Brazilian plant (engine valve manufacturer for passenger and commercial vehicles) achieved cost avoidance and time savings while troubleshooting an Italian The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 42 machine. The staff connected to the team in Italy using the Dynamics 365 Remote Assist on HoloLens 2, so that they could show their issue in real-time. The engineers in Italy could immediately realise what was happening and quickly diagnose the problem using mixedreality 3D annotations. The rapid collaboration allowed the Brazilian plant to avoid the downtime of the machine and the travel costs for the engineers (Microsoft Customer Stories - Eaton, 2021). Let’s imagine how it would not be trivial to describe a problem and communicate by email, a simple call or a video between people that are not English mother tongue; someone might not understand precisely an instruction. With Microsoft HoloLens, by directly seeing what’s happening, this barrier is completely overcome. Eaton uses Dynamics 365 Guides for preventive maintenance Since 2019, in the Mexican Eaton plant where heavy and medium-duty transmissions and heavy-duty clutches are manufactured, employees adopted the Microsoft lenses to conduct preventive maintenance on 1500 pieces of equipment, relying on the intuitiveness of Dynamics 365 Guides. Before using Mixed Reality, plant employees relied on paper checklists and images to complete Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) tasks, with long written steps and images that were often neither clear nor detailed. With HoloLens 2 and the Guides, an application was developed to assist the operator with the process. From then onwards, with the lenses, the operator had the matrix hologram in front of him/her, with whom it is possible to interact by staring at the ‘continue’ button or the ‘yes’ button until the checklist is finished. In this way, also changeover from one employee to the other becomes more straightforward and less risky in terms of mistakes. After an initial period of hesitation, the usage of Microsoft HoloLens spread rapidly among the employees and worry turned to excitement, so that everybody was now able to make new guides (Microsoft Customer Stories - Eaton, 2021). Volvo Penta, BMW and Chevron - Early adopters of Microsoft Copilot (AI) Microsoft Copilot, the AI tool to improve user interactions, is becoming popular since its announced at the end of 2023. Three companies, Volvo Penta, BMW and Chevron, have been the early adopters of this new technology, as explained by (Cheng, 2024). 43 Volvo Penta, a global leader in sustainable power solutions, is one of the early adopters of Copilot, believing that the technology can help optimize the training of entry-level technicians thanks to the self-guided instructions. “Copilot makes it feel as though a trainer is always on hand to answer questions in the context of your workflow.” A practical example: technicians used to need an hour or more to find 10 to 15 sensors; with Copilot, it now only takes five minutes. At Hannover Messe 2024, the world's leading industrial trade fair, as reported by (Rodriguez Lepage and Ladha, 2024), the company showed how Copilot could be used. In a demo scenario, the user of the device is in the shoes of a ferry captain who has to use the stepby-step guidance of Copilot to address a filter issue before departure, being left without a technician onboard. BMW is also incorporating generative AI and human-machine interactions for the optimization of vehicle design and development. BMW Group’s Digitization and VR Team within R&D was the first to use Copilot to simulate how the use of different materials and components impact vehicle design and their environmental footprint. With the insights gained thanks to this approach, it will be possible for BMW to optimize engineering and production processes. Moreover, the company believes that generative AI will also help its aftersales workers, by providing them access to expert knowledge and guidance, whenever and where it is needed. Finally, the US oil company Chevron, which was introduced before, is also looking to advance the capabilities of its frontline workers by using the Copilot to optimize industrial operations, empower its workers and allow its value chain to have informed decisions. 5.1 Use case 1: Analysis of the savings of eight manufacturing companies with experience using Microsoft HoloLens 2 The study of Forrester (Roger Nauth et al., 2023), which was mentioned before, illustrates the total economic impact of Microsoft HoloLens 2 thanks to its Mixed Reality applications for manufacturing enterprises. The research analysed the cost savings and the business benefits enabled by the MR device produced by the American company, also considering its Dynamics 365 Guides and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist. Forrester interviewed eight manufacturing companies with facilities all over the world and experience with Microsoft HoloLens 2, combining their data altogether to finally analyse the The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 44 findings in a three-year time. Just as a reference, the composite organization generates $18 billion of annual revenues with 120,000 employees. In this medium-term perspective, the researchers quantified the benefits with a training productivity improvement of 20-24% and a reduction in training material of 35%. In fact, thanks to the self-guided instructions, the 3D model simulations and the overlaying, the workers learned faster and better, especially regarding their skills directly related to the machines. Moreover, appreciation came from the technicians and the companies they work for, due to the expenses and time saved by taking part in remote demonstrations. Another interesting finding is that these skilled technicians improved the manufacturing operations productivity by 20% over the three-year time compared to the ones without this technology, by staying head-up and hands-free while using HoloLens 2 lenses and the Guides software to see and manipulate instructions, schemes and other information overlaid on the real world. With the possibility of Remote Assistance, the technicians have been able to reduce troubleshooting time for unplanned machine downtime. Downtime caused by equipment failure or malfunction was reduced by 23.5%. Moreover, the productivity of the field technician improved by 25%, thanks to the real-time remote collaboration which allows them to “see what I see” and resolve issues beyond the workers’ expertise without requiring extra trips. Overall, the saved travel expenses are around 20-50%, distributed on the incidental costs of flights, cars, hotels, food and beverages (without considering unexpected events, such as delays or unexpected events). The possibility of creating a digital twin of the items during the process with Microsoft HoloLens 2 and Remote Assist, reduces at minimum the risk that the machines would not fit and would require any changes and so more costs; this is estimated of an improvement of 14 days in time to revenue for new factories ramping online faster with digital twins. Finally, for Subject Matter Experts’ issues, productivity increases by 30% with remote problem resolution. In these cases, companies usually need experts that come from outside the firm for which their availability is not usually guaranteed in a few days. The usage of the lenses allows for shortening down these waiting times and so increases productivity. In the following Table 9, the quantitative findings on the benefits in three-year time are resumed. 45 Table 9: resume of the quantitative benefits in three-year time (Roger Nauth et al., 2023). Quantitative benefit Value Savings Training material costs - 35% Downtime caused by equipment failure or malfunction - 23.5% Travel expenses - 20/50% Time to revenue by using Remote Assist to develop digital twins - 14 days Productivity improvements Training productivity + 20/24% Manufacturing operations productivity + 20% Productivity of the field technician + 25% Productivity for Subject Matter Experts with remote problem resolution + 30% Beyond the quantitative benefits, researchers identified also qualitative ones. Firstly, the sustainability improvements; the reduction in training material waste and of the emissions related to the travels foster sustainability goals. The health and safety of the workers are protected; the possibility to follow procedures and instructions ensures that the job is done more safely. Eventually, the usage of these latest and greatest technologies attracts and retains highly talented employees, also facilitating the hiring process (Roger Nauth et al., 2023). 