Georgia-Pacific

Working with Full Clarity — a UX design and development agency based in Farnham — Aduro built a 3D VR training tour for Georgia-Pacific, one of the USA's largest paper and pulp manufacturers. Full Clarity delivered the full UX and design specification; Aduro researched the technology stack and led engineering and delivery, with a hard deadline to launch before the new year in 2020.

A first VR build, delivered on time

This was Aduro's first VR project — so before writing a line of code we evaluated the latest browser capabilities and best practices for immersive web experiences. The stack we landed on paired Svelte with Three.js for real-time 3D rendering, Device Orientation for mobile movement, and WebXR for full headset mode — giving Georgia-Pacific a single experience that works on desktop browsers and on the plant floor via phone or cardboard viewer.

The result is a training tool for onboarding new engineers: navigate the manufacturing complex, inspect labelled equipment, follow guided audio tours through production areas, and understand how components connect across the site — without needing physical access to every zone on day one.

Navigate the plant like you are there

The tour is built around forty-seven photographic viewpoints positioned across the facility. Users jump between positions from a searchable gallery, move through the spherical panoramas with drag or device motion, and open an overhead floorplan map to orient themselves across multiple production areas.

Each viewpoint carries interactive hotspots linking to equipment records — valves, vessels, heat transfer, instrumentation and more — with pop-up detail explaining what each component does and how it fits into the wider process. QR codes on site tie physical locations to the digital tour, so engineers can scan a marker and land directly in the right position on their phone.

Guided audio through production areas

Six structured audio tours walk engineers through key production lines — hardwood and long fibre, pulping, drying and more — with narration synced to the viewpoint and equipment the user is looking at. As the audio plays, the tour automatically moves the camera to the relevant position and highlights the equipment being described, so guided learning stays spatially grounded rather than abstract.

Full VR when the screen is not enough

For a fully immersive session, users can switch into stereoscopic VR mode — split-screen rendering designed for mobile headsets — and explore the plant with head movement rather than touch. The same panoramic assets and hotspot data power every mode: gallery navigation, map view, standard 360° browsing and WebXR, without maintaining separate experiences per device.

Georgia-Pacific's VR tour turned a complex manufacturing environment into something new engineers could learn before they arrived — and something experienced teams could revisit whenever they needed to refresh how the plant fits together.