5G Factory Takes Over the Next Step of "5G+Industrial Internet"

As a product of the deep integration and application of "5G+Industrial Internet" in the industrial field, 5G factories will promote the leapfrog development of 5G in industrial production from "local single point" to "overall production" and from "peripheral application" to "core of production", accelerate the pace of digital transformation of industrial enterprises, and open up a "new track" for the integrated development of 5G and Industrial Internet.

Important development directions after the "512 Project"

As the new round of technological revolution continues to develop, the global economic structure is facing a reshaping, and my country's industrial and information development is facing a historical opportunity of a new generation of technological revolution and industrial transformation. As a new generation of information and communication technology, 5G plays an important role in the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry. The integration of 5G and the industrial Internet will accelerate China's new industrialization process and inject new impetus into economic development.

Since the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "5G+Industrial Internet" 512 Project Promotion Plan in 2019, it has worked closely with all parties in the industry and actively explored to jointly promote the innovative development of "5G+Industrial Internet". It has cultivated and formed 20 typical application scenarios in ten key industries and achieved phased results. In September 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Guidelines for the Construction of 5G Fully Connected Factories" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"), which clarified the overall requirements, construction content and construction path of 5G factory construction, marking the "5G+Industrial Internet" from the initial exploration stage to the deep cultivation stage.

During the 2023 Two Sessions, Jin Zhuanglong, Minister of Industry and Information Technology, said that it is planned to build more than 10,000 5G factories during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. 5G factories will make full use of the new generation of information and communication technologies represented by 5G networks to create a new type of industrial Internet infrastructure, build or renovate production sites at the production line level, workshop level, and factory level, and form advanced factories with extensive connections between production units, deep integration of information (IT) and operations (OT), full use of data elements, and efficient empowerment of innovative applications.

The construction boom of 5G factories is coming. As a systematic project, 5G factories are not simply superimposed on 5G technology and industrial Internet. Instead, 5G is used as a key technology and enabling technology, and organically integrated with various new-generation information and communication technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, edge computing, VR/AR, digital twins, etc., to create new models, new formats, and new scenarios, and promote the extensive networking of "people, machines, materials, methods, environment, and measurement" in the factory according to actual production needs, and make full use of 5G technology to connect IT and OT, helping enterprises solve the difficulties, pain points, and bottlenecks in the process of digital transformation, and achieve quality improvement, cost reduction, efficiency increase, green, and safe development. The 5G factory focuses on the factory, but is not limited to traditional factories in the manufacturing industry. As long as there are industries and fields with production site conditions, including mines, ports, electricity, etc., they can actively explore the construction of 5G factories.

5G factory is an important direction for the next stage of development of "5G+Industrial Internet" after the "512 Project". It takes production lines, workshops and factories as units to deepen the implementation of industrial Internet in industrial enterprises, accelerate the comprehensive deployment and application of 5G in industrial enterprises, and promote the further growth of the 5G industrial ecosystem. More importantly, 5G factory can promote the manufacturing industry to accelerate the development of digitalization, networking and intelligence, and give full play to the amplification, superposition and multiplication of digital transformation on economic and social development.

Industrial development is flourishing; typical cases are too numerous to mention.

The 5G factory is a good opportunity for in-depth cooperation among industry ecosystem partners such as vertical manufacturers, operators, equipment manufacturers, and chip manufacturers. It is also a form of implementation for 5G to penetrate from auxiliary links to core production links.

As the main force in the construction of 5G network infrastructure, the three major operators actively support the construction and implementation of 5G factories. China Telecom has always regarded 5G customized networks as the best practice of cloud-network integration. Through the integration of cloud, security, data, and intelligence, it has built hundreds of 5G factories in ten major industries. It has transformed from a traditional operator responsible for "connection" to a comprehensive intelligent information service provider that deeply participates in the entire system, process, links, and elements of the industrial Internet. It promotes the construction of 5G factories through 5G customized networks and helps the digital transformation and development of the economy and society.

