Today's ever-changing operational demands place ever-increasing demands on data-intensive technologies. At the same time, existing wireless networking protocols are not fully suited to provide everything a modern manufacturer needs. The increasing deployment of fifth-generation cellular wireless technology (5G) will enable manufacturers and their employees to embrace a more creative future.

As we all know, 5G will usher in faster speeds, greater throughput and lower latency. The new network specification also promises higher reliability, longer battery life for connected devices, and support for massive device connectivity. Not only will these network characteristics combine to transform current manufacturing activities, but 5G will also be a catalyst for innovation. 5G will empower workers across factories in multiple ways, helping to support the transformation and upgrading of global manufacturing.

This article will explore how manufacturers see the capabilities of 5G and how they plan to take advantage of the unique potential of 5G connectivity in their homes. 5G is a key factor in defining the next generation of manufacturing. With the help of 5G, manufacturers will be better able to improve product quality, optimize workflow and offer new products and services to internal members and external customers.

Therefore, the combined power of 5G and manufacturing has broad implications. Nearly all manufacturers see 5G connectivity as important to the overall future of their business. Crucially, the faster 5G technology is deployed into manufacturing, the more competitive manufacturers will be; the vast majority of respondents indicated that the speed of 5G deployment will positively impact their ability to compete globally. The adoption rate of 5G by manufacturers, and what they can achieve with this transformative technology, is likely to increasingly define the competitive landscape, and thus manufacturing more broadly.

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Manufacturers see 5G connectivity as important to the overall future of their business.

• Almost all manufacturers (91%) believe 5G connectivity is very important to the overall future of their business, with three in five (61%) saying it will be "extremely important".

Manufacturers begin testing and implementing 5G solutions.

• More than half of manufacturers (56%) report that by the end of 2021 they will be testing or using 5G at some capacity in their facilities.
• In the long run, most manufacturers will likely implement 5G technology. Only a very small number of manufacturers (2%) believe they will never implement 5G solutions.

Manufacturers see the speed of 5G deployment as important to global competitiveness.

• Ninety percent (91%) of manufacturers say the speed of 5G deployment will have a positive impact on their ability to compete globally, with nearly two-thirds (62%) saying it will have a "strong positive impact." 5G will help define global competitiveness over the next decade.

5G can help manufacturers adapt to the challenges following the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The vast majority of manufacturers believe 5G connectivity can help them adapt to challenges related to COVID-19. Nearly 90 percent of manufacturers (88 percent) say 5G connectivity will allow engineers to troubleshoot remotely. The same number of manufacturers (87%) also report that 5G-enabled remote visibility and monitoring will help them adapt to the COVID-19 crisis.

5G will help manufacturers adopt existing ways of doing business.

• Ninety percent of manufacturers believe that using 5G in their facilities will help existing ways of doing business (92%) and will further advance existing processes (88%). 5G will drive new processes and create new business opportunities for manufacturers.
• The creation of new processes and businesses is a particularly important outcome of 5G deployment. In addition to what manufacturers are currently doing in their facilities, 90 percent of manufacturers expect the utilization of 5G to lead to the creation of new processes (88 percent) and new businesses (86 percent).

5G will help transform supply chains and factory operations.

• Manufacturers expect 5G to have a significant impact on many aspects of factory operations. Four out of five manufacturers say 5G technology is very important to inventory tracking within their facilities (83%), facility security (81%), and warehousing and logistics (81%). Additionally, three-quarters of manufacturers say 5G is important to inspection (76%) and assembly (76%) activities, and seven-tenths of manufacturers say packaging (72%) and employee training (71%) jobs will be Benefit from the deployment of 5G to manufacturing.
• Manufacturers also report that 5G will impact specific applications on the shop floor, including equipment monitoring (89%), safety programs that analyze sensor data in real-time (87%), and employee safety (86%). The vast majority of manufacturers also report that 5G will aid remote analytics to support real-time decision making (84%), condition-based remote monitoring for predictive maintenance (84%), asset tracking (83%) and preventive maintenance (82%) %) ).

5G will drive cost savings for manufacturers.

• Nearly all manufacturers expect to see the direct impact of machines and equipment with 5G wireless connectivity as some level of cost savings (93%). On average, manufacturers expect to save about 38 percent.

