5G: A game changer on the factory floor

Driven by the Internet of Things, global manufacturing value added (MVA) per capita has risen from $100 to $532 over the past three decades. At the same time, with the industrial sector consuming more than half of the world’s energy, there is an urgent need to double the efficiency of factories around the world.

To do this, factories need to be able to react quickly to changing demands, customization, and short product life cycles. They require interchangeable processes and equipment that can be easily reconfigured, modified, and replaced using maintenance-free connectors, reducing costs and downtime.

Achieving this level of efficiency requires the ability to communicate faster, more reliably, and more securely across the factory floor. That means timely access to data.

5G, with its high capacity and low latency, can enable this level of efficiency within factories. While it is not yet readily available to consumers, some of the world's largest manufacturers are already using 5G to transform the way they manufacture. They do this through private networks, which allow companies to control their own data, ensuring complete privacy from competitors.

Perhaps the biggest benefit of 5G in terms of productivity is that it enables manufacturers to add cutting-edge technologies like automated robots and IoT devices to their operations.

For the digital factory to be successful, machines need to be able to safely sense, measure, and interpret the real world. This requires converting analog data into digital data for more signal processing.

The highest quality data can be found at what we call the intelligent edge, and 5G enables us to leverage these insights and make better decisions at the edge, improving overall efficiency.

Take the Gigafactory as an example. In battery manufacturing, robots must apply uniform coatings with high precision. This precision can be guaranteed by data from the intelligent edge.

5G also makes human and machine collaboration safer. When humans and robots operate together, manufacturing processes are faster, more efficient and more cost-effective. The reliability and speed of 5G means that machine-to-machine communication and human-to-machine interaction will be greatly improved, reducing the risk of accidents.

Eliminating the need for wired connections through 5G also provides greater flexibility in manufacturing environments, thereby enhancing process automation, remote monitoring, maintenance and equipment lifecycle management.

In the case of factories, physical connectors disappear and commands are sent wirelessly between robotic subsystems, increasing production speed while reducing costs. All of this is possible with 5G wireless networks, which maximize communication, reduce the potential for errors (or accidents), and importantly, protect the technology from hackers or malicious entities.

The benefits of 5G on the factory floor are clear, but as with any technology that promises to disrupt the status quo, it will take time, resources, and concerted effort to ensure all factories can benefit.

The transition from a wired to wireless network is a complex upgrade. Each industrial customer has a unique set of circumstances, from cultural dynamics to financial situations to interest in innovation, that impact the organization’s ability to make a significant upgrade to wireless.

That said, the number of digital factories will increase rapidly in the coming years as traditional manufacturing facilities reach the end of their lifecycles. COVID-19 has taught companies many painful lessons about the risks of too much offshoring. As a result, many companies are now looking to bring their facilities closer to their customers. This opens the door to newer, more powerful facilities built on 5G technology. Once 5G is fully realized, we will live in a world that has the potential to significantly improve the lives of all of us.