5.2 Use case 2: Sanofi reduces the training time for new operators from eight to six weeks The prescription and over-the-counter medications manufacturer company Sanofi (Microsoft Customers Stories - Sanofi, 2023) had to find a way to make its training and onboard methods more agile and efficient, in order to meet the increased demand for their products. The traditional training process was considered time-consuming and the need for a tutor often led to inconsistencies, i.e., not standard explanations. The goal of the company was to use the extended reality to standardize training, reduce training time and improve the overall performance. The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 46 A pilot project in a packaging workshop was launched by Sanofi in Lisieux, France. The Production Team Manager of the subsidiary transcribed the entire paper procedure into a digital version for HoloLens 2. Then, he programmed the device, creating an interactive hands-on training in the metaverse for the operators, in three different areas: production operations (e.g., batch changes), environmental and safety operations and electrical maintenance. Thanks to the lenses, operators could train independently without a tutor. By using HoloLens 2, Sanofi reduced the training time for new operators from eight weeks to six weeks, so saving 25% of the time and allowing the operators to be on the field quicker. 5.3 Use case 3: Remote-assistance maintenance - A comparison of the benefits and drawbacks of the HoloLens compared to traditional tools This study (Vorraber et al., 2020) conducted by the Graz University of Technology in collaboration with the University of Oxford, aims to assess the improvements of using Microsoft HoloLens 2 during remote maintenance tasks. Obviously, at work, people use the tools they have to solve the issues. In case of maintenance operations, when looking for remote help, the most used technology is the smartphone, throughout the employee can ask for support by call, sending video or accessing to the information on the internet. But a step forward in the innovation, brought by the HoloLens, allows the maintenance worker to wear the lenses and directly transfer an audio and a video to an expert that is connected remotely. This expert watches the live-stream video on a laptop and provides suggestions by speaking or using 3D virtual annotations that are transferred back to the maintenance worker, who can directly see what the engineer is indicating or writing on the screen. For the scope of the reported study, twelve test runs were conducted in a real-world automotive industry setting with real maintenance engineers: everything was then analysed based on video recordings and questionnaires. As results, in general, all the maintenance workers reported an improvement in the process when using Microsoft HoloLens. As indicated in Table 10 below, two-thirds of the tested employees agreed that they had saved time and that risk was minimised, while 83% saw an improvement of the efficiency. On the other side, some risks were identified. Employees reported a narrowed range of vision, a negative influence on usual motion and discomfort when wearing the device. A few 47 times it also happened that the audio (note: the test was set with loudspeakers and not headphones) and the video were poor (note: network instability). Unlike this, however, the risk of distraction and the negative social effects were reported as low. From the analysis of the video recordings, some main issues were identified while using HoloLens. First and most important, a safety problem, when maintenance workers had to move their heads very close to the machine; in case of rotating machine or hot elements, it could lead to injuries. An ergonomic issue, when maintenance workers had to stay in uncomfortable positions to allow the expert to see something of interest on the machine. Problems in dark conditions, since the video was of poor quality (for the expert) when the light was low. And, even more important, the tinted glass of the HoloLens reduces the view of workers. Finally, problems to hear in noisy environments, again due to the usage of the loudspeakers. Table 10: questionnaire on the comparison HoloLens 2 – smartphone (Vorraber et al., 2020). The comparison with the usage of a smartphone revealed the great advantages of HoloLens, in terms of efficiency and safety, as again indicated in Table 10, but also in time reduction, since the tasks solved by telephone required about 20% more time. By using the smartphones were also identified two main problems. An ergonomics issue, when workers kept the phone between the head and their shoulders when they needed to use both hands to work. On other cases they left the phone on a table or to a colleague. This issue could be solve once again using headphones. An orientation issue, since it was difficult to find areas of interest compared to the HoloLens. The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 54 this chapter. In general, all the values are estimations done by CBRE and its accounts/clients that are computed trying to be as close as possible to reality. The time always refers to the period saved by a person or a team from his/her/their leaving to travel to the place until his/her/their return to the home facility, while the cost sometimes only includes the travel expenses and not the wage spent for the employee. The cost savings take into consideration the tickets for the main means of transport (e.g., airplane, train, etc…), accommodations and food, but also all the extra costs such as taxis, for example. The cost of the mean of transportation is computed also taking into account the period of the journey, since its cost changes massively depending on the day of the week when employees travel, but also the month of the year. Finally, CBRE used a webpage provided by the government to calculate the CO2 emission based on the travel set (Spanish Government, 2024). Table 12: quantitative savings of the boiler room repair case (CBRE - confidential). Quantitative savings Value Time saved to wait for the availability of the engineering team and their travel to the building in Madrid 3 days Cost saved €595 Travel distance avoided 5443.8 km Carbon dioxide emission (CO2) avoided 1072 kg Beyond this data, our goal is to understand which is the actual cost using the HoloLens, compared with the situation without it, which is already computed. The cost saving of €595 seems to include just the cost of the person to move to the site from abroad with a flight, as well as the accommodation and food, but the cost of the employee, in terms of hourly wage, has to be estimated. We can refer to a cost for the expert of €35/hour times 3 days (8 hours/day), which results in €840 for the total travel. To perform the repair, we can assume about 1 day and a half of work over the 3 days of total travel. Time saved with the HoloLens is 50%, considering that the expert would not be available to solve other issues when spending time to get back to its place. Therefore, the total costs without using the HoloLens is of: 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 = €595 + €840 = € 1435 On the other side, the total costs using the HoloLens is just: 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 = €840 ∗ 1.5 3 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 = € 420 55 To conclude: 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑠 = € 420 € 1435 =29% →71% 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 Remote repair of a matrical track sprayer A manufacturer’s US-based engineer was involved to solve the malfunctioning of a matrical track sprayer that was causing significant disruption for a client in a major R&D site in the UK. The engineer was forced to travel from the US to Europe to visit the site, but was unable to fix the sprayer, which was already out of action for over 3 months, leading to tens of thousands of pounds lost in scientific downtime. The time and money spent to