Manufacturing SME in pioneering 5G initiative
A West Midlands manufacturer is to become the first smaller sized business to use a 5G private network to boost productivity.
AE Aerospace, a leading manufacturing business in the West Midlands, will be the first UK SME to use a 5G private network and will work together with WM5G, W5G and its technology partner BT, on three new 5G use cases.
WM5G Limited is a multi-million-pound programme that both the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the government have set-up to develop the UK 's first region-wide 5G testbed.
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) expects to invest over £20m in this programme, in addition to substantial West Midlands public sector and private investment.
AE Aerospace operates a high precision engineering facility and produces parts for high-profile customers, including Rolls Royce, Raytheon UK and Moog.
AE Aerospace has an ambitious growth strategy and believes that all three 5G-enabled trials delivered via this project will not only improve productivity but provide existing clients with a better quality of service, as well as creating new business models and new revenue opportunities.
In trialling 5G, powered by BT 's world class EE mobile network, the aerospace manufacturer hopes to attain significant benefits, including the ability to maximise machine time, provide more accurate assurance that parts have been machined to specification with increased speed and efficiency, as well as being able to eliminate the need to re-work or replace damaged components impaired in transit.
Through these trials, AE Aerospace aspire to set a precedent to bring the SME aerospace sector forward and into line in terms of 'on time, in full ' delivery.
Manufacturing is a critical sector for the UK economy and the Midlands is the heartland of UK industry.
Manufacturing in the Midlands generates more than £32 billion GVA a-year and accounts for 22 per cent of jobs.
Despite the prevalence of large manufacturers in the Midlands, most of the value of the output in Manufacturing comes from the SME businesses which make up these organisations ' supply chains.
West Midlands mayor Andy Street said: “Manufacturing is the bedrock of the West Midlands economy and the ability to harness the power of 5G and other new technologies will help our manufacturers to not only remain competitive in a fierce global marketplace but put themselves at the cutting edge.
“We face a massive challenge to get our economy back on track once this pandemic is finally over and we must capitalise on new technology to supercharge that recovery.
“By winning the Government competition to become the UK 's first large-scale 5G testbed, our region and it 's businesses are in a unique position to test and prove the opportunity for 5G to transform manufacturing productivity. ”
The Covid-19 pandemic has greatly disrupted the manufacturing sector. New Industry 4.0 technologies - including 5G - have the potential to power recovery by transforming manufacturing productivity.
5G enables productivity improvements by connecting sensors on machines securely and in real-time to data platforms and applications to optimise processes and equipment.
WM5G is the UK 's first region-wide 5G innovation company and forms part of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS), 5G Tests and Trials programme.
These trials are the first projects in WM5G 's Manufacturing testbed.
WM5G will be supporting these trials working closely with W5G and its strategic technology partner BT, to integrate the technology infrastructure required to deliver these unique 5G trials.
As part of the project, BT 's 5G connectivity will deliver the high reliability, high capacity and fast response times needed to support the Private Network deployment and 5G use case trials.
The first 5G use case, known as 'Machine Time Servitization ', will see high-quality wireless 5G and a range of sensors installed across the factory floor to enable wireless connectivity between machines, allowing high volume data capture. The ability to understand production flows and machine time utilisation is what will enable AE Aerospace to offer machine time to its clients.
A 'Mobile Asset Location and Calibration Tracking ' trial will allow AE Aerospace to provide 100% assurance that its parts have been machined and measured to specification. Production units have many surfaces, holes and screw threads that must be measured manually with gauges. By tagging all the gauges, their location can be tracked and identified in real time over 5G, AE Aerospace will increase its speed and accuracy of measurement as a result.
Finally, AE Aerospace and WM5G will experiment with 5G to improve 'Product Quality Assurance ' by eliminating the need to re-work or replace damaged components. By utilising a private 5G network, real-time ultra-high definition image comparison can take place to ensure product quality assurance prior to AE Aerospace shipping out products to customers.
The key learnings and best practice from these trials will be shared with the region 's manufacturing industry to help accelerate the adoption of 5G technology within the sector. Any efficiencies and productivity gains that AE Aerospace and WM5G prove from these trials could also be replicated across the sector to support the region 's economic growth.