I. 5G Technology Scenarios Underpinning Smart Manufacturing

As a new-generation mobile communication technology, 5G meets the wireless network application requirements of traditional manufacturing enterprises in intelligent transformation, and supports device interconnection and remote interaction in industrial environments. It serves as a core technical pillar for a wide range of industrial applications, including the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), industrial automatic control, logistics tracking, industrial augmented reality (AR), and cloud-based robotics.

1. Industrial Internet of Things

With the advancing intelligent transformation of factories, the IIoT, as a key technology connecting humans, machines and equipment, has garnered extensive attention from enterprises. The growing market demand for IIoT implementation has also strongly driven the iterative upgrading and application of 5G technology.

2. Industrial Automatic Control

As a fundamental application in manufacturing plants, industrial automatic control centers on closed-loop control systems. Featuring ultra-low latency, high reliability and massive connectivity, 5G networks enable wireless connection for closed-loop control applications, laying a solid foundation for flexible and efficient industrial automatic control.

3. Logistics Tracking

Warehouse management and logistics distribution require communication technologies with wide and in-depth coverage, low power consumption, massive connectivity and low costs. In addition, the end-to-end integration of virtual factories covers the entire product lifecycle, requiring network access for widely distributed sold products with low power consumption, low cost and wide coverage. Horizontal integration within and between enterprises also requires ubiquitous network coverage, all of which can be well satisfied by 5G technology.

4. Industrial AR

Human workers play an increasingly critical role in the production process of smart factories. Future factories feature high flexibility and versatility, putting forward higher requirements for on-site staff. Augmented Reality (AR) serves as a key tool to quickly adapt to new tasks and production demands in smart manufacturing. It is widely applied in production process monitoring, step-by-step guidance for operational tasks such as manual assembly, and remote expert support including offline equipment maintenance. For these scenarios, auxiliary AR devices need to be flexible and portable to ensure efficient on-site operations.

5. Cloud-Based Robotics

Smart manufacturing requires robots with self-organization and collaborative capabilities to support flexible production, which generates strong demand for robot cloudification. 5G networks deliver ideal communication conditions for cloud-based robots and act as a core enabler for their large-scale industrial application.

Summary

As a pivotal enabling technology for the intelligent transformation of manufacturing, 5G connects scattered human resources, machines and equipment to build a unified interconnected industrial network. It standardizes and optimizes the previously fragmented application of wireless network technologies in the manufacturing industry, playing a positive role in promoting the implementation of the Industrial Internet and the in-depth upgrading of smart manufacturing.

II. Smart Factories: The Core of Smart Manufacturing

With the deepening of the information revolution, manufacturing elements including equipment, workers and products are no longer isolated individuals. Closely interconnected via the Industrial Internet of Things, they form a more coordinated and efficient manufacturing system.

The ongoing transformation of the manufacturing industry represents the integrated upgrading of automation and information technology. It goes far beyond simple automation and labor replacement. Modern factories can realize autonomous decision-making, flexibly produce diversified products, and rapidly respond to dynamic market changes.

The integration of artificial intelligence and manufacturing systems has become an irreversible trend. By leveraging algorithmic models such as machine learning, pattern recognition and cognitive analysis, factories can enhance the capabilities of control and management systems to achieve smart manufacturing, helping enterprises gain core competitiveness in the fiercely competitive market.

Smart manufacturing is centered on smart factories, where artificial intelligence plays an indispensable role. The IIoT connects all manufacturing equipment including controllers, sensors and actuators. AI then analyzes massive data uploaded by sensors, which constitutes the core logic of smart manufacturing.

With the development and application of the Industrial Internet of Things, network systems are deeply integrated with physical industrial systems. Sensors and processors on production sites are fully connected, enabling real-time communication and collaboration between robots. The strict division of labor between humans and machines will be broken, and future manufacturing systems will realize the organic integration of human and machine collaboration.

Digital twins are a core component of smart manufacturing. The entire manufacturing process is mapped to a digital twin model, which covers all real-world production elements, application scenarios and operational guidelines.

Furthermore, smart manufacturing systems support human-machine interaction between workers and robots, and empower product and process optimization driven by artificial intelligence. A growing number of intelligent functions, including predictive equipment maintenance and energy consumption forecasting, can be efficiently implemented in modern smart factories.

III. Prospect Outlook of Smart Factories in the 5G Era

China’s 5G basic R&D and testing underwent three major phases from 2016 to 2018: preliminary trials of 5G-related technologies, verification of 5G technical solutions, and final systematic validation of 5G systems.

China officially launched 5G technical trials in January 2016. To ensure steady progress of the trials, the IMT-2020 (5G) Promotion Group built a 30-station 5G outdoor test field in Huairou, Beijing. The follow-up trials commenced at the end of 2017 or early 2018. The official 5G standard version was scheduled for completion in June 2018, with the full version finalized in September 2019, paving the way for large-scale commercial deployment in 2020.

