APRIL 20248 IN MY V EWBY PAUL DOWNEY, MANUFACTURING MARKETING MANAGER, NOKIA [HEL: NOKIA]OVERCOMING MARKET CHALLENGES WITH PRIVATE WIRELESS AND INDUSTRIAL EDGECompetitive pressures, customer demand and the pace of technology change have long created complexities for the electronic manufacturing industry. Now manufacturers are being hit with rising prices, raw material shortages, supply chain volatility and increased regulatory as well as environmental pressure, but demand for new technology remains strong. Consequently, many are turning to digitalization. By collecting and processing operational technology (OT) data and using it to enable Industry 4.0 use cases, such as autonomous robots, electronics manufacturers want to overcome these challenges while increasing productivity and flexibility, decreasing costs and achieving sustainability goals. A Complex, Resilient Private Wireless Ecosystem Such digitalization relies on an ecosystem of predictable and secure asset connectivity, industrial edge processing for use case data processing and robust industrial devices that meet the needs of the enterprise OT side. The first consideration should be flexible wireless asset connectivity to give a full overview of the plant's operation based on real time data. In addition, in these fast-changing production environments, it is time consuming and costly to regularly reconfigure wired connections to machines and test equipment. Wireless connectivity is a must. While Wi-Fi has traditionally been used for wireless connectivity, as digitalization gathers pace, manufacturers will need more. Metal interference to Wi-Fi signals and lack of mobility support will mean autonomous mobile robots (AMR) are impacted by patchy coverage and loss of connectivity. And, as more assets get connected, capacity and latency will suffer. Private wireless networks can meet the demands of the ultra-connected factory. They offer superior coverage, predictable performance and security, as well as dramatically lower latency compared to Wi-Fi, particularly using real-time industrial edge data processing. With pervasive private wireless coverage across the factory, AMRs, for example, remain connected and can access layouts and share real-time navigation data, to traverse the floor more efficiently and increase productivity flow. Real-world factory floor deployments that have leveraged wireless asset tracking to benefit from lean manufacturing concepts, result in up to 90% reductions in lead times and factory floor layout changes.Smart Manufacturing Enables New Cost EfficienciesFor many manufacturers, cost efficiency is a key driver for digitalization, as quality and productivity issues have huge impacts on profit. While autonomous equipment is now being developed incorporating private wireless connectivity, existing assets are more likely to be unconnected. Working with technology providers who offer robust industrial user equipment such as industrial field routers and dongles pre-tested in the hardest environments, they can quickly and reliably connect their existing assets' PLCs to the private wireless environment Paul Downey
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