travel over the Atlantic demonstrated that it was not worthy it. Eventually, CBRE ILS engineering supervisor connected from the US through HoloLens to propose a solution that, after a few days, worked. Also in this case, there have been not negligible quantitative savings, as indicated in Table 13. Table 13: quantitative savings of the remote repair of a matrical track sprayer case (CBRE - confidential). Quantitative savings Value Time saved for the transatlantic travel between the US and the UK 30 hours Scientific downtime impact €37,000 Travel cost avoided €5500 Travel distance avoided 35,388 km CO2 emission avoided 5745 kg In this case, the expert was sent to the UK uselessly, so all his/her costs could have been avoided. The cost of the other expert that solved the issue is really low compared to the travel expenditure, so we can assume a number close to 100% cost saving with the HoloLens. Regarding the time saved, in this case it is not clear. Genset critical operation In this scenario, the challenge was the malfunctioning of the generating set, which did not activate automatically when needed to supply the facilities in Singapore in case of power interruption. The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 56 To solve the issue, the onsite team contacted the genset Subject Matter Experts to fix a meeting, in order to be helped remotely through the HoloLens and normalise the system. The greatest benefit is clearly the fast response, being crucial to fix the issue promptly, as well as the other savings listed in Table 14. Table 14: quantitative savings of the genset critical operation case (CBRE - confidential). Quantitative savings Value Total time saved 8 hours Total cost saved €1000 Travel distance avoided 32 km CO2 emission avoided 9.11 kg In this case, 32 km is a really short distance which can be assumed in 1 hour and a half of return journey by car for a pair of people (19% of time saved), estimated therefore in: 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 = €35 ℎ∗ 1.5 ℎ ∗ 2 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑠 = € 105 Moreover, for the remaining €1000 - €105 = €895, the one and a half hours to go to the place out of the 8 total hours corresponds to: 𝑀𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑠 = €895 ∗ 1.5 8= € 167 The remaining €728 is totally due to the machine downtime and represents the cost even when using the HoloLens. To conclude: 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑠 = €728 €1000 =73% →27% 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 5.5.4 CBRE use cases - Remote Assist – Installations Performing anchoring live on a Vi-Cell XR with HoloLens Guide and Remote Assist In this project, as we discussed in some cases previously, the goal was to create a guide that would be used to help in the preventive maintenance operations on a Vi-Cell XR. Once created the guide, the person who was responsible for performing the anchoring could be assisted remotely by someone trained in the field and also by the guide pre-created. In 57 this way, the anchoring process was completed quickly and the expert could help from where he/she was without the need to access the equipment, saving travel time and cost. Supervision of installation of climate control machine In this project, the challenge was to supervise the remote installation of a climate control machine for DEUTSCHE Bank, which was scheduled to be done during the night, since the city council allowed to interrupt the traffic for the time of the installation only during the dark hours. The use of HoloLens allowed the supervision to be done remotely, without the need to commute, which during the night is very laborious, saving the values indicated in Table 15. Table 15: quantitative savings of the supervision of installation of climate control machine case (CBRE - confidential). Quantitative savings Value Total time saved 3 days Total cost saved €595 Travel distance avoided 5448.8 km CO2 emission avoided 1073.41 kg Similarly to the case analyzed before, we can assume about 1 day and a half of work during the night over the 3 days of total travel to perform the job (50% of time saved). Clearly, the cost saved of €595 includes only the expense of the person moving to the site from abroad (being 5448 km typically covered by plane and around €600 the estimated cost for a last-minute return ticket in Europe), with all the costs that derive from it. Referring to a cost for the expert of €35/hour times 3 days (8 hours/day), it means €840 for the total travel. Therefore, the total costs without using the HoloLens is of: 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 = €595 + €840 = € 1435 On the other side, the total costs using the HoloLens is just: 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 = €840 ∗ 1.5 3 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 = € 420 To conclude, 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑠 = € 420 € 1435 =29% →71% 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 58 In Table 16, all the benefits studied in the thesis regarding both maintenance and installation processes are resumed. Intuitively, some of them are related only to one of the two. For the calculation performed to estimate the difference in cost savings between the case using the HoloLens and the case without, we can divide it into two thoughts. In the case of short travel (i.e., close to the place and going by car), the estimated savings using the HoloLens is around 71% of the total costs without its help. For a medium-length journey, the case of the international flight that would be needed, showed a reduction of 71% on the expenses. Finally, for long-distance travel, like in the case of intercontinental commutes, the savings are way higher, being closer to 100%. (*) Data refer just to a few cases and are not representative of all CBRE applications. Table 16: benefits of MR for Remote Assist – maintenance and installations. A comparison between CBRE and the literature (author’s own work). Maintenance and installation benefits CBRE Literature Overlay of information in the surrounding environment (e.g., schemes, installation instructions, asset conditions, maintenance history, digital manuals, …) Yes Yes Hands-free operation, avoidance of keeping useless stuff in the hands (e.g., smartphone, manuals, …) Yes Yes, +20% of time with a smartphone Real-time instructions through the Guides, for both preventive and reactive maintenance and for installation processes Yes Yes Directly transfer audio and video to an expert connected remotely Yes Yes Improved Health & Safety of the user Yes Yes The latest technology attracts and retains employees. Knowledge retention by the user when doing maintenance operations. / Yes Increased productivity of the field technician, who can avoid explaining issues but just showing them to the remote experts / 25% Time saved to wait for the availability and travelling of the engineering expert(s) - downtime reduction - increased productivity 20% on short travel, 50% on medium ones* 23.5% Cost saved, when sending to the site just a HoloLens user if not already there. Distributed on the incidental costs of flights, cars, hotels, food and beverages 27% on short travel, 71% on medium ones, 100% on long ones* Between 20% and 50% 59 Travel distance avoided, when sending to the site just a HoloLens user if not already there Depends on the distance Depends on the distance Carbon dioxide emission (CO2) avoided Depends on travel distance Depends on travel distance In the previous table, it has been stated that the travel saved, and so the CO2 avoided, depends on the distance, which is the one between the home facility and the place where the intervention is needed. In fact, it is not possible to find a relation in the different cases for such data. This is valid for all the tables in this chapter where it will be indicated “depends on the distance”. The same thing can be stated for the time saved, which depends on many factors, such as the distance, the availability of the experts, the time to repair and so on. From the cases described, this point seems overestimated by CBRE which tends to not evaluate the waiting time for the engineers, but it is once again difficult to state from the data in possession. Moreover, regarding the cost savings, CBRE tends to overestimate the