June 30, 2020

Ford and Vodafone, paving the way for the future?

Ford have jumped out as the first large UK manufacturers to have a Non-Public 5G Network installed at one of their plants. Ford have jumped out as the first large UK manufacturers to have a Non-Public 5G Network installed at one of their plants. This is a significant step as Non-Public Networks are being hailed as the future of manufacturing technology. This article examines the reasons behind the decision and if there are similar examples worldwide.

It has been recently announced that Ford have contracted the Telecoms company Vodafone to create a 5G Non-Public Network (NPN) at their Electrified Powertrain in Manufacturing Engineering plant, in Essex. A non-public network is situated on a specific site, e.g. a stadium or university campus, where it allows an organisation to provide 5G network coverage to a specific area for certain people.  Ford is the first car maker in the country to have announced such a deal, showing their commitment to the 5G enabled future.

The project has funding from Ford itself as well as the UK government who see it as a litmus test to see if 5G has the capability, in the industrial sector, to boost productivity. Ford are using this NPN for a specific goal of connecting their plant in Essex with one of their partners, TWI Cambridge. This upgrade is to help ensure that the data produced from welding the battery, up to half a million data points every minute, is able to be processed and analysed. The reason 5G was chosen was because the current systems (Wi-Fi) is unable to keep up with the required bandwidth for this analysis.

This system is a great test of the UKs current 5G capabilities and hopefully will prove to industry around the UK that 5G is the future. Investment in 5G currently seems to be limited to government backed projects, with few companies taking the leap. This is worrying, even in a time of economic hardship, as it is clear to see that 5G is part of the next industrial revolution.

A similar example worldwide is in Japan. Toyota have recently announced that they will be working with Nokia who will help provide them with the infrastructure for a NPN in their Fukuoka design centre. This is another example showing car manufacturers taking a leap into 5G and hopefully is a sign of things to come.

Sources: ft.com, reuters.com, globenewswire.com, manufacturingglobal.com, vodafone.co.uk, gov.uk, twi-global.com. All accessed on 30/06/2020.

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