To facilitate trials and enrich diversified application scenarios, China planned to carry out expanded tests in six key cities. The initiatives include integrating 5G technologies with core smart city planning to bolster urban intelligent construction, driving innovation and entrepreneurship through 5G trial applications, and fully exploring 5G technical advantages for the Industrial Internet and smart manufacturing development.

Smart factories represent one of the most critical application scenarios for 5G technology. The 5G network enables seamless connection of all production equipment and links up full industrial chains covering design, procurement, warehousing and logistics. It facilitates flatter, customized and intelligent production models, thereby building a future-oriented smart manufacturing ecosystem. This chapter systematically sorts out industry insights and prospects for smart factories in the 5G era to envision the upcoming industrial transformation.

1. Boosting Flexible Manufacturing and Customized Production

With the global population approaching 8 billion and continuous expansion of the middle-class consumer group, a huge consumer market has taken shape, driving profound changes in global consumption patterns. Systems embedded with customer demand and product information functions have become the core competitiveness of hardware product sales, making personalized customization an irreversible industrial trend. To meet diversified and personalized market demands worldwide, manufacturers are compelled to upgrade traditional production models, with flexible manufacturing emerging as the mainstream development direction. As defined by the International Association of Factory Research, a flexible manufacturing system refers to an automated production system capable of manufacturing a full range of product families with minimal manual intervention, while its flexibility is constrained by product categories preset in system design. The booming flexible production model has generated urgent demand for innovative enabling technologies.

On the one hand, internal flexible production imposes high requirements on industrial robots for flexible mobility and differentiated business processing capabilities. Boasting unparalleled technical advantages, 5G technology accelerates the large-scale popularization of flexible manufacturing. Deploying 5G networks in factories eliminates cabling costs between machines. Supported by continuous high-reliability network coverage, industrial robots can move freely without spatial restrictions, reach designated positions on demand, and conduct uninterrupted operations and smooth task switching across diverse scenarios.

In addition, 5G networks support differentiated business demands with distinct characteristics. Different production links in large-scale factories require varied network quality of service (QoS). Precision-critical processes prioritize ultra-low latency, while core operational tasks demand high network reliability and high-speed real-time analysis and processing of massive data. Leveraging end-to-end network slicing technology, 5G networks deliver differentiated QoS within a unified core network and conduct flexible on-demand adjustments, such as setting priority levels for equipment status data reporting.

On the other hand, 5G builds an all-dimensional information ecosystem centered on interconnected humans and machines inside and outside factories, enabling real-time information sharing for anyone and anything at any time and any place. As consumers pursue personalized products and services, the relationship between enterprises and consumers has been reshaped. Consumers can participate in the production process remotely via 5G networks, engaging in product design and querying real-time product status information anytime.

2. Comprehensive Upgrade of Factory Maintenance Modes

Large-scale manufacturing scenarios frequently involve cross-factory and cross-regional equipment maintenance and remote fault diagnosis. The adoption of 5G technology effectively improves operational and maintenance efficiency while reducing overall costs. Beyond universal connectivity, 5G enables comprehensive information interaction among all industrial terminals, breaking the geographical boundaries of traditional factory maintenance.

Factory maintenance tasks can be undertaken independently by industrial robots or through human-robot collaboration based on task complexity. In future smart factories, every industrial object will serve as an independent terminal with a unique IP address, endowing raw materials, equipment and finished products with digital information attributes. Raw materials can realize automatic production and intelligent maintenance driven by data information. Meanwhile, human operators will also act as independent IP-based terminals, conducting real-time information interaction with IP-embedded raw materials, equipment and products throughout the production process. While industrial robots manage on-site factory operations, remote staff can receive real-time data and conduct interactive control timely.

In future 5G-enabled smart factories, equipment faults will be reported to industrial robots with zero priority latency. In most cases, robots can complete fault repair independently by leveraging self-learning databases without human intervention. For complex faults requiring manual operation and judgment, remote maintenance will be realized through immersive technologies.

Even operating remotely from across the globe, staff can control on-site industrial robots via VR and remote haptic perception devices. Robots synchronously replicate human operational movements in real time, enabling remote staff to conduct on-site maintenance as if physically present.

5G empowers humans and robots to handle ultra-complex maintenance scenarios efficiently. For multi-person collaborative repairs, experts scattered across different continents can gather virtually at the fault site via VR and haptic devices. The high bandwidth of 5G networks supports massive high-definition image data interaction for VR applications, while ultra-low latency ensures zero-error transmission of human movements to remote robots. Multiple experts can simultaneously control different on-site robots to implement coordinated repair solutions. Supported by universal IoT connectivity, humans and robots can access massive industrial knowledge and empirical databases during fault diagnosis, greatly improving the accuracy of problem localization and troubleshooting.

