Connected factory trial is currently focused on production line monitoring and materials tracking use cases.
China Mobile and Ericsson said they are carrying out a connected factory trial at the plant of Ericsson’s subsidiary Ericsson Panda Communication, in the city of Nanjing, China. The trial includes low-power wide area use cases such as production line monitoring, warehouse monitoring, and package and materials tracking.
At this week’s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, Spain, both firms carried out a demonstration of connected high-precision screwdrivers with motion sensors attached to narrowband-internet of things modules transmitting real-time data of the tools to the cellular IoT network.
At the factory in China, there are a claimed 1,000 high-precision screwdrivers that require routine calibrations and lubrications based upon the amount of usage, which had previously been recorded manually on paper. Ericsson said that through the use of connected screwdrivers, the factory will be able to replace manual tracking of the tool usage data with an automated solution.
“Enabling IoT network technology such as cellular LPWA together with cloud-based solutions gives manufacturing firms access to more information than ever before,” said Chris Houghton, head of the Northeast Asia region at Ericsson, in a statement.
Singtel, Ericsson unveil integrated IoT solution
Ericsson this week also announced a partnership with Singapore telecommunications operator Singtel to jointly develop an integrated internet of things solution designed to support health care, connected vehicles and emerging IoT applications. SingTel said the Assured+ Consumer Connected Device Solution would be available for trials later this year.
“In order to realize the full potential of IoT and offer our customers the best user experience, we need to ensure collaboration between people, devices and networks,” explained Yuen Kuan Moon, CEO of Singtel’s Consumer Singapore division, in a statement. “Singtel believes an open ecosystem and the Assured+ solution will enable us to achieve these aims. By integrating standalone applications into one solution, Assured+ will bring convenience to our customers and pave the way for more IoT solutions, such as smart home, to be launched in a seamless manner.”
