With a focus on aerospace in the Midlands, which is one of the region’s biggest industrial sectors, Insider Media have outlined the future of manufacturing and how 5G will play a massive part in revolutionising the UK aerospace industry.

Discussing industry 4.0 (i4.0) – the development of data to improve manufacturing efficiency – and how 5G will be key in delivering the data revolution Insider Media quotes multiple members of the West Midlands 5G team.

Highlighting the West Midland’s region-wide 5G test bed, the piece quotes Jon Williams of Worcestershire 5G, