Automate 2024

Connected workers are operators leveraging various digital technologies, applications, and tools, enabling seamless connectivity to both physical and virtual manufacturing environments, as well as each other. Beyond cell phones and tablets, connected workers use wearable devices to monitor location and biometrics. The integration of augmented and virtual reality further facilitates remote support, intricate training, and even remote control of equipment. Explore the benefits of private 5G cellular networks, connecting factory workers, optimizing labor resources, minimizing downtime, improving overall equipment effectiveness, enhancing safety and reducing labor costs.

In a factory, digital twins enable manufacturers to determine how best to streamline production environments. By serving as a virtual counterpart to a physical machine, digital twins collect historical and real time data from the physical twin, improving system efficiency, increasing asset uptime, and lowering maintenance costs. But effective use of the digital twin requires a massive amount of processed and managed data. 3D mapping sensors, video stream, lidar, and thermal stream all generate large amounts of data that must be transferred in real-time. Discover how the high bandwidth and reliability of 5G private cellular networks and AI at the edge allows the real-time transfer of these large data volumes to deliver actionable and visualized device intelligence.

Computer vision offers numerous advantages for the smart factory – from quality assurance to product identification to image analysis. It also plays a crucial role in identifying, counting, classifying, tracking and verifying products in the manufacturing process. This contributes to process improvements, enhanced productivity and compliance with regulations and safety standards. Explore how private 5G cellular networks enable high-definition video for assembly line monitoring and tracking while unleashing the potential of computer vision in your facility. Experience the resulting benefits, including increased productivity, cost reduction, improved product quality, and enhanced revenues.

In manufacturing operations, Industrial IoT is a core building block for smart factories and digital supply chains. It improves reliability and accessibility across networks of factories by augmenting existing operation technologies (OT) with various sensors, gateways and edge devices. In this demonstration, Ericsson is showcasing a smart torque wrench with 5G wireless connectivity, featuring smart tightening strategies and superior torque accuracy, reducing cycle time while ensuring maximum productivity with maximum flexibility.

Manufacturers encounter difficulties when understanding machine utilization and overall equipment effectiveness. Predictive maintenance addresses these challenges by leveraging sensor-collected data to pinpoint optimal maintenance times. Indeed, the various sensors that make predictive maintenance possible create increased data, visualization and analytics, necessitating a resilient and secure network. Learn how manufacturers can use predictive maintenance to reduce downtime, lower maintenance material costs, and optimize labor resources more efficiently using private cellular networks.

Asset management assists manufacturers to oversee inventory levels, minimize unplanned repairs, reduce the failure of critical assets, improve overall business operations, and keep equipment running while reducing over-maintenance and premature parts replacement. Because of manufacturing's reliability on equipment and infrastructure, asset management has become a crucial tool in factories around the world. This intelligent equipment tracking drives operational cost savings for a smart factory while minimizing operational downtime. The various sensors that make asset management possible create increased data, visualization, and analytics which require a robust and secure network. Explore how 5G’s ultra-fast and reliable connectivity is enabling asset managers to remotely access and manage assets, implement predictive maintenance strategies, and ensure seamless integration with other technologies like IoT and AI

Inventory management tasks like cycle counting are time-consuming, unproductive and potentially hazardous with people lifted high in the air to count inventory. Automating these processes through the use of indoor flying drones can have notable business benefits. This innovative approach to inventory management not only ensures greater accuracy and timeliness but also enables businesses to adapt quickly to changing inventory demands, ultimately leading to cost savings and improved customer satisfaction. Learn how unmanned drones equipped with sensors can enhance inventory tracking processes while leveraging the high-speed connectivity and low latency of 5G networks to efficiently navigate indoor spaces, continuously scanning and updating inventory data in real-time.

Wireless communications play a crucial role in advancing smart factories and Industry 4.0. As manufacturers embark on their digital transformation journey, they may encounter limitations with legacy connectivity, prompting assessments of 5G technologies. Explore how Ericsson's dependable and secure private cellular networks deliver the power to make manufacturing smarter by connecting machines, people and data, increasing productivity, improving efficiency and gaining a competitive edge.

Cellular broadband has reached unprecedented speed and ubiquity, making Wireless WAN solutions a priority for organizations seeking to leverage cellular routers or adapters as their WAN infrastructure. Discover the capabilities of Cradlepoint's purpose-built LTE and 5G routers and adapters, combined with Cradlepoint's NetCloud service. This comprehensive solution offers cloud-based management, software-defined networking technologies, enterprise-class routing and security, robust analytics, and extensibility tools to provide real-time visibility and control—all consolidated into a single platform.

Legacy networking and security solutions pose challenges for modern applications and networks, leading to complexity for administrators and subpar experiences for users. Explore the capabilities of Cradlepoint 5G SASE, which provides a reliable solution to replace outdated VPNs, extend remote access, and optimize performance through SD-WAN. Cloud-delivered isolation technology ensures user protection from web threats, while cellular intelligence strengthens WAN resilience and prioritization – all delivered seamlessly through NetCloud Manager, simplifying deployment and management for any IT team.

By leveraging features such as enhanced network connectivity, ultra-low latency, and high-density connectivity support, precise indoor positioning enables devices to determine their positions with unprecedented precision, even in complex indoor settings where GPS signals may be unreliable or unavailable. This technology facilitates a wide range of manufacturing applications, including indoor navigation, asset tracking, inventory monitoring, tracking autonomous mobile robots, locating and guiding robot arms/tools and tracking items in the assembly line. Learn how Ericsson 5G Precise Positioning is addressing significant market demand for manufacturing use cases requiring precision down to less than one meter.

As manufacturers strive to become competitive and resilient, they recognize a need for digital transformation and smart manufacturing. However, many manufacturers are unsure of how to start. A crucial initial step is gaining insights into your current state and maturity. Take the Ericsson Smart Manufacturing Maturity Assessment to evaluate your progress on the smart manufacturing journey. Receive a personalized report outlining your organization's maturity level, compared to others who have completed the assessment.

Seamless connectivity brings a new era in manufacturing. Cellular technology will drive the change – with most industry tasks automated by 2028, creating more efficient and intelligent approach to product development.This demonstration details 5G use cases for smart manufacturing, providing an in-depth overview of high priority manufacturing applications (digital twins, asset condition monitoring, autonomous mobile robots, collaborative robots and augmented reality), customer references, industry data points and an ROI value calculator, creating a better understanding to an intelligent approach for Industrial IoT.