3. Industrial Robots Joining the Management Tier

Future smart factory operations involve intelligent judgment and decision-making for logistics, material feeding, warehousing and other links. 5G technology provides a full cloud-based network platform for smart manufacturing. Countless precision sensors upload real-time operational status data within microseconds, and massive industrial-grade data is collected via 5G networks to form comprehensive industrial databases. Combined with the supercomputing capability of cloud computing, industrial robots realize autonomous learning, precise judgment and independent solution formulation.

In specific industrial scenarios, 5G-powered Device-to-Device (D2D) technology enables direct communication between industrial terminals, further reducing end-to-end business latency, diverting network load and enhancing response agility. This significantly shortens the cycle of each production link, optimizes problem-solving efficiency, and substantially improves overall manufacturing productivity.

In the next decade, 5G networks will achieve full coverage of factory environments. 5G-controlled industrial robots will break the limitations of isolated operational spaces, conducting round-the-clock on-site patrols, equipment maintenance, material transportation, quality inspection and high-precision production tasks. Robots will evolve into grassroots and middle-level management units, undertaking production coordination and operational decision-making through data calculation and precise analysis. Human manpower will be mainly responsible for factory operation monitoring and high-level management. Serving as powerful intelligent assistants, robots replace humans in high-intensity, high-risk and high-precision work, realizing harmonious human-robot collaboration in smart factories.

4. On-Demand Resource Allocation

By virtue of network slicing technology, 5G networks deliver customized solutions for diverse manufacturing scenarios, achieving real-time, efficient and low-energy operation with simplified deployment, laying a solid foundation for the sustainable development of future smart factories.

Firstly, network slicing enables on-demand allocation of network resources to meet differentiated operational requirements of various manufacturing scenarios. Different industrial applications have distinct demands for latency, mobility, network coverage, connection density and access cost, requiring flexible and rapid dynamic allocation and reallocation of 5G network resources.

As a core capability of 5G networks, end-to-end network slicing empowered by integrated innovative technologies can dynamically allocate and release network resources across the whole network according to diverse demands. Customized network slices with exclusive attributes such as ultra-low latency, ultra-high reliability and ultra-large bandwidth can be created based on service blueprints and operational parameters to match scenario-specific requirements. For instance, core transaction slices are deployed in smart factory prototypes to guarantee low-latency and high-reliability network support for critical production tasks.

The creation of network slices relies on coordinated scheduling of multi-dimensional infrastructure resources, including access network, transmission and cloud resources, each with independent management functions. Network slicing management provides shared or isolated infrastructure resources for different business demands and realizes cross-resource collaborative scheduling. Smart factory prototypes adopt a multi-level modular management mode, enabling universal, flexible and scalable network slicing coordination and management.

In addition to core transaction slices, 5G smart factories are equipped with mobile broadband slices and massive connection slices. Scheduled by the unified network slicing management system, multiple slices share the same physical infrastructure while maintaining independent and interference-free business operation.

Secondly, 5G optimizes network connectivity through local traffic offloading to meet ultra-low latency requirements. The scenario-oriented optimization of network slices is reflected in both differentiated network functional attributes and flexible deployment modes. Internal network functional modules of slices can be flexibly deployed on distributed data centers according to business demands. To ensure real-time processing of core production tasks, core transaction slices deploy user plane functional modules on local data centers close to terminal devices, minimizing latency and guaranteeing real-time production control and response.

Furthermore, leveraging distributed cloud computing technology, NFV (Network Function Virtualization)-based industrial applications and core network functions can be flexibly deployed on local or centralized data centers. The high-bandwidth and low-latency attributes of 5G networks enable intelligent processing capabilities to be upgraded through cloud migration, paving the way for higher-level industrial intelligence.

Empowered by 5G connectivity, smart factories serve as comprehensive application platforms for diversified intelligent technologies. Beyond the four core applications mentioned above, smart factories can integrate with various cutting-edge technologies to optimize resource utilization, boost production efficiency and increase economic benefits. For example, 5G high-speed networks collect energy efficiency data from key equipment manufacturing, production processes and energy supply links. The energy management system analyzes operational data to identify energy consumption fluctuations and anomalies, realizing dynamic optimization of production workflows, equipment operation, energy supply and manpower allocation to improve overall energy efficiency.

In addition, ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems manage raw material inventory and supplier information systematically. Upon order placement, the ERP system automatically calculates raw material demand and procurement schedules based on supplier data, ensuring timely product delivery while minimizing or even eliminating inventory costs.

To conclude, smart factories in the 5G era greatly improve working conditions and reduce manual intervention on production lines with enhanced production controllability. More importantly, information technologies connect all enterprise workflows, realizing full-link interconnection covering design, production and sales. The integrated optimization of industrial resources further elevates enterprise production efficiency and product quality.

Source: Informatization and Software Service Network