numbers, so believing the technology is more worth it than it might be. 5.5.5 CBRE use cases - Inspections Plant room inspection In this case, a young and just graduated employee of CBRE GWS (Global Workplace Solutions) was required to inspect a plant room in London to ensure that a fun coil was running normally. The difficulty was that the new employee did not have the experience to perform the task and his manager, who is the responsible, was unable to visit the site. But, thanks to the HoloLens, the guy managed to arrange a virtual meeting through Microsoft Teams to be assisted by his senior colleague. Table 17: quantitative savings of the plant room inspection case (CBRE - confidential). Quantitative savings Value Total time saved 4 hours Total cost saved €255 Travel distance avoided 550 km CO2 emission avoided 66 kg The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 60 In this case, being the CO2 emitted very low compared to the distance covered, it looks like the mean of transport was a train, which is the one with the lowest carbon footprint. The 4 hours saved are the time for the return journey of the senior expert (50% time saved), which can be computed as: 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑜𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑛 = 4 ℎ ∗ 35€ ℎ= € 140 The remaining €115 represents the cost of the return train ticket, since there are not any other costs related to machine downtime, i.e. it is just an inspection. The HoloLens could not avoid the commute for the young technician to go to the site, which contains both the €115 ticket price and an estimated: 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑛 = 4 ℎ ∗ 25€ ℎ= € 100 Therefore: 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑠 = €100 + €115 €140 + €115 + €100 + €115 = 46% →54% 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 Site visit for PWG meeting The management of a project requires a great understanding of all the shapes of it. Sometimes, it is very important to visit a site in order to better visualize the situation in discussion. But organizing site visits to satisfy the availability of all the requested people is very complicated, since not all members of a PWG (Planning Working Group) could participate, as in this case from Singapore. For those who could not join, it may then be difficult to retrieve information and understand the discussions. By arranging a normal virtual meeting, it won’t be that clear both to see and to listen to people and spaces, while by wearing the HoloLens, the responsible for the visit (typically the Project Manager) can conduct a virtual tour and walk through the issue in discussion, allowing the PWG to better understand the site and its development in real-time. Table 18: quantitative savings of the site visit for PWG meeting case (CBRE - confidential). Quantitative savings Value Total time saved 8 hours Travel distance avoided 50 km CO2 emission avoided 100 kg 61 In this scenario, we do not have any data on the costs saved. IT room risk assessment In this case study, the technical team leader of the Madrid site of CBRE, José Manuel Barragan, had to carry out a risk assessment of the critical room of the Data Processing Center alongside the regional engineering team, in preparation for a future project of space reduction. The regional team is located in Belgium and has two members who would have to travel. Thanks to the usage of a HoloLens device available in Madrid, the regional engineering team could observe the critical space, without the need to be on the field, to then provide a solution to the client. From remotely, the team had the possibility to access to more data and improve communication. Table 19: quantitative savings of the IT room risk assessment case (CBRE - confidential). Quantitative savings Value Total time saved 5 days Total cost saved €940 Travel distance avoided 5503.8 km CO2 emission avoided 1084.24 kg Here we can assume about 3 days and a half of work over the 5 days of total travel to perform the job (30% of time saved). The cost saved of €940 includes, similarly as before, only the cost of the 2 experts moving to the site from abroad by plane, with all the costs of accommodation, food, etc... Considering the cost for the expert of €35/hour times 5 days (8 hours/day), it results in €1400 for each of them. Therefore, the total costs without using the HoloLens is of 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 = €940 + €2800 = € 3740 On the other side, the total costs using the HoloLens is just: 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 = €2400 ∗ 3.5 5 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 = € 1680 To conclude, 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑠 = € 1680 € 3740 =45% →55% 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 62 Rooftop audit Recently, José of the Madrid branch of the DEUTSCHE Bank was facing another common challenge. The on-site technician and maintenance supervisor had to carry out an audit of the rooftop equipment with the regional engineering team. The technician normally works in Madrid, while the regional engineering team (the same as before) would have to move from their place to the building in Madrid to carry out the inspection. But here is where the use of Microsoft HoloLens comes up to facilitate the procedure. The technician, once worn the lenses, was able to show the engineering team in real time what he was seeing, without the need for their physical presence. Through the device, the engineering team checked normally the critical equipment. This easiness brings to direct qualitative benefits: great accessibility, time and costs saved, good data quality of the client’s assets and people's well-being for the travel avoidance. Table 20: quantitative savings of the rooftop audit case (CBRE - confidential). Quantitative savings Value Total time saved 2 days Total cost saved €650 Travel distance avoided 5488.8 km CO2 emission avoided 1081.24 kg We can assume about 6 hours of work over the 2 days (16 hours) of total travel to perform the job (67% of time saved). The cost saving of €650 includes, as before, the cost of the 2 experts moving to the site from abroad and the daily costs to live in Madrid. Considering the cost for the expert of €35/hour times 2 days (8 hours/day), it results in €1120 for both of them. Therefore, the total costs without using the HoloLens is of: 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 = €650 + €1120 = € 1770 On the other side, the total costs using the HoloLens is just: 𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 = €560 ∗ 6 16 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 = € 210 63 To conclude, 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 𝐶𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑠 = € 210 € 1770 =12% →88% 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐻𝑜𝑙𝑜𝐿𝑒𝑛𝑠 Table 21 resumes all the benefits included in the thesis that are related to the inspection processes. Table 21: benefits of MR for inspections. A comparison between CBRE and the literature (author’s own work). Inspection processes benefits CBRE Literature Make inspection remotely if an employee cannot be on-site for various reasons (e.g. pregnant woman, injured people, …) Yes Yes Directly transfer audio and video to the inspectors connected remotely Yes Yes Capture photos and videos to create documents and reports Yes Yes Improved Health & Safety of the user Yes Yes The latest technology attracts and retains employees. Knowledge retention by the user when doing maintenance operations. / Yes Time saved to wait for the availability and travelling of the engineering expert(s) - downtime reduction - increased productivity Depends on the case 23.5% Cost saved, when sending to the site just a HoloLens user if not already there. Distributed on the incidental costs of flights, cars, hotels, food and beverages Around 50-55% for short travel and long ones with many days of work, 88% for long ones but fast inspections* Between 20% and 50% Travel distance avoided, when sending to the site just a HoloLens user if not already there Depends on the distance Depends on the distance Carbon dioxide emission (CO2) avoided Depends on travel distance Depends on travel distance As for the maintenance and installation cases, the conclusions are