Network as a Service brings omnivision to the factory floor

Office IT to factory OT – the Hirschmann Automotive road trip

One manufacturer who wasn’t going to allow myopic visibility to hamper its production is Hirschmann Automotive. They simply had too much to lose. With facilities across the world, they employ more than 5,700 people to manufacture vehicle components that ensure reliability under the most extreme conditions in a vehicle. Hirschmann Automotive needed to make sure their people could work together from anywhere around the globe, as downtime was unthinkable. Having operations in many countries was made even more difficult because it was expensive and challenging to have the right skills available when a critical incident occurred.

Their vision? Super connected augmented reality (AR), of course. With RealWear AR headsets and Cisco’s Webex Expert on Demand software, they can now link technicians at production facilities – the operational technology (OT) environment – with experts in real-time, anywhere in the world. Downtime has been reduced significantly and Hirschmann Automotive’s productivity increased.

Working with us, the manufacturer also moved aspects of their collaboration environment to the cloud, so that employees could work together from anywhere, at any time, using any device, using a network-as-a-service model. We connected their meeting rooms using Webex Boards, allowing teams across the globe to work together in real-time, sharing thoughts, ideas, content and whiteboard sessions via the system.

But that’s not where the benefits end. As Hirschmann Automotive grows their AR adoption, the technology can help in many several other ways. Besides linking experts and technician live, the company is now thinking of creating a knowledge base that contains common problem solutions. Technicians could then follow a set, automatic process, using this data to fix the problem, even without expert advice or guidance. This includes providing lists of commonly asked questions, but with an existing video, a workflow-diagram or assembly sketch to make common problems even quicker and easier to solve. With a future vision like this, Hirschmann Automotive has its eyes wide open in more ways than one. 

The great taste of digitalization – Frucor Suntory’s network refreshes their people’s connections

Networks aren’t networks only to provide factory floor visibility. They also exist to connect people with people, and people with their data. Few manufacturers saw the value in their people using the network to work together in new and imaginative ways more than Australasian drinks manufacturer, Frucor Suntory.

Creating a digital backbone for the organization hinged on the deployment of a reliable network. Any downtime would both affect their manufacturing lines and the ability of teams to communicate with each other across locations in New Zealand and Australia.

Frucor employs 1,000 people in their factories, head offices and extensive branch office network. With this spread of operations, they depend on their network to keep their workforce connected to each other, as well as to applications hosted in their hybrid cloud environment. More than just a backbone for company-wide communication, their network is critical to their entire supply chain and needed to securely and quickly respond to the requirements of the business.

Creating a digital backbone for the organization therefore hinged on the deployment of a reliable network. Working together with NTT and Cisco, they deployed a new core network using Cisco’s Digital Network Architecture. This software-defined network provides a secure and flexible foundation, enabling seamless access to information and applications. With wired and wireless analytics, they’re also able to monitor performance, ensuring that any issues can be addressed before they affect the user experience.

With mobility being a critical component of their vision, the software-defined Wi-Fi network had to deliver a consistent and reliable connection for all users across all their sites, including employees, clients and visitors. It also had to support the growing number of connected devices forming part of their infrastructure, including an array of network-enabled operational technologies.

With a network capable of supporting their organizational culture of collaboration, Frucor can now focus on their core goal of delivering the best drinks to their customers in Australia and New Zealand. 

It’s private – Schneider Electric’s 5G route to sustainability

No factory – whether making motor vehicle components or soft drinks – operates in a bubble. Besides forming part of critical global supply chains, they’re also major contributors to our collective human impact on the planet. How then, if anything, can the way manufacturers build and manage their campus networks help to minimize that impact? For Schneider Electric, a global manufacturing process and energy technology integrator, the answer lies in Private 5G (P5G) networks.

NTT and Schneider Electric are ready to pilot a brand new P5G platform at its Lexington Smart Factory this year. This will be the first of Schneider Electric’s US plants to become a Smart Factory example, featuring IoT connectivity, edge analytics and predictive analysis to improve energy efficiency and support sustainability objectives. The P5G network will help to solve problems related to equipment availability, machine performance and manufacturing output quality. For example, ‘machine vision’ capabilities (industrial cameras with specialized optics) in existing manufacturing plant and warehouse automation systems will help to spot problems before they occur, as well as monitor the wear and tear of equipment and machinery for incident root cause analysis in near real-time.

But again, it’s about more than just how smart the network is. It’s also about the planet we live and work on. Other than superior control and security, wireless networks also deliver better sustainability than a wired network. Less copper cabling means less energy usage and easier alignment to net-zero carbon objectives.

Schneider Electric’s purpose is called Life Is On, by which they aim to empower manufacturers to make the most of their energy resources, bridging process and sustainability for all.