How 5G enables sustainable digital transformation in manufacturing
What you’ll learn:
- Conversations around network optionality, as well as increased adoption of 5G, can have a major impact on a bloated infrastructure.
- The technologies necessary to make the most out of all this data can be very computationally intensive.
- By displacing numerous Wi-Fi access points with fewer cellular antennas, it results in a simpler, more scalable architecture.
Smart manufacturing enhances production, streamlines workforce management, and reduces costs. While efforts to embrace smart manufacturing practices can have transformational benefits, older “legacy” infrastructure and clunky systems may undermine their effectiveness by creating data silos and bottlenecks as well as consuming more power.
Such inefficiencies serve to defeat the purpose of digital transformation and hamstring sustainability efforts. Conversations around network optionality, as well as increased adoption of 5G, however, can have a major impact on a bloated infrastructure, ensuring that digital transformation and smart manufacturing live up to their promise.
The rise of digital transformation in manufacturing led to an explosion of data. This data is a treasure trove that informs and enhances a slew of manufacturing processes.
Big data can inform demand forecasting, which enables manufacturers to better predict market trends and consumer demand, which in turn enables them to improve inventory management, supply chain management, pricing, and more.
Predictive maintenance can anticipate the breakdown of machines so that a manufacturer may service machines to avoid unplanned downtime, which is much more costly and time-consuming than proactive machine upkeep or replacement.
Much like with predictive maintenance, real-time data can enhance quality control by identifying quality issues in line production in the early stages, which is much more cost-effective.
The explosion of data does come with obstacles
The benefits of these data-driven solutions are undeniable, but they come with challenges. The technologies necessary to make the most out of all this data can be very computationally intensive. Establishing a real-time view of the factory floor, including the production line and inside machinery, requires tools like digital twins, machine vision, and AR/VR, all of which are compute-intensive.
Adding a layer of intelligence, such as machine vision to manage robots and other machines, or AI/machine learning to enable predictive maintenance, demand forecasting, and more, is also very compute-intensive.
In short, harnessing all of that data, especially in real time, is a gargantuan task. If a manufacturer has a patchwork of legacy systems and an inefficient network, managing all this data can consume much more power than necessary. Luckily, 5G solutions can help address these shortcomings.
A simplified network reduces power consumption
5G also greatly reduces power and cooling requirements associated with managing traditional wired and Wi-Fi networks. By displacing numerous Wi-Fi access points with fewer cellular antennas, it results in a simpler, more scalable architecture.
By investing in 5G, manufacturers will lay the groundwork for smarter systems and a more sustainable future.
For example, in accordance with the ANSI/TIA-568 standard, if a manufacturer has a traditional cabling system, their endpoint has to be within 300 feet of an electronic panel that manages communication. Data cabling can only go out so far to the endpoint.
If a manufacturer has a million square feet under the roof in their plant, they’ll likely have dozens of aggregation points (EGIDF) feeding the cabling that is traveling to the endpoints—all of which is consuming power, since they have to power and cool those intervening data switches and panels.
5G can significantly lower power consumption by reducing the number of those instances. Generally speaking, at least from what we hear from customers, a cellular antenna will displace anywhere from three to 10 Wi-Fi access points. With 5G, then, a manufacturer consumes far less power for antennas in these network closets.
Solving for copper cabling
The use of 5G, particularly private 5G in industrial settings, reduces the need for copper cabling used in traditional network infrastructure, which can represent significant cost savings and environmental benefits.
Every million linear feet of copper cabling requires tons of copper (about 13 tons). Not every wireless technology can effectively reduce the need for copper and other metal cabling. Manufacturers require high-capacity, low-latency connectivity, which 5G delivers.
The use of metals like copper for cabling undermines a manufacturer’s sustainability efforts. The mining and production of metals consumes significant amounts of energy, emits significant amounts of carbon, and poses other environmental risks.
Though improved methods of end-of-life recycling can go a long way toward reducing carbon footprint and energy consumption of metals mining and production, the reduction of copper cabling is a more effective way of improving sustainability efforts and lowering costs. 5G is an effective way of accomplishing this.
A greater capacity to scale
By reducing energy consumption with a simpler architecture, a manufacturer enjoys a greater capacity for scale and coverage. If they’re able to connect more devices and more sensors at scale, they’ll be able to impact other areas of their operation, which will drive other efficiencies.
Let’s say, for example, that a manufacturer can connect two times, three times, or four times the number of sensors they have currently in place, and they’ll be able to collect more data and monitor more systems, which will net greater efficiencies and higher-quality insights.
Though not every sensor will have a SIM card to serve as a cellular endpoint, the network will be able to aggregate sensors to speak in their native communications mode for that last inch.
If they’re able to connect more devices and more sensors at scale, they’ll be able to impact other areas of their operation, which will drive other efficiencies.
5G can bridge the gap between the past and the future, helping manufacturers get the most out of their legacy systems while paving the way for upgrades and the introduction of new data-intensive technologies like AI. Optimized systems will lead to more sustainable manufacturing.
In many ways, smart manufacturing is sustainable manufacturing. Efficient systems waste less. Optimized networks process and transmit data better. More data at one’s fingertips in real time leads to better insights. Better insights lead to better decisions.
All of which can lead to a synergistic network that gets better and better over time. By investing in 5G, manufacturers will lay the groundwork for smarter systems and a more sustainable future.
About the Author
Michael Weller
Michael Weller is global practice leader in manufacturing, energy and utilities for Verizon Business. He has extensive knowledge across manufacturing and has helped deploy advanced 5G solutions for Fortune 500 manufacturers like Cummins, providing him with insight into how next-generation connectivity transforms operations while reducing environmental impact.