GSM Association (GSMA) and 5G Alliance for Connected Industries and Automation (5G-ACIA) agreed to collaborate on industrial manufacturing needs and service requirements. Particularly, GSMA and 5G-ACIA will promote and advance a shared understanding of industrial 5G deployment considerations. In addition, the cooperation will include networks, devices, applications, infrastructure options, and deployment models.

Moreover, the agreement aims to foster a closer channel for exchanging views on how to establish seamless migration paths and solid interoperability. Furthermore, it will also touch on defining manufacturing requirements for devices.

Address Challenges, Opportunities

The goal of GSMA’s 5G IoT for Manufacturing initiative is to advance the global adoption of 5G IoT across the manufacturing industry and the wider industrial sector. Consequently, it brings together key players to explore how industrial 5G IoT will benefit the manufacturing vertical globally.

In addition, the community and forum aim to identify manufacturers’ challenges and opportunities, identify how 5G IoT can address these. At the same time, this will encourage sharing of best practices to demonstrate how industrial 5G IoT can benefit the manufacturing industry.

The mission of 5G-ACIA is to ensure the best possible applicability of 5G technology for connected industries, in particular the manufacturing and process industries. 5G-ACIA ensures the interests and particular aspects of the industrial domain comes to core in 5G standardization. 5G-ACIA further ensures industrial domain can capture the ongoing 5G developments. This includes integration concepts and migration paths, together with the evaluation of key technologies emerging from 5G standardization bodies.

Takes Industry 4.0 to New Heights

Alex Sinclair, Chief Technology Officer, GSMA, said the collaboration will further the engagement between mobile network operators, manufacturers, and the wider ecosystem. This collaboration, Sinclair added, will help to advance 5G in manufacturing and industrial automation. At the same time, will also redefine the benefits of partnering with mobile operators for 5G IoT manufacturing applications deployment.

“Our overall goal is to bring together trusted, strategic partners for better production quality, flexibility, efficiency, and sustainability. Enabling our members to work closely with the members of 5G-ACIA will support significant progress.” 

Meanwhile, Dr. Andreas Mueller, 5G-ACIA General Chair said 5G is a key technology that will take Industry 4.0 to the next level. As such, facilitating unprecedented levels of flexibility, productivity, efficiency, and ease-of-use.

“A prerequisite for the successful adoption of 5G in the manufacturing industry is a very close collaboration between previously disjoint stakeholders and ecosystems, especially from the ICT and OT domains. 5G-ACIA as the globally leading organization for driving and shaping Industrial 5G is therefore actively reaching out and liaising with other relevant organizations around the world,” said Mueller.

“We are very happy and excited about joining forces with GSMA and to jointly pave the way for the Factory of the Future,” Mueller added.