Under the Industry 4.0 trend, manufacturers are beginning to leverage digital technologies to achieve more transparent control over production processes, thereby improving production efficiency, reducing production costs, and providing more value to customers. Industry 4.0 requires factories to have efficient connectivity solutions and a smart, stable, and secure factory network before they can mine the necessary big data and transform that data into value.
Digital technologies offer significant benefits to the manufacturing industry, reducing costs, enabling customized production, and shortening time-to-market. They also grant personnel complete control over production equipment and processes, leading to better production planning. However, these benefits can only be realized by connecting all machinery and integrating it through system software.
Wired network connectivity faces new challenges
In most industrial network environments, over 90% of objects in a factory need to be connected via network cables. However, this is not easy to achieve, especially when older production equipment becomes an information silo, preventing data collection and analysis, thus hindering managers' understanding and management of these devices.
In the past, most factory networks used wired connections. Upgrading equipment was costly, and re-laying cables incurred unpredictable costs and consumed significant time, potentially leading to production downtime and decreased productivity and revenue. Therefore, manufacturers must consider whether the value and cost of rewiring align with expected return on investment.
In the future, factories will require a large number of connected devices, including robots, mobile AGVs, machine tools, and other automated equipment. This will make connectivity more complex and represent a massive undertaking for wired connections. Factories need a connectivity solution that is easy to deploy, manage, and use to enable quick and easy communication between field devices.
The internet is moving towards wireless, making industry more agile.
Wireless networks have created greater flexibility in the manufacturing process, significantly reducing the time required to set up new production lines and making production line conversions and adjustments much easier, enabling manufacturers to respond more quickly and meet ever-changing customer needs.
Factory floors require reliable and secure connectivity to become smarter, faster, and more efficient than ever before. Dedicated wireless cellular networks meet manufacturers' requirements for ultra-fast data transmission, enabling numerous devices to collaborate in real time. More importantly, they offer high flexibility; when new machinery, such as robots, is introduced into the factory, it can be directly configured to connect to the internet.
Wireless networks have accelerated the implementation of digital twins, thereby helping factories improve quality control. Mobile robots in factories can receive status information about their surroundings via wireless connections, preventing collisions and enhancing equipment safety. Furthermore, wirelessly connected production equipment can achieve higher efficiency and quality assurance.
5G is a new opportunity, bringing about a major transformation in the manufacturing industry.
Based on a dedicated 4G LTE cellular network, the factory achieved real-time interconnection of assets and processes, enabling factory digitization and advanced automation. Compared to wired networks, dedicated cellular networks can add value and reduce waste, while improving security and safety.
4G dedicated cellular networks enable a large number of devices in factory workshops to connect to the network, providing the necessary speed, reliability, and security. However, this is far from enough. In the future, manufacturing will require the transmission of massive amounts of data, making 5G a highly anticipated technology.
Manufacturing is undergoing a major transformation as connected factories take shape around the world. Dedicated cellular connectivity will enable new, cutting-edge industrial automation applications to find their place in connected factory floors.
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