5G network accelerates electric vehicle production to support smart manufacturing

Over the next few months, a dedicated 5G network will be deployed across the new Ford electric vehicle factory, which will focus on enabling fast and reliable data capture and analysis from connected welding machines.

The 5G mobile private network will be provided by Vodafone Business at the new E:PriME (Electrified Powertrain for Manufacturing Engineering) facility located at Ford’s Dunton campus in the UK. A Vodafone spokesperson told EuroTimes: “This is a private network built specifically for Ford at the Ford campus. It is separate from our public network. All network infrastructure (core and radio) is provided by Ericsson. Based on Ford’s needs, Ericsson equipment is best suited for this use case.”

The project is being delivered as part of the UK government-funded 5G trials announced earlier this year. Of the total £65 million package of projects funded in the UK, £1.95 million has been allocated to the 5GEM (5G-enabled Manufacturing) trial, which is installing two Vodafone mobile networks. One of these is at Ford working on connectivity for welding processes used in electric vehicle manufacturing, and the other is being carried out at TWI in Cambridge to support vacuum furnace engineering technology to connect heat treatment equipment.

The batteries and motors within an electric vehicle require approximately 1,000 welds. For a single EV product, this can generate more than 500,000 pieces of data per minute. Fast, reliable, high-volume data capture and analysis will be an important requirement for these processes. Existing factory systems cannot support such a large volume of welds and data, so 5G has been selected as a system that aligns with the Industry 4.0 approach.

Connecting data with experts such as TWI and manufacturers is essential if processes are to evolve at the same pace as product innovation demands. Therefore, as part of the same project, TWI is working with vacuum furnace specialist VFE to use 5G technology for brazing applications. The aim is to improve the consistency and quality of components during the heat treatment cycle. This work will also demonstrate the challenges of integrating 5G, while also showing how the integration can work with adjacent machines and manufacturing execution systems.

Connected equipment at both plants (at Ford and TWI) will provide real-time control, analytics and remote expert support to ensure new manufacturing processes are ready for production.

Chris White, Ford’s 5GEM project leader, said: “Connecting today’s shop floor requires significant time and investment. Current technology can be a limiting factor in reconfiguring and deploying next-generation manufacturing systems. 5G brings the opportunity to transform the launch speed and flexibility of existing manufacturing facilities, moving us towards the factory of the future with connected remote expert support and artificial intelligence.”

Vinod Kumar, CEO of Vodafone Business, added: “5G Mobile Private Networks are a springboard for enterprise organisations, allowing them to rethink the way they do business. In this case, MPN technology is enabling the factory of the future. It allows machines and computing power to coordinate in real time, improving precision, efficiency and safety. We are delighted to help Ford plan for the future of its business.”

The UK government announced funding for two industrial manufacturing projects for 5G trials and testbeds in February. One of these is the Ford 5GEM project mentioned above. The other is a project called 5G ENCODE at the Bristol National Composites Centre, led by Zeetta Networks, which received £3.82 million in government funding.

The ENCODE project will study new business models for dedicated mobile networks in the manufacturing industry. It will investigate three key industrial 5G applications to improve productivity and efficiency in composite design and manufacturing: interactive augmented reality (AR); asset tracking across multiple locations and sites, and industrial system management. The consortium consists of ten companies, including Telefonica, Siemens, Toshiba, Solvay and Baker Hughes. Zeetta will provide its multi-domain orchestration technology based on 5G network splicing and slicing.