INDUSTRY 4.0/IIoT
READY FOR INDUSTRY 4.0 AND 5G?
West Midlands 5G (WM5G) supports enterprises in the region on their journey to implementing Industry 4.0 and adopting 5G
W
est Midlands 5G (WM5G) has been established by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) to develop the UK’s first regional 5G testbed and accelerate the roll- out and adoption of 5G in the region. In the advancement of digital technology and 5G in manufacturing, you will have heard the term ‘Industry 4.0’. This represents the fourth industrial revolution and is the wider term for describing the move to cyber physical systems and technology-led manufacturing environments.
We support enterprises on their journey to the implementation of Industry 4.0 – digitising manufacturing processes through adoption of enhanced software solutions. The rapid unroll and scale of COVID-19 caused widespread disruption to the manufacturing sector. Restrictions on movement, factory closures and disruptions to supply chains have led to a sharp global downturn in manufacturing. In the UK almost a third of manufacturers have seen their orders decline by up to 50 per cent1
. We believe the
manufacturing sector continues to have a key role in the UK’s post-pandemic recovery, and that
Source: Unsplash
manufacturers will place an increased reliance on digital technology and Industry 4.0 solutions to recover stronger than ever before.
Made Smarter aims to position the UK as a centre of excellence for Industry 4.0 to “recapture the UK’s industrial spirit as a nation of creators and makers”.2
With this, we are beginning to see the dawn of a fourth industrial revolution, with factories embracing connected devices, automation, and artificial intelligence-driven applications. The factories of the future will no doubt need to work faster and more efficiently, to provide cost savings, sustainability, and increased outputs. It is through their digital networks that they will drive greater efficiencies, which is why 5G is starting to prove so pivotal for manufacturers.
At WM5G, we support a diverse range of
industries – including manufacturers – in embracing 5G and realising the potential of Industry 4.0. This is exactly what WM5G has been exploring with AE Aerospace, a Midlands-based precision engineering company that produces parts for the likes of Rolls Royce, Raytheon UK and Moog. AE Aerospace is working with WM5G, nexGworx and technology partners BT and Ericsson to deploy a 5G private network in the factory to explore and trial three 5G use cases that are transforming their operations. The aerospace manufacturer is exploring how 5G can support connected devices (the Internet of Things) to maximise active machine time, provide more accurate assurance that parts have been machined to exact specification and enable predictive maintenance.
Working with WM5G Technology partners, Worcestershire 5G (recently rebranded as nexGworx) and BT, The Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) near Coventry is also installing a first of its kind Nokia 5G Stand Alone (SA) private network. The MTC is developing an automated vision inspection use case featuring an industrial mobile robot, a collaborative robot arm enabled by 5G connectivity and mobile-edge computing. SMEs and larger scale businesses will be able to access the SA private network at the MTC to test and deploy 5G solutions in a live testbed environment.
5PRING, an organisation formed from a consortium of WM5G, O2, Deloitte, Digital Catapult and Wayra has also opened the UK’s first 5G commercial innovation centres. With facilities located in Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Coventry, the innovation centres are an available space for all businesses to use and provide opportunities for disruptive organisations to develop and
10 SEPTEMBER 2021 | PROCESS & CONTROL
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