5G Factory of the Future: the smart factory of tomorrow starts today

Efficiency, productivity and sustainability are everything in manufacturing. From advanced product and machine tracking to autonomous warehouse transportation and remote assistance for operators, these digital technologies can help lower production costs, boost productivity and sharpen competitive edge. 5G is the first network that allows manufacturers to unlock the benefits of these Industry 4 technologies.

The AMRC is leading 5G Factory of the Future, bringing together industry and academia from global and UK manufacturing and telecommunications sectors to establish an open-access industrial testbed to help manufacturers understand and realise the benefits of 5G adoption. Partners include: BAE Systems, IBM, Digital Catapult, aql, Miralis and MTT.

It challenges the most groundbreaking areas of 5G for manufacturing: increasing bandwidth, decreasing latency, ensuring security across a robust network and augmenting supply chain transparency. The goal is to improve manufacturer performance with significant reductions in defects and waste through real time monitoring; enhanced machine utilisation and energy saving through digital twin track and trace; and reductions in travel and maintenance times brought about by shared hybrid reality spaces.

The programme, part-funded by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, will accelerate development and testing of smart solutions, encouraging companies of all sizes to de-risk and develop concepts using the testbed as a sandbox environment.

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