About Merck
Merck is a global healthcare company with a 125-year history and over 71,000 employees worldwide. With facilities across the globe and its headquarters in Rahway, New Jersey, Merck helps to find new ways to treat and prevent illness in people and animals around the world.
Before we started working together, I was very nervous as this was our first project together. But your team created an exceptionally good product and exceeded all my expectations. It has been a tremendous tool to help communicate, align, and finalize the design of our new lab. I intend to use Invonto moving forward with many applicable initiatives we have.
John R.
Director – New Technology Development, Merck & Co.
Challenges
Merck was in the process of designing a new laboratory and pharmaceutical equipment for their new campus in New Jersey. Before fabricating the new equipment and constructing the laboratory, project managers at Merck wanted to learn if the proposed lab layout and equipment design would be effective for its research and development team. Merck wanted to guarantee that its scientists would have no trouble using the equipment and minimize rework to the floor plan that is common during the building process.
Merck partnered with Invonto to develop a virtual reality application that could simulate the equipment and floor plan. Using this application, Merck could gather feedback from stakeholders and make adjustments to the equipment and facilities designs prior to the build out. This approach can ensure best outcomes from Merck’s capital investments.
Objectives
Plan Visualization | Design Review | Process Engineering | Employee Training
Solution
Invonto engaged with Merck stakeholders to review architectural designs for the new research lab and gain understanding of the scientific processes. We were provided with the floor plans for the lab and equipment designs. Merck wanted to leverage emerging technology create a virtual reality app that met their two criteria. First criteria was to create a virtual lab environment with high quality 3D models to achieve a realistic look. Second criteria was to make virtual lab interactive simulating interactions users would expect in the physical lab and working with the equipment.
To achieve these, our VR development team first created 3D models of lab, equipment, fixtures, flooring, ceiling, and scientific tools as per the specifications. We implemented these models in a VR experience created for Oculus Quest headset. We added custom interactions in the VR app to make it intuitive and realistic. We built VR app in multiple milestones and demonstrated each completed milestone to the Merck team for their feedback. Once the app was completed, we created a training manual for the Merck employees. We also conducted onsite demonstrations for the scientists.
Tech Stack
Services Offered
Product Management
Virtual Reality Development
QA Testing
3D Modeling & Asset Creation
Employee Training
On-Site Demonstration
Results
Virtual reality simulation made it possible to gather feedback from the stakeholders on space design and scientific processes during the planning stage. Through the interactive and engaging demonstrations, we gathered a number of punchlist items for improving construction plan and design of the scientific equipment. With less than 2% of investment of the total cost of the capital project, VR app proved to be a successful initiative. Besides helping in finalizing construction plan, VR app will also be useful in training new employees on the scientific processes in a much safer and inexpensive environment.
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