First Continental plant in Europe equipped with private 5G network
Automotive supplier Continental has launched its first private 5G network among its European manufacturing sites at its display solutions plant in Brandýs nad Labem in the Czech Republic.
The private 5G network was specifically set-up to fit Continental’s requirements for production by T-Mobile to speed up communication between employees, equipment, and machines, such as sensors, production robots and autonomous transport vehicles. It covers an area of 5,000 square meters with eight network access points.
The network is also improving connectivity between Continental plants in the global production network through a uniform and secure environment with reduced latency times. In total, Continental plans to integrate more than 1,000 devices and sensors into the network at its plant in Brandýs.
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“The production of complex display solutions for vehicle cockpits requires innovative technologies already today. The challenges of manufacturing high-tech products of the highest quality and in large quantities will continue to grow in the future. In line with our megafactory strategy, we are therefore systematically focusing on state-of-the-art production,” said Thomas Ebenhöch, head of Operations in the User Experience business area at Continental Automotive.
“With the introduction of a private 5G network at our location in Brandýs nad Labem in Czechia, we have now reached a significant milestone on the road to the digital factory.”
Mobile connectivity not only increases the potential for connecting devices, autonomous transport vehicles and machines, but also offers Continental’s production employees additional flexibility.
This allows technicians to collaborate with colleagues on site from home, allowing experts to guide their colleagues in the plant during maintenance work on production machines with the help of augmented reality, for example, without needing to visit the factory specifically for this purpose.
The company collects data from the production process and derives insights and opportunities for improvement for the entire production network.
“We are already using the data from our connected plants to determine and potential improvements, develop and apply solutions. Along this, our plant in Brandýs nad Labem will play a leading role with the 5G connectivity of more than 1,000 sensors and devices”, says Ebenhöch.
In the medium term, this will create an immense treasure trove of data that Continental will use, for example, to optimize production processes and to predict which maintenance work needs to be carried out and when. In this way, 5G connectivity reduces downtime for production robots and production lines.
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