Vertical: Manufacturing
Application: Industry 4.0
Ecosystem: Cisco, Mitsui Information, KDDI Engineering
Private Network: 5G
Cisco Systems has joined forces with Mitsui Information and KDDI Engineering to collaborate on deploying a private 5G network for smart factories. The three companies are working together to establish an “Industry 4.0 Testbed” at the Shinwa Komaki SFiC Lab in Komaki City, in the Aichi Prefecture in the center of Japan.
The testbed will allow manufacturers to trial and validate industrial use cases using private 5G networking technology. Some of the anticipated applications include automated guided vehicles (AGVs), industrial robots, machine vision systems, and other elements of intelligent factory automation.
Private 5G networks offer several advantages over traditional wired or Wi-Fi networking for industrial environments. The ultra-high bandwidth, ultra-reliable low latency communications, enhanced security, and ability to support massive numbers of connected devices make 5G well-suited for smart manufacturing.
Cisco is providing its Private 5G core network as part of the testbed infrastructure. Mitsui Information is contributing its expertise in smart factory solutions and services to the collaboration. KDDI Engineering, a subsidiary of the major Japanese telecom operator KDDI, is providing installation support.
The goal is to let manufacturers explore how private 5G can enable new industrial automation capabilities to increase productivity, quality control, worker safety, and operational intelligence. Use cases can be modeled and validated prior to full-scale factory rollouts.
