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Samsung to showcase benefits of 5G in Industry 4.0 with IBM, IMDA & M1 in Singapore

IBM, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA), M1 Limited (M1) and Samsung recently announced Singapore’s first 5G Industry 4.0 trial, to demonstrate the transformative impact of 5G for enterprises and drive the next bound of Singapore’s digital economy. This announcement was part of IBM’s edge computing solutions for the 5G era announced at IBM Think 2020. A press release on the Singapore regulator IMDA's website said:

The trial aims to develop insights and showcase benefits of 5G in Industry 4.01. It will be an innovation model that allows for development, testing and benchmarking of 5G-enabled solutions that can be applied across various industries.

 This partnership consists of the following three main areas:
  • 5G Innovation: The trial aims to design, develop, test and benchmark 5G-enabled industry 4.0 solutions that can be applied across various industries.
  • 5G Solution Showcase: Solutions developed will be featured at IBM’s Industry 4.0 Studio2 5G Solutions Showcase. The showcase will feature Industry 4.0 solutions powered by 5G and leveraging capabilities such as Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence. The aim is to help proliferate 5G solutions to different industry sectors in Singapore.
  • 5G Solutions Roll-out: IBM and Samsung will evaluate successful solutions developed during the project for possible use in their operations in a broad range of markets and sectors.


5G’s capabilities such as faster data transfer and more-rapid response times, when coupled with other transformative technologies like AI, can enable significant improvements to manufacturing processes. The project will test 5G-enabled use cases for manufacturing, focusing on three main areas:
  • Automated visual inspection using AI for image recognition and video analytics;
  • Improved equipment monitoring and predictive maintenance using AI-enabled acoustic insights; and
  • Assembly and debugging using augmented reality to improve productivity and quality
The trial at the Industry 4.0 Studio will commence in Q2, 2020 and will be conducted at IBM Singapore’s Centre of Competency (CoC) for Smart Factory Operating Model for sharing of ideas and best practices. This makes IBM Singapore the ideal location for the trial, and solutions could be ultimately rolled out to other IBM Manufacturing sites, globally.

 Successful 5G-enabled Industry 4.0 use-cases developed from this trial could be demonstrated for manufacturing enterprises and applied to production, service, quality control, and testing across a broad range of industries.

 IBM will implement and test Industry 4.0 use cases that will leverage IBM’s AI, IoT, edge, and augmented reality technologies, and network architecture built on IBM systems using open solutions infrastructure from Red Hat.

 Together with Samsung as network and mobile solution provider and M1 as the telco provider, 5G network framework and skillsets could be established, allowing the solutions and the 5G framework know-how to be rolled out from Singapore and commercialised in other countries.

A Samsung Insight provided more information on the collaboration between Samsung and IBM:

Manufacturing facilities present some of the most exciting opportunities for 5G network adoption due to their size, complexity and the high level of automation already in place. 5G-enabled technology can help manufacturers improve core performance goals like minimizing equipment downtime, improving safety and security, reducing defects and increasing manufacturing flexibility.

 IBM and Samsung have been exploring several Industry 4.0 use cases:
  • Manufacturers can take advantage of visual recognition and video analytics, as well as acoustic insights, to understand operating performance of equipment in real time and rapidly trouble-shoot issues, supporting improved uptime and reduced defects. Both of these technologies require the transfer and analysis of massive amounts of data and constant real-time AI learning — an area that 5G clearly excels.
  • Augmented reality offers great potential for factory field engineers conducting preventative maintenance. Again, AR relies on large data models accessed via a mobile device, as well as streaming of high-resolution video. Without hyperfast 5G, a field engineer could lose hours of productivity in downloading the right AR model, or require multiple technicians to be brought onsite to address an issue which could have been resolved remotely.
When we look more broadly at the challenge of bringing 5G-connected IoT devices to scale, it’s apparent that innovators and creators need a secure and scalable platform on which to build and deploy these kinds of industry use cases. In our view, that platform must be one that is based on open standards to enable interoperability across devices and systems, so customers can “build once, and run anywhere.”

 As part of Samsung and IBM’s collaboration around 5G and Edge, Samsung is joining the ecosystem around IBM’s Edge Application Manager, which runs on open source technology from Red Hat.

 Samsung’s core goal has always been enabling customers — whether consumers, industry or government — to achieve a whole new level of productivity, intelligence and connectivity. Much of the initial conversation on 5G has been around broader consumer connectivity and download speed. While the consumer applications are exciting, we see enterprises and governments taking the lead today.

 There are signs that private 5G is about to take off. Auto manufacturers are securing 5G spectrum to implement private networks in their factories. Governments are exploring 5G for large facilities, including bases, ports and even on large vessels. Innovative application developers are creating new use cases in entertainment, education and healthcare.

 In our view, whether it’s for the consumer or enterprise, the value of 5G connectivity is to enable “experience innovation.” It’s much more than devices and features, but the integration of technology to change the way we live and work. Much is written about Samsung’s end-to-end 5G capabilities from networking equipment to semiconductors and enabled mobile devices. No doubt that is a strength, but equally important is our focus on partnerships with industry peers like IBM and collaboration with our customers to bring these new experiences to life.

Samsung also have a few videos explaining "Shaping the Future of Industry 4.0 with 5G Manufacturing" that are embedded below.



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