similar. The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 70 hours of work alone, when it is very trivial to call the suppliers or the engineers to ask for support and show them the task. The technician also feels free to suggest ideas to improve processes and tool usage to his manager, since he is the person with more experience with it and so more reliable. Moving to his experience, he gave examples of when the HoloLens saved a lot of money to the company. One of the cases happened when it was possible to save a lot of time connecting remotely with a team of engineers that helped him to avoid the generator set from collapsing. In another case, in Mallorca, the lenses saved days of downtime to the workflow of a company whose air conditioner collapsed. This issue made the temperature increase above 27 °C, which is the maximum limit to work in that site for safety reasons. The maintenance team sent just one expert who was available and able to fly to the island with the HoloLens. The experts, connected remotely, could soon find the issue and send the technicians experts of the product and the materials required for the reparation in a timely manner. As José said, the HoloLens makes the work calmer and more secure, because his team is conscious they can solve issues more quickly and easily. Coming to the sore points, so the drawbacks, the first one, and most frequent, that the technician noticed are the connectivity issues. Sometimes there is a lack of network and without a connection, it is not possible to do anything, from video calling to looking for documents. This happens especially when working underground. In general, José reports that the lenses don’t tire the eyes or irritate theme even for long periods of usage, and that he can perfectly see laterally, as it was stated when identifying the best device in the market in the relative chapter. On the other hand, it is a bit annoying to have a belt on the head and have to rely on a battery that lasts around 2 hours and a half and is impossible to substitute, even if it is possible to work with the charger plugged. Eventually, when asked what he would miss about his job without the HoloLens, he replied with the lack of experience he could make, the loss of today’s calm and the need to spend a lot of time asking and pray for experts to come to the site to help him. For José, the company also considered the positive environmental impact before adopting the HoloLens, not just as a secondary advantage. The fact that a lot of people can avoid displacement using aircraft, trains and machines was not just a consequence but an objective of CBRE. 71 6.2 Survey on users’ feelings: CBRE technicians report their thoughts on Microsoft HoloLens usage From the inputs and the ideas collected from the interview with José and to further explore the topic of the MR users’ feelings, a 10-question survey has been sent to 33 CBRE technicians around Europe who use Microsoft HoloLens 2 in their jobs. Fifteen of them answered the questionnaire. Note. Fifteen answers are not a significant number for a survey, but they are still valid to have some insights on the matter, which is our objective. The first three questions aim to understand the general usage of the lenses. Firstly, when asked how long the technicians have been using the MR device (Figure 16), more than half of them reported to have adopted it in their job for more than 2 years, while the remaining is divided into between 1 and 2 years (20%), 6 months - 1 year (13%) and less than 6 months (13%). In fact, CBRE introduced the HoloLens gradually about 3 years ago and, little by little, more accounts have implemented it. Figure 16: Answers to question 1 of the survey (author’s own work). The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 72 Secondly, regarding the frequency of its usage (Figure 17), most of the users (47%) reported to use it a few times a month, followed by about once a week (20%) and, on the same level (13.3%), a few times a week and once a month. CBRE's willingness is to increase its frequency of usage in order to recover the cost of the HoloLens implementation in a shorter time and, in general, reduce the costs of each activity that can be performed through the lenses. Figure 17: Answers to question 2 of the survey (author’s own work). 73 Finally, for the introduction questions, the interviewed people have been asked about the activities for which they most use the HoloLens, as shown in Figure 18. In this case, 73% of them reported using the device for remote assistance for troubleshooting, followed by maintenance operations (60%) and remote assistance for inspections (53%). Lower percentages have been assigned to training (27%) and remote assistance for installations (7%). Note that the answers are in line with the survey of Kenneth O’Brien that have been analysed in chapter 5. These answers demonstrate the effectiveness of using the HoloLens by connecting with remote experts to be helped to rapidly find items to repair in machinery or perform tasks they are not able to complete on their own, which is typical of troubleshooting and maintenance operations. The same way of thinking is valid for inspections, when experts often avoid to commute thanks to the HoloLens capabilities. Its use for training might be limited to those few users that mainly teach to others all the functionalities of the devices in their first usage in the training period. Figure 18: Answers to question 3 of the survey (author’s own work). The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 74 Moving to the questions that were the objective of such a survey, to help the interviewed users understand which benefits the survey was aimed to analyse, the most important of them were listed (Figure 19), so that the technicians could choose which one of them joined their working life since the introduction of the HoloLens. Obviously, more of them could be selected. Almost all of the technicians reached (87%) reported an improvement in their skills as a benefit, while two-thirds of them (67%) agreed that the device led to a better recognition of their job and a general increase in their job satisfaction. Such a result on the improvement of the skills was expected, since the introduction of the device and the learning process on how to use it for sure increase the knowledge of the users both on the device itself and on the fact that, as reported by José in the interview, the technician has become able to directly put in hands on the machinery while being assisted, differently from what he/she was used to do before, i.e. only the experts could solve the issues. Almost 50% of the interviewed felt a greater inclusion in the organization compared to the pre-implementation scenario, while just 27% thought about an enhanced career development. Figure 19: Answers to question 4 of the survey (author’s own work). 75 Questions from 5 to 9 delve into each one of the benefits listed before. The goal is to assess, in qualitative terms, how much the technician has felt those factors comparing the pre and post-implementation of the HoloLens scenario. A qualitative scale is provided for each question to gather feedback on the improvement or the regression using the device. Question 5 (Figure 20) focused on the impact of the HoloLens to improve users’ skills. 73% of the respondents felt a significant improvement, 20% a ‘somewhat improvement’ and just 7% no changes. These answers remark once again on what we previously stated. Figure 20: Answers to question 5 of the survey (author’s own work). The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 76 Almost half of the participants (47%) assessed a great improvement (‘very much’) in job recognition within the organisation, while and ‘extremely’ and ‘moderately’ improvement has been indicated by 20% of the interviewed each, as in Figure 21. For sure the technicians have demonstrated their competences and their greater contribution to solving problems since the adoption of the device. For example, their ability to share their work thought the device is a valid demonstration that their efforts are seen by the higher levels of the organization and by their colleagues. Furthermore, independence, autonomy and empowerment have all increased, making them feel trusted for their job by others. The reason why the interviewed did not feel an ‘extreme’ recognition might be because of the fact that they are not conscious of that, or that managers and colleagues do not express their respect for technicians’ work. Figure 21: Answers to question 6 of the survey (author’s own work). 