In partnership with Bosch Rexroth
Finding, training and retaining skilled operators is one of the defining challenges facing manufacturers today. Unemployment is at historic lows, competition for production talent is intensifying, and when an experienced operator leaves, the training investment built around them leaves with them.
Arkite addresses this directly. As the operator guidance platform for manual assembly, Arkite gives every operator, regardless of experience, the ability to work independently and without error from day one, while making manual processes measurable for the first time.
This is the subject of an upcoming podcast conversation between Dr Zoltán Sas, Industry 4.0 System Design Engineer for Didactics at Bosch Rexroth, and Rob Reynders, Arkite expert with close to twenty years in the automotive industry before joining Arkite four years ago.
A 32-step process, zero errors, no prior training
The clearest demonstration of a platform is not a slide deck. It is watching someone execute a process they have never seen before, correctly, on the first attempt.
When Bosch Rexroth integrated Arkite into its CUBE showroom, Dr Sas was asked to present the system, having never performed the underlying process himself: a 32-step assembly task combining an AMR system, a screwdriving tool, manual assembly, a conveyor belt and a collaborative robot.
No training. No errors.
This is the platform working as designed. Arkite projects real-time, step-by-step instructions directly onto the operator’s workstation. A dedicated 3D sensor validates each assembly action to confirm that every step has been executed correctly, while an integrated vision sensor performs automated quality inspection on the presence, orientation and condition of components throughout the process.
Where a deviation is detected, the system provides immediate feedback and holds the operator at that step until it has been corrected. The result is guidance and quality assurance operating together, in real time, without paper instructions or dependency on a single experienced colleague.
Built for every operator, and every size of operation
Operator turnover does not only remove knowledge from the business. It removes the time and cost invested in building that knowledge in the first place. Manufacturers running Arkite report scrap and rework reductions of 65 to 100 per cent, alongside an average 70 per cent reduction in training time.
The platform’s value extends beyond onboarding. Its Experience Level function continuously monitors an operator’s speed and error rate and adjusts the depth of guidance accordingly: experienced operators are not slowed down by instructions they do not need, while any deviation still triggers an immediate alert. Instructions can also be translated into any language, including with AI support, so operators receive guidance in their own language automatically at login.
This matters as much for smaller manufacturers as for large enterprises. Where production volumes are lower and processes more variable, Arkite reduces cognitive load on operators and delivers a standard of quality assurance that would otherwise require a dedicated quality engineer at every workstation.
Turning manual execution into production intelligence
This is among the least discussed, and most consequential, capabilities of the platform.
In most manual processes, entire stages of activity have never generated data at all. How long does it take an operator to locate the correct component? How much time elapses between picking up a tool and completing the operation? At which step does variation, or failure, actually occur?
Arkite captures each step directly: operation duration, screwdriving values, quality inspection results and feedback from connected smart tools. Fed back to the Arkite server in real time from every workstation, this creates a single, structured record of manual execution, exportable to Power BI or any connected BI environment. The result is not only traceability, but a genuine analytical foundation:
For lean specialists, it identifies where bottlenecks actually occur, rather than where they are assumed to be.
For process engineers, it makes visible who is struggling with which step, and why.
For management, it makes cycle time optimisation a measurable, data-driven exercise rather than an estimate.
In many operations, this data simply did not exist before. Arkite does not only structure the process. It makes visible, for the first time, what manual execution had always concealed.
Where the stakes are highest: Volvo Cars, Webasto, BMW
At Volvo Cars, Ghent, operators fit rubber plugs to the car body before it enters the paint shop. A single missed plug means the vehicle must be repainted. Arkite uses seven projectors to indicate exactly where each plug belongs, from wheel arches to engine compartment. The installation has been running for more than five years.
At Webasto, Arkite validates that operators have applied primer correctly during panoramic roof assembly, guiding each step and permitting progress only once it has been completed to specification.
At BMW’s Dingolfing plant, a comparable application validates that operators degrease the edges of the panoramic roof using an alcohol-infused cloth, confirming both location and method before logging the result as proof of execution.
Each case illustrates where Arkite delivers the most value: wherever operator attention is critical and the cost of error is irreversible.
Open architecture, no vendor lock-in
Arkite is built on an open architecture that supports standard industrial communication protocols, including OPC UA, MQTT and Ethernet-based interfaces, and integrates directly with existing MES and ERP systems, smart tools, barcode scanners, printers and measuring devices.
Arkite does not replace these systems. It connects them to the operator layer, in line with the same digital manufacturing stack that underpins the Bosch Rexroth ecosystem: no single-supplier lock-in, no custom development required for connectivity, and no compromise on existing infrastructure.
For smaller manufacturers, this makes Arkite a cost-effective entry point into the digitalisation of manual assembly. For large enterprises, it closes a gap that neither automation nor ERP systems can address on their own: the human-machine interface at the point of execution.
Arkite Academy: building platform knowledge at any scale
Arkite Academy provides structured, self-paced learning resources for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the platform, whether a manufacturer planning implementation, a development team assessing integration, or a university introducing students to a live industrial environment. No programming experience or external support is required.
This makes the Academy relevant to a wide range of organisations: manufacturers of any size addressing quality assurance and training time in manual assembly; researchers and universities giving process engineering students hands-on access to a real industrial platform; teams developing augmented reality concepts who need a proven platform for testing; and custom electronics development projects that depend on open APIs and standard protocols for deep integration.
The final layer of the digital manufacturing stack
Most manufacturers already operate ERP and MES systems, and increasingly automated warehouses. Yet the operator at the workbench frequently still relies on paper instructions, or on knowledge that has never been formally captured.
As Rob Reynders puts it: “This was the blank spot. Arkite fills that gap.”
ERP decides what to build. MES decides when to build it. Arkite tells the operator how to build it, and validates that it was built correctly. Some manufacturers have already extended this further, documenting every new production process directly in Arkite rather than in paper or PDF form, so it can be updated, retrieved and deployed to any shift immediately.
The full conversation is coming soon
Dr Zoltán Sas and Rob Reynders will also cover implementation planning, pilot project structure, the use of Arkite in universities and vocational training, and further concrete use cases.
Follow Bosch Rexroth and Arkite’s own channels for the release of the full podcast episode.
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