By Kiran Rudrappa, CEO & Co-Founder, Posspole
The manufacturing industry has transformed greatly in recent years. It has come a long way from depending on human labour to now utilising technologies and introducing smart manufacturing, boosting efficiency and incorporating sustainability into the business for societal advantages. This shift is dependent on wireless networks with high speed, low latency and wide bandwidth. Previous generation networks, such as 4G LTE and Wi-Fi, aided this transformation but faced several challenges including limited speed and bandwidth. This is where 5G emerged as the game changer. Its fast speed, low latency and significant bandwidth make it a considerable improvement over previous-generation network. Many businesses have already implemented 5G networks while contributing to Industry 4.0 initiatives and making maximum use of innovative technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT) and machine learning.
Fostering Connectivity in Manufacturing
One of the most significant implications of 5G in manufacturing is its potential to provide seamless machine interactions. Traditionally, industrial processes relied on wired connections that had latency, bandwidth and reliability difficulties. With 5G, these constraints are no longer applicable. The ultra-low latency and tremendous bandwidth of 5G allow machines to communicate and function in perfect synchrony. Alongside faster communication between devices, 5G’s additional strengths include the ability to handle massive data transfers. This translates into access to time-sensitive information streams that enable improvements to critical processes across production. Furthermore, 5G allows manufacturers to leverage advanced technology like cloud computing. It also enables remote monitoring and access to various devices, promoting the use of smart manufacturing practices in remote locations.
Digital Innovation and Robotics
As per the National Association of Manufacturers projection, the industrial sector will be short of 2.1 million employees by 2030. This emerging issue can be solved by introducing robotics extensively in the industry that improves productivity and automates processes. The integration of smart sensors is also helping to increase the employment of collaborative robots, which are built to operate securely alongside people. Consequently, Straits Research has estimated that the Indian industrial robots market size will reach USD 522.12 million by 2025.
Effective collection of data is critical for robots to thrive, allowing manufacturers to discover operational inefficiencies. Nevertheless, to analyse and transfer data, these technologies require excellent network connectivity. 5G improves this by providing more bandwidth and reduced latency, allowing for quicker and more reliable communication between devices. This quick data exchange is crucial for the effective implementation of robots and IoT, ensuring real-time reactions and increasing overall industrial efficiency.
Facilitating Smart Manufacturing
5G promotes the seamless integration of new technologies in the manufacturing industry. Specifically, it facilitates smart manufacturing capabilities through the following:
Predictive Maintenance: The high bandwidth of 5G allows manufacturers to consistently evaluate sensor data in real time. This also helps them to predict equipment failures before hand while scheduling maintenance and avoiding costly downtime. Additionally, 5G provides a comprehensive overview of machine health and production output.
Predictive and Prescriptive Quality: The high efficiency of 5G monitoring empowers remote oversight of industries. This leads to improved quality control by allowing real-time tracking of production lines and remote inspections through sensor data, without compromising efficiency. This further results in prescriptive insights based on real-time data sources from environmental, product, process and people-orientated data.
Precision Monitoring: The ultra-low latency of 5G empowers the automation of tasks, providing manufacturers with increased flexibility and precision in managing operations through remote and pinpoint control.
Real-Time Visibility: The high speed of 5G data transfers significantly enhances track-and-trace capabilities. This allows manufacturers to gain deeper visibility into production processes, with real-time data inserted directly into informed decision-making, providing instant access to precise location data for every component on the assembly line.
In addition, 5G improves manufacturers’ capacity to respond to factors such as supply chain interruptions, fluctuating consumer expectations and material shortages, allowing them to make proactive choices before issues develop. Enabling flexibility across the workplace through open data interchange enables industries to quickly react when grappling with challenges. Thus, investing in a network of adaptive and easily available information is crucial to long-term industry success. Following this, Allied Market Research has estimated that the worldwide 5G industrial market will reach USD 140.88 billion by 2030.
In conclusion, 5G has emerged as more than an enabler of smart manufacturing; it is the foundation upon which the industry’s future is constructed. 5G transforms manufacturing units into hotspots of efficiency and invention by allowing seamless machine interactions, resource sharing and innovation. Manufacturers who adapt this revolutionary network are not only optimising their operations but also setting the basis for a new age of industrial excellence.