In December last year, China Mobile proposed to build 1,000 5G factories in labor-intensive industries such as home appliances and equipment manufacturing, and shared the "China Mobile 5G Fully Connected Factory Capability System" and "China Mobile's '5G Fully Connected Factory' Solutions and Products". In March this year, China Mobile established the "5G Fully Connected Factory Corps", which is committed to building a new information service system with 5G as the core and building 5G factories in all aspects.

China Unicom attaches great importance to the development of "5G+Industrial Internet". At the "2022 China 5G Development Conference", Liu Liehong, then chairman of China Unicom, said in his keynote speech that China Unicom plans to build 1,000 5G factories in 2023. At present, China Unicom has built a number of 5G factory benchmarks such as Youngor, CIMC, Geely Zeekr, Baowu Zhanjiang Steel, and Shanxi Pangpangta Mine, covering multiple key industries such as mining, steel, and electricity.

Today, the construction of 5G factories across the country is in full swing. According to data from the Industrial Internet Industry Alliance, as of now, there are more than 1,800 5G factory projects across the country, involving 29 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government), covering 10 "5G+Industrial Internet" key industries such as equipment manufacturing, electronic equipment manufacturing, petrochemicals, mining, steel, electricity, textiles, building materials, ports, etc., as well as other industries such as non-ferrous metals and materials. Project types have included various levels such as production lines, workshops, and factories.

For example, Midea Group, China Mobile and Huawei jointly built the world's first 5G factory in the field of home appliance manufacturing - Jingzhou Midea 5G Factory. For the first time, it has truly realized the reliance of the entire industrial park on 5G, and fully realized the interconnection and interoperability in actual production and operation activities. Currently, 15 types of application scenarios have been implemented, and each production link is "seamlessly connected" through 5G, which eliminates the complicated pipelines in ordinary workshops and greatly improves the automation efficiency.

At present, 5G factories are springing up all over the country, and the innovative development of "5G+Industrial Internet" has formed a good situation of thousands of ships advancing together and hundreds of boats competing with each other, and it is moving from "testing the waters and trial sailing" to "deep-water voyage".

5G factory construction has a long way to go

It has been a year since the release of the "Guidelines". During this period, 5G factory construction has made phased progress, but there are also many challenges.

On the one hand, the current 5G factory construction has crossed the incubation period of "from 0 to 1" and is moving towards the scale development of "from 1 to N". However, there are barriers between many industries, and even between different application scenarios in the same industry, there are many differences, which makes it more difficult to replicate the scale. On the other hand, some companies are not willing to build or renovate 5G factories. The construction of 5G factories should bring substantial "quality improvement, cost reduction, and efficiency improvement" to enterprises. However, at present, due to the high cost of 5G private networks, modules and other equipment, in the early stage of 5G factory construction, enterprises will face the problem of more investment. Although in the long run, the construction of 5G factories will achieve the goal of cost reduction by improving production efficiency, the excessive cost investment in the early stage still makes some small and medium-sized enterprises "hesitate to move forward".

Therefore, for the future development of 5G factories, on the one hand, when building 5G factories, enterprises should be guided by the objective laws and actual needs of their own development, and adopt some ultra-lightweight 5G core network products for transformation on the premise of technical feasibility and cost control. On the other hand, the state should also provide certain policy support for the construction of 5G factories, and reduce the burden of network construction for operators through policies such as "tax reduction and fee reduction". At the same time, with the application of 5GRedCap technology and the development of economical 5G chips, the cost of 5G hardware will be further reduced, the industrial ecology will be improved, and the key links of large-scale development of the industry will be opened up.

The 5G factory is here, and the Internet of Everything is opening. With the joint efforts of the industry, I believe that the construction of 5G factories will continue to achieve new results. With the accelerated implementation of the "new infrastructure", the construction of 5G factories will also help build a strong network and a digital China, continuously consolidate the digital foundation for high-quality economic and social development, and make new and greater contributions to the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country.