Smart Manufacturing: Flexibility Is King and 5G Is Its Enabler
Learn how 5G revolutionizes manufacturing, ensuring adaptability to disruptions.
Disruptions like natural disasters and resource shortages are plaguing manufacturers. 5G’s high-speed, reliable connections offer a solution, enabling real-time data analysis, flexible automation, and a smarter, more productive factory floor, says Anthony Murphy, VP of product management at Plex.
The number of disruptions affecting supply chain operations and manufacturers has increased drastically over the past few years. As natural disasters, cyberattacks, labor shortages, and geopolitical conflicts arise, manufacturers have been forced to accommodate fluctuations in supply and demand. Unexpected disruptions affecting material access have created turmoil for manufacturers. A recent report revealed that raw material access was a major concern this past year, affecting 71% of global companies. With fluctuating consumer demands, unreliable resource availability and disruptions along the supply chain, flexibility is paramount for manufacturers to adjust to fast-changing market conditions and maintain productivity.
Weathering the storm of unexpected disruptions requires real-time connectivity in order to respond and adapt to evolving market demands and external challenges. The fifth generation of wireless network technology, also known as 5G, provides manufacturers with exactly that. Providing a rapid response network with 5G allows manufacturers to accelerate product customization, improve demand forecasting, enhance decision-making and risk mitigation, enable the use of advanced automation and robotics and increase communication across the industrial ecosystem.
Building a Rapid Response Network with 5G
Evolving methods of communication have ushered in a new era of lightning-fast data transfer with 5G. Previous generations of mobile network technology, such as 4G and Wi-Fi, have been outpaced by 5G’s unprecedented speed, expansive coverage, and ability to handle a massive number of devices simultaneously. This is significantly advantageous for the manufacturing industry, which increasingly relies on an expansive web of Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Additional driving factors contributing to the revolutionary force of 5G on the factory floor is the ability for this communication channel to provide high-speed, low-latency, and reliable communications. This provides a significant benefit over the existing methods of communication, as it enables rapid and dependable large-scale data transfers. 5G’s near-zero latency minimizes lag and provides a real-time experience that improves data analysis and timely decision-making.
As opposed to previous network technology, 5G also alleviates the need for wired connectivity and provides the manufacturing landscape with a far greater degree of flexibility and connectivity. 5G enables factory operations to maintain connections among far more sensors than wired experiences or previous versions of wireless capabilities. This allows manufacturers to easily reconfigure production lines and deploy new equipment across various locations.
Adapting to the Explosion of Devices and Technology
The use of technology has exploded in the industrial industry over the past few years. In fact, IoT-connected devices worldwide are expected to nearly double by 2030. As the rate of adoption and implementation increases, manufacturers are forced to integrate a significant amount of technology. These advancements in technology are quickly rendered ineffective without the proper network layer, which offers the flexibility for technology and systems to be adapted and reconfigured without needing new development, such as refitting a machine cell or a production line.
Implementing new and existing systems without disruption is a significant portion of the value proposition and agility provided by 5G. Organizations require a smart manufacturing solution to act as the central nervous system of manufacturing operations to reap the benefits of this communication channel. This will not only accelerate the delivery of information but also provide a flexible and agile response to the influx of information. Smart manufacturing with the power of 5G empowers the integration of existing enterprise systems, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), and Quality Management Systems (QMS).
See More: Prioritizing Profitability and Sustainability in Manufacturing with AI
Benefits of Flexibility Provided by 5G in Smart Manufacturing
With 5G, smart manufacturing solutions can be used to modify production processes on time, even enabling change during the production process. Specifically, the benefits provided with 5G in combination with smart manufacturing allow manufacturers to:
- Improve machine maintenance by utilizing the efficiency of 5G-powered data to anticipate repairs and make remote machine monitoring more seamless, allowing manufacturers to understand the condition and productivity of their assets in real-time.
- Enable remote monitoring of factories through 5G to allow improved quality control tracking and remote inspection of products with higher efficiency.
- Drive more seamless and efficient use of advanced smart manufacturing technologies like automated guided vehicles and augmented reality to reduce human error and improve employee training.
- Leverage 5G’s low latency, enabling real-time control of robotics and equipment to improve operations management from any location.
- Enhance performance of track and trace capabilities and remote monitoring with 5G’s high-speed data transfers.
The speed of 5G provides the flexibility for smart manufacturing platforms to transform information delivery across the factory floor.
This network, which enables smart manufacturing solutions to communicate better with one another, leads to increased visibility over key production processes, allowing manufacturers to capitalize on the control of real-time information. The functionalities enabled by 5G and smart manufacturing provide considerable operations and productivity value to manufacturers. Increasing the interconnectedness of devices and enhancing the flexibility of manufacturing facilities can lead to cost reduction, improved product quality, and increased agility.
According to the Manufacturing Institute Study, the industry appears to understand the value of the network, with 91% of manufacturers reporting that 5G connectivity will be important to the overall future of their business. Manufacturers will benefit from faster time to market and greater efficiency regarding end-product output. 5G provides manufacturers with broader access to data, which previously resided in silos across the factory floor. The connectivity of 5G provides seamless data streaming to the cloud for predictive and adaptive technologies.
Besides offering benefits for the factory floor, 5G also carries the potential to support the entire supply chain. 5G’s data-sharing capabilities enable applications such as Track and Trace, which provides live location updates and reliable tracking information. Supporting the wider supply chain ecosystem with this technology also enables manufacturers to improve performance by creating a seamless communication channel that delivers real-time updates to increase resilience to unexpected disruptions, market changes, or variable consumer demands.
Allowing a seamless flow of information safely across a network creates a more collaborative, integrated working environment. Connecting workers on the factory floor with operators in various site locations or different countries, improving the monitoring of devices and sensors to ensure proper equipment function and production, and enhancing tracking and visibility to ensure proper inventory levels and optimized logistics streamlines operations to transform manufacturing facilities into an intelligent ecosystem capable of adapting to ever-fluctuating internal and external variables.
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