77 When asked how the introduction of the HoloLens has contributed to the technicians’ career growth (Figure 22), 47% answered neutrally, meaning that they have not taken this benefit into account, or their position in the company has simply still been the same. It will probably take more time to assess how the device has improved their career. Those who reported that the knowledge on the usage of the lenses helped (27%) or greatly helped (20%) their career growth might have experienced a job promotion inside the company or a better recognition as a valuable resource to find an improved job position outside of the company. Figure 22: Answers to question 7 of the survey (author’s own work). The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 78 Moving to the eighth question (Figure 23), users have answered about how they believe the use of the HoloLens has contributed to talent retention. In this case, results are more scattered, but the majority (40%) reported just a slight benefit on the matter. This topic is for sure a tough one to assess and such a result was expected. It is important to remark on those really positive answers (13% extremely and 7% very much), which are directly related to cases where users experienced themselves or in their team truly believe the device has kept them in the organisation. Figure 23: Answers to question 8 of the survey (author’s own work). 79 Finally, when asked how the MR device affected technicians’ overall job satisfaction, more than half of them (53%) reported a significant increase (Figure 24). This is due to factors such as flexibility of working conditions, improved safety, reduced work-related stress through remote working and all those benefits of Industry 5.0 that were already described and are resumed in the following paragraph. Figure 24: Answers to question 9 of the survey (author’s own work). The last one is an open question, which asks technicians to answer two matters freely. First, it was asked to mention any potential applications of Microsoft HoloLens 2 beyond the current common tasks performed. The most picked answer is the AI integration, which was announced and first tested in 2024 and is expected to be a huge step forward to improve the flow and effectiveness of any task. One user suggested using the HoloLens to show their customers the facilities, which is something that can already be actually done. Another technician would like to adopt the lenses also for task pre-planning and job analysis, because the technology can lead to a more expansive assessment, leaving less room for error. Similarly, the HoloLens could be used also for safety assessments. The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 86 9 Analysis and assessment of environmental and social implications This section provides an analysis of the environmental and social impacts of adopting Mixed Reality in Facility Management. It evaluates how MR technologies, primarily Microsoft HoloLens, contribute to sustainability mainly by reducing travel and therefore carbon emissions, but also enhancing social well-being by improving work-life balance and inclusivity. The use of MR is in line with many Sustainable Development Goals, for which we will explore its good influence on health, gender equality, economic growth, innovation and climate action. The adoption of Mixed Reality in Facility Management activities showed the potential to create great environmental and social impacts, factors that are becoming very important for today’s human-centred companies. MR technologies, such as Microsoft HoloLens, have transformed industrial and maintenance operations by providing real-time data visualization, remote support and interactive training, among others, therefore reducing the need for physical presence and travel for workers. The innovation has demonstrated first of all to improve the efficiency of the activities, but also to contribute to the environmental sustainability by reducing carbon emissions and materials consumption. In fact, the decrease of onsite visits and the relative travel for both technicians and engineers has resulted in a significant reduction in CO2 emissions, in particular for those long journeys for rapid maintenance or installation operations. Moreover, MR showed to support energy efficiency thanks to the optimization of the management of the facilities and their assets (better monitoring and predictive maintenance), which has reduced unnecessary energy consumption. As confirmed by CBRE’s managers and during the interview with José Manuel Barragan, the reduction of travel and therefore CO2 emission, was not just a consequence of the implementation of the HoloLens, but it was a declared objective by the company. Regarding the social impact, the implementation of MR is perfectly aligned with the principles of Industry 5.0, which focuses on human well-being, work-life balance and safety. Thanks to the allowing of remote operations, MR permits employees, including vulnerable people like pregnant women or those with limited mobility (as demonstrated in the use cases), to perform tasks from home or in a safe environment. This possibility of flexibility is shown to reduce stress and enhance the work-life balance by decreasing physical and mental strain and time spent moving to the site (commuting). 87 Furthermore, MR facilitates training procedures and effectiveness, providing immersive and hands-on learning experiences that are possible from anywhere, and so promoting inclusivity. The use cases that were analysed, also demonstrate that MR is aligned with some regulations in the sector. For example, the technology is adapted to the objective of the ISO 41001 standard of helping organizations to improve the integration of people, places, processes and technologies to optimize the performance of the management of installations. Furthermore, the Mixed Reality is also aligned with the objectives of the WELL Certification, which supports the well-being, health and comfort of the people who work in the installations. Regarding CBRE company itself, it is undertaking proactive measures to make its properties more environmentally friendly. In 2021, it agreed to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2040, by relying on a decarbonization plan to reduce the emissions generated through its operations and by the properties managed (CBRE Website - Corporate Responsibility, 2024). CBRE is also guided by the RISE values, an acronym coined by the American company to value Respect, Integrity, Service and Excellence. For CBRE, people are its heart and critical to the success of the organisation. The company aims to “create opportunities so all people thrive by focusing on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) initiatives, learning and development, workplace safety and well-being, and community impact”. CBRE also cares about employee well-being in every business decision by setting high standards and policies on safety and employee satisfaction, so that people return home safe and well at the end of every workday. Managers are educated about the importance of prioritizing well-being and how to communicate people’s benefits. The workplaces physically support good health, comfort, productivity, awareness and vitality, aiming also to develop positive relationships between colleagues (CBRE Website - Corporate Responsibility, 2024). Mixed Reality implementation in Facility Management aligns with some of the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Let’s dive into the ones that are related (United Nations, 2024). The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 88 SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being We have seen that Mixed Reality helps reduce physical fatigue, offers more flexible workspaces and reduces the need for onsite travel. It also improves mental and physical health, promotes ergonomics, decreases the risk of errors and accidents and supports a healthier work-life balance. SDG 5 - Gender Equality MR supports gender equality by offering flexible working conditions, which we have demonstrated in a case being very beneficial for pregnant women. SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth MR enhances the safety and flexibility of the workplace, creating more productive and healthy working conditions. Thanks to the training capabilities, it also supports the development of employees’ skills, and so the economic growth. SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure The adoption of innovative MR technology is directly related to the improvement of industrial modernization, very beneficial for the infrastructure. SDG 13 - Climate Action The reduced need for travel for the workers has allowed them to reduce their movement using the means of transport, with the consequence of lower carbon emissions. This contributes to the fight against climate change. 