5G will increase the productivity of machines and workers.

• Almost all manufacturers expect to increase the productivity of machines (94%) and workers (93%) by implementing 5G. On average, manufacturers expect equipment productivity to increase by about 42% and worker productivity to increase by 41%.

5G is expected to improve numerous manufacturing activities that rely on network connectivity.

• Two-thirds (65%) of manufacturers surveyed say 5G is better at improving efficiency compared to current connectivity technologies, and more than half believe 5G will provide better quality and service (56%) and greater flexibility (53%). Additionally, two-fifths believe 5G will be beneficial as it is associated with enhanced security (45%) and increased competitiveness (41%), and one-third believe it will reduce delivery times ( 35%) and lower costs (32%).
• When asked about a range of manufacturing activities, manufacturers report that 5G will make all activities easier. Notably, the reconfiguration of production lines is considered the most difficult manufacturing activity using current technology, and is expected to see the greatest improvement in "ease of use" when using 5G technology. Manufacturers also expect that the utilization of 5G will drive significant improvements in remote control of devices, utilization of augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR) applications, utilization of mobile robots and autonomous guided vehicles, and automation.

The primary driver for manufacturers to adopt 5G is the ability to monitor quality control throughout the production process.

• More than half of manufacturers also report that increased machine productivity (53%) will drive 5G adoption.

Why is 5G important to manufacturers?

Manufacturers are always looking for ways to improve operational performance and build greater resilience into their processes. One promising potential is the expanded deployment of 5G connectivity and the consequent services and opportunities that will come from pervasive and ubiquitous connectivity.

It's important to realize that 5G connectivity is fundamentally different from its predecessor. While the naming convention might suggest that 5G is just a linear extension of previous cellular networks, 5G is a major step beyond 4G. It's widely believed that 5G will provide better and faster mobile broadband, but that's about it. Virtually every iteration of cellular network technology has unique features and characteristics, thus ushering in entirely new use cases. This is especially true of 5G. 2G networks provide massive mobile voice communications. 3G networks introduced basic mobile broadband capabilities. 4G networks support mobile streaming of graphically rich content. Each iteration connects a wider and more diverse set of objects and brings exponential growth in mobile traffic data.

5G has unique attributes and attributes that will define its disruptive character. These include high data rates, higher system capacity, reduced latency and massive device connectivity. Commercial 5G deployments will expand network possibilities beyond any previous cellular network technology. 5G is a technological paradigm shift, not just an extension of existing technologies.

The unique characteristics of 5G will have a huge impact on the manufacturing and industrial economy. High data volumes will enable augmented and virtual reality to be delivered over mobile networks, usher in 8K video capabilities and replace fixed broadband, meaning more objects can be connected in more places. Low latency supports mission-critical applications such as remote mining, traffic control, holograms, and real-time factory control. Massive device connectivity will change how and what is measured through applications such as smart meters, logistics tracking, and smart biometrics. The reliable and resilient nature of 5G networks will enable driverless vehicles, the ability to control mobile robots in real time, and the broader reliability of drones.

The 5G standard is designed to be completely different from previous cellular networks. 5G removes the barriers that existed in previous networks, enabling it to provide new services that were not possible before.

What is 5G?

Some 50 years ago, on a street in Midtown Manhattan, Motorola engineer Martin Cooper made the first cellular phone. While the wireless revolution began with voice communications, each iteration of cellular represents a leap forward as wireless networks adapt to another defining technological revolution: the rise of the Internet. In doing so, each generation of major wireless technology since that pivotal phone call has been defined by the ever-increasing data capacity and wider range of services that can be delivered over cellular networks:

• 1G (1979): Voice calls
• 2G (1991): Digital Voice, SMS, Dial-Up Data Speeds
• 3G (1998): E-mail, pictures, the Internet
• 4G (2009): Streaming Video

5G represents the fifth major milestone in wireless communications. It brings many features including the following:

Speed ​​- 5G networks can peak at rates 20 times higher than 4G networks, with possibly higher throughput in the future.

Latency - 5G networks can send "round-trip" data (sending data to a destination and back) in less than 10 milliseconds, a number that could drop below 5 milliseconds in the future.

Capacity - 5G networks can capture data from hundreds of thousands of sensors per square mile.

Reliable - 5G networks can achieve "five nines" (99.999%) reliability, making them an excellent choice for mission-critical applications.

Relay - Even when devices are traveling at hundreds of kilometers per hour, 5G networks can seamlessly pass data to each other, ensuring a strong connection for high-speed applications.

Efficiency – Remote sensor device applications connected via 5G low power consumption can run on battery power for nearly a decade.

5G provides three main types of communication services or use cases: Enhanced Mobile Broadband Services (eMBB), Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC), and Ultra-Reliable, Low-Latency Communication (URLLC):

1. eMBB improves what we usually think of as: Cellular services: Quick access to data from devices such as smartphones, laptops or vehicles for applications such as streaming video. Initial 5G deployments have focused on this service.
2. mMTC brings 5G support to low-power devices such as sensors and other smart devices that may require years of use in the field or factory on a single battery charge. It is built on LTE standard support for such devices.
3. URLLC is suitable for devices that require a very responsive data connection (for example, communication between two self-driving cars on a highway seeking to avoid a collision). 5G NR (New Radio) supports URLLC. Therefore, it can achieve higher performance than LTE and is the key to realizing the full potential of 5G.

5G is also often associated with highly complementary initiatives that are not inherently part of the standard. One such example is MEC (Multiple Access, or Mobile Edge Computing). MEC is designed to improve the performance of high-bandwidth, low-latency applications such as shared augmented reality or cloud-based gaming.

MEC allows more processing at the edge, which means less need to move data from the machine to the cloud and back in the process of performing data-intensive activities. In this way, manufacturers can leverage MEC to reduce latency for certain applications and also prioritize mission-critical data. Manufacturers will use MEC to control robots, drones and other devices that require low latency, high reliability, increased privacy and security, so their performance is not hindered by the round-trip time of data from the machine to the cloud. 

Since we are in the early stages of the 5G transition, we can draw some comparisons to the early 4G networks that have been widely used over the past decade:

• Like 4G before it, 4G has gotten faster over the past few years as standards have improved, and 5G is rolling out in stages and will get faster over the next few years. Its advancements are defined by a version created by a governing international body focused on covering many of the technical details of the evolution of the cellular standard. Release 15 defines the initial 5G standard for 2019. The 16th and 17th editions, which focus on improving efficiency and power management, etc., were approved in 2020, and the 18th edition is scheduled for approval in 2021.
• Also, as with 4G, it will take a while for carriers to achieve widespread coverage. While national operators have made good progress in building networks since 2019, we can expect improved coverage and speeds in 2021 and beyond. Even so, 5G is being adopted by carriers around the world faster than 4G.
• Telco Ericsson estimates that 5G will cover 15% of the global population by the end of 2020, up from 5% at the end of 2019. Additionally, they estimate that this will grow to 60% by 2026, making 5G the fastest-deployed technology in mobile communications history.
• Just as 4G networks require 4G-capable devices such as smartphones to take full advantage of network speeds, so does 5G networks. In 2020, nearly every major U.S. smartphone maker has released at least one 5G smartphone. Other device makers have also released 5G-enabled laptops, tablets and hotspots. 5G isn't the only wireless networking technology to see major updates or announcements of support recently, although others are focused on different solutions and applications. They include the following:
• Wi-Fi 6e: Wi-Fi 6e represents a generational leap in speed and network congestion management compared to previous generations. More recently, however, the technology has expanded to a new frequency band that offers more capacity than the previous frequency bands combined. While this should lead to the best Wi-Fi performance we've seen so far, Wi-Fi could be an alternative to 5G since 5G isn't available. However, it's still focused on local networks and can't match 5G's range or device density capacity.
• Bluetooth 5.2: The latest version of the popular standard for connecting smartphones with headphones and other peripherals will have improved energy consumption and can be used for precise object positioning over short distances.
• UWB: Like Bluetooth, UWB can be used for precise targeting over short distances. Leading smartphone manufacturers are now integrating UWB into their smartphones. These short-range technologies are highly complementary to 5G and should be widely supported in smartphones and other devices in the coming years.