5G AND INDUSTRIAL AUTOMATION
✱
FEBRUARY 15, 2018 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW
3
implementing breathtakingly innovative concepts
as a result. For example, the 2017 Hannover
Industry Fair showcased several innovations such
as collaborative robots, smart materials, adaptive
production, and self-learning systems, which were
on their way out of labs and onto real production
shop oors. German industry is committed to
making Industry 4.0 the new benchmark in
production efficiency, with plans to invest EUR 40
billion annually until 2020.
The strength of the Industry 4.0 initiative lies in
the fact that it has been a joint effort of government,
universities and industries since day one. Together
they foster growth, using fewer resources, reducing
risk and boosting productivi and exibili. The
initiative has developed many groundbreaking
concepts that have resulted in a quantum leap in
the neorking of humans, machines, robots and
products. Manufacturing leaders are combining
information technology and operations technology
to create value in entirely new ways. These cyber-
physical production lines are cutting-edge today, but
will be the standard of tomorrow. By the end of 2017,
Industry 4.0 had grown into a truly international
initiative with contributors and users all over
the globe, changing the basis of competition in
production automation for good.
Guaranteed real-time communication beeen
humans, robots, factory logistics and products
is a fundamental prerequisite of the Industry 4.0
concept. Real-time data will generate transparency
and actionable insights, while edge analytics will
help reap maximum machine value and optimize
production. All of the above concepts clearly
require standardization and (data) securi. With
its standardized neorking capabilities, built-in
securi, guaranteed grades of service, as well as
distributed cloud and neork slicing concepts, 5G
is a perfect tool for advanced industries that want to
take advantage of digital transformation.
Terms and abbreviations
IoT
– Internet of Things | OEM – original equipment manufacturer | PLC – programmable logic controller |
PoC
– proof of concept