89 Conclusions The study demonstrated that Mixed Reality technologies, especially the Microsoft HoloLens, offer significant advantages in Facility Management, in particular in maintenance operations. In its approach to considering savings from the introduction of Microsoft HoloLens, CBRE should assess all the benefits mentioned and keep track of the costs, when possible, since the evaluation of the quantitative savings together with the expenditures, is crucial to make responsible decisions on the company’s MR program. For sure, the path undertaken by the company of introducing MR is correct, as agreed by the validation of the data with the use cases from the scientific community, but a better and more comprehensive numerical evaluation of the quantitative advantages is strongly suggested, especially because data from CBRE tends to overestimate the savings they are calculating and ignoring other benefits. With a greater acquisition of data, it would also be possible to introduce KPIs and study the improvements of SLAs. Sharing the results with a wide community is essential. With the articles and presentations prepared for IFMA España and ACFM, the use cases of DEUTSCHE Bank are set to be presented. Data provided by the account were included, together with the findings from the literature, to give the sector experts the correct visibility on the technology. In December, the presentation to the IFMA España community in Madrid gathered great attention on the subject, being classified into the top 5 best Good & Best practices in Facility Management of Spain in 2024. Positive feedback is also expected for the presentation to ACFM, which will take place in February 2025. A more complete evaluation of qualitative savings is also suggested to CBRE, so that the company can be conscious of the direct and indirect positive effects of the technology and inform users and make them aware of all the qualitative benefits they are going towards, following the principles of Industry 5.0. It is also crucial to intervene to limit the drawbacks that this technology presents, trying to anticipate users’ negative feedback. The Extended Reality, being a sector that is alimented by innovations, annually proposes new devices that join the market, together with various pioneering tools that aim to be a part of our future jobs and lives. The closest next step is the integration of AI, which could facilitate predictive maintenance The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 90 and provide personalised user assistance, with the aim of continuously improving effectiveness and reducing time, costs and risks. The study represents the situation in 2024, but with new MR devices the assumptions might change and benefits and drawbacks will have to be upgraded. 91 Appendix A.1 Article and presentation for IFMA España The article written by the thesis author for CBRE and DEUTSCHE Bank is reported hereby. It is in Spanish language, being delivered to IFMA España to participate in the “Good & Best Practices in Facility Management” competition. After the article, the link to the presentation prepared once again by the thesis author is included. The presentation in Madrid was performed by CBRE representatives Francesc Segui Trisan and Juan Manuel Tierra on December 10th 2024. The thesis author was not available due to his job duties. El uso de la Realidad Mixta para mejorar la eficacia de la Facility Management, con un enfoque en las operaciones de mantenimiento CBRE Group. Proveedor DEUTSCHE Bank Spain. Cliente Representantes. Nicola Pendezini, Francesc Segui Trisan, Juan Manuel Tierra Resumen El uso de la Realidad Mixta está creciendo rápidamente y se está extendiendo a muchos campos. La tecnología, que combina la Realidad Aumentada y la Realidad Virtual, es utilizada por los usuarios a través de visores para interactuar con herramientas útiles a su alrededor. En particular, también se puede aplicar a las operaciones de Facility Management, ofreciendo soluciones innovadoras para procedimientos de mantenimiento interactivo, monitoreo de condiciones de activos, auditorías técnicas en línea, resolución de problemas y asistencia remota, entre otros. Este proyecto muestra cómo la implementación de un dispositivo de Realidad Mixta, es decir, Microsoft HoloLens 2, en un caso específico de una inspección de techo para un account en Madrid, DEUTSCHE Bank España, permite proporcionar análisis y evaluaciones valiosas sobre los ahorros consecuentes al uso de la herramienta MR para una operación de FM, centrándose también en los beneficios no financieros de este tipo de trabajo. The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 92 Objectivos El objetivo del caso es realizar una auditoría del equipo del techo en el edificio Castellana 18, en Madrid, con la presencia (física o virtual) del equipo de ingeniería. El objetivo del proyecto, en cambio, sería evaluar la efectividad de la Realidad Mixta en la mejora de las operaciones de Facility Management, evaluando los beneficios que el uso de Microsoft HoloLens aportaría a la auditoría del equipo del techo. Gracias a la estrecha colaboración con el Global Lead del equipo XRS (Realidad Extendida) de CBRE, Miquel Vidal Trilla, sería posible implementar los visores y adquirir datos cualitativos y cuantitativos para mostrar la utilidad de los visores de realidad mixta. Será posible identificar los parámetros clave de ahorro para evaluar cómo las tecnologías de Realidad Mixta mejoran la efectividad y reducen el tiempo y los costos de las operaciones de Facility Management, además de mejorar el bienestar laboral de los usuarios. Esto se puede hacer comparando las métricas antes y después de la implementación del caso. El caso trata de una operación de mantenimiento; en consecuencia, el proyecto recuerda la competencia central de Operaciones y Mantenimiento de IFMA. Metodología El proyecto se introduce con una visión general de los dispositivos ya presentes en el mercado, centrándose en aquellos utilizados para fines de MR, para luego identificar la mejor solución para nuestro caso. Recopilar testimonios a través de reuniones y entrevistas con expertos en la materia (y por lo tanto, usuarios de los dispositivos) es crucial para recopilar la información necesaria para los análisis preliminares. Después de una investigación exhaustiva de los posibles casos de uso en las cuentas de CBRE donde implementar el dispositivo MR, junto con el Global Lead del equipo XRS, se decidió explorar un estudio específico de una inspección de techo en Madrid, con el fin de implementar el dispositivo y analizar los beneficios de su uso. El objetivo es recopilar datos para comparar la situación antes y después de la implementación del dispositivo. El proyecto, en colaboración con la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, se ha realizado de junio a octubre de 2024. Resultados Antes de la implementación del dispositivo, la inspección del techo en una cuenta en Madrid requería la presencia no solo del técnico in situ, José Manuel Barragán, sino también de tres miembros del equipo de ingeniería (Baris D., Nikolay S. y Gabriel M.), quienes no se encuentran en la capital, pero son responsables de las actividades regionales. 93 El supervisor in situ del edificio tiene el deber de proporcionar mantenimiento general a todos los equipos presentes. Es necesario realizar una auditoría para evaluar el equipo crítico, que es, en cambio, una tarea del equipo de ingeniería. Normalmente, antes de la implementación de cualquier dispositivo útil, la auditoría era realizada in situ por los miembros del equipo, lo que requería que se trasladaran al edificio. Después de una evaluación exhaustiva de los otros casos posibles, se eligió este para implementar el Microsoft HoloLens 2. En cuanto a la nueva auditoría, el técnico in situ podía usar los visores y mostrar a los miembros del equipo de ingeniería lo que estaba viendo y diciendo. Los expertos remotos podían guiar al trabajador, utilizando también las potencialidades de los hologramas. En este caso, de manera similar a la auditoría sin dispositivos, todos estaban revisando el equipo crítico, pero con muchas ventajas. La accesibilidad es excelente, lo que significa que el equipo podía trabajar de forma remota desde su oficina o incluso desde casa, sin necesidad de trasladarse al sitio para realizar la auditoría. Las métricas principales utilizadas para evaluar la efectividad de MR en la mejora de la operación incluyeron todos los gastos de viaje ahorrados, como el tiempo, costo, distancia y reducción de emisiones. De esta manera, los datos mostraron una mayor eficiencia en el mantenimiento, disminución de los costos operativos y mayor productividad general de los empleados. De hecho, el análisis financiero reveló ahorros significativos, particularmente en los costos de viaje. Se estimó un tiempo ahorrado de 2 días por el viaje evitado de los tres ingenieros, lo que se valoró en 600€. Se evitaron 5.488,8 km de desplazamiento, calculados en una reducción de CO2 de 1081,24 Kg (Gobierno de España, 2024). Obviamente, estos resultados dependen de la distancia para llegar a la instalación, que es variable, y se distribuyen en los costos incidentales de vuelos, autos, hoteles, comidas y bebidas. Además, hubo una marcada reducción en los costos laborales, ya que la mayor eficiencia permitió completar las tareas más rápidamente, requiriendo menos horas de trabajo en total. En el caso mostrado, se ha demostrado cómo, al proporcionar visualización en tiempo real para asistencia remota, MR redujo la necesidad de que los expertos estuvieran físicamente presentes en el sitio de mantenimiento. Las tareas y problemas pueden abordarse de manera más rápida y eficiente. Sin dispositivos de Realidad Mixta, algunos problemas menores podrían resolverse con una videollamada o una llamada telefónica normal, pero los comentarios de los empleados han demostrado que las tareas resueltas con los visores requieren menos tiempo, junto con muchos otros beneficios y riesgos reducidos. Además de los beneficios operativos y financieros, la implementación de dispositivos MR impactó positivamente en el medio ambiente. Al reducir la necesidad de viajar, la tecnología MR contribuyó a reducir las emisiones de carbono, alineándose con los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible de muchas empresas de FM (Gobierno de España, 2024; Naciones Unidas, 2024). The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 94 Finalmente, el uso de MR en FM contribuye a un modelo en el que el empleado está en el centro. El propio técnico in situ se siente más involucrado y promovido porque se le está dando un mejor dispositivo, gracias al cual su trabajo es más reconocido; esto también mejora la adquisición y retención de talento. Además, al minimizar los viajes para mantenimiento e inspecciones, las organizaciones mejoran el bienestar de sus trabajadores; algunos de los factores que benefician a los empleados son el aumento de la seguridad, la reducción de la fatiga física debido a la evitación de viajes (por ejemplo, vuelos transatlánticos y noches de viajes de negocios), lo que también disminuye el estrés y mejora el equilibrio entre la vida laboral y personal, debido a la posibilidad de pasar más tiempo en casa. Conclusiones La implementación de la Realidad Mixta en las operaciones de Facility Management, como lo demuestra este proyecto, ofrece beneficios sustanciales en términos de ahorro de costos, eficiencia operativa, sostenibilidad y bienestar de los empleados. Estos resultados son válidos y replicables en otras instalaciones con condiciones similares, así como en otros casos similares donde MR sea aplicable. En general, la adopción de MR en FM representa un paso significativo hacia una gestión más inteligente, eficiente y sostenible de edificios e infraestructuras, junto con una mejora del bienestar y el equilibrio entre la vida laboral y personal de los empleados, perfectamente alineada con la transición hacia la Industria 5.0. Próximos Pasos En el futuro, es necesario explorar otros casos, centrándose también en áreas como la formación, la instalación y la resolución de problemas, entre otros. Por ejemplo, el dispositivo también se ha implementado en el sitio de CBRE en 61 Southwark Street, en Londres, para permitir que un empleado recién graduado e inexperto de la empresa realizara una inspección con su gerente conectado de forma remota. También fuera de Europa, en Singapur, los visores fueron muy útiles para sustituir una visita obligatoria al sitio que requería la presencia de varias personas con compromisos laborales programados de manera diferente. Gracias al recorrido en línea, todos los participantes pudieron ver los problemas en tiempo real sin estar en el sitio. Los casos también demuestran que MR está alineado con algunas normativas del sector. Por ejemplo, la tecnología se ajusta al objetivo de la norma ISO 41001 de ayudar a las organizaciones a mejorar la integración de personas, lugares, procesos y tecnologías para optimizar el rendimiento de la gestión de instalaciones. MR optimiza los procedimientos de las instalaciones, mejorando la gestión de espacios y recursos. De hecho, mejora el control operativo, reduce los tiempos de inactividad y apoya una gestión más efectiva de los recursos. 95 Además, la Realidad Mixta también está alineada con los objetivos de la Certificación WELL, que apoya el bienestar, la salud y el confort de las personas que trabajan en las instalaciones. A medida que la tecnología MR continúa evolucionando, especialmente con la integración de IA, promete transformar aún más el FM, aumentando la productividad, reduciendo costos y promoviendo un enfoque más ecológico para el mantenimiento de las instalaciones. Referencias Spanish Government, 2024. Calculadora de huella de carbono de organización [WWW Document]. Minist. Para Transic. Ecológica El Reto Demográfico. URL https://www.miteco.gob.es/es/cambio-climatico/temas/mitigacionpoliticas-y-medidas/calculadoras.html (accessed 9.10.24). United Nations, 2024. THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development [WWW Document]. URL https://sdgs.un.org/goals (accessed 10.5.24). Link to access PP presentation to IFMA España: https://unibgitmy.sharepoint.com/:p:/g/personal/n_pendezini_studenti_unibg_it/ERxu0wfgmUNAhB4rICbX3jEBh9 Ps5SqHmN7WxfULyRaniA?e=u09Ub1 A.2 Article and presentation for ACFM (Associació Catalana de Facility Management) The article reported hereby is the one written to participate in the ACFM competition on the “digital transformation” that will take place in February 2025. It is in Spanish language. After the article, the link to the presentation prepared once again by the thesis author, with revisions by members of CBRE, is included. Realidad Mixta (MR) La Realidad Mixta (MR), que integra la Realidad Aumentada (AR) y la Realidad Virtual (VR), está revolucionando el Facility Management (FM). Al combinar elementos digitales con el entorno físico, la MR permite a los gestores y técnicos de instalaciones interactuar con objetos virtuales en 3D en tiempo real, ofreciendo nuevas formas de realizar tareas complejas con mayor precisión y eficiencia. Mediante el uso de dispositivos MR como Microsoft HoloLens, los usuarios pueden acceder a herramientas de mantenimiento interactivas, superponer datos en tiempo real sobre activos físicos y recibir soporte remoto, lo que permite reducir el tiempo de inactividad de las máquinas, mejorar la seguridad y reducir costos. Por ejemplo, la MR permite a los técnicos ver instrucciones paso a paso directamente en su campo de visión mientras trabajan con las manos libres, eliminando la necesidad The use of Mixed Reality to enhance Facility Management effectiveness, focusing on maintenance operations 102 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353417467_Challenges_and_Gaps_in_F acility_Maintenance_Practices Erbiyik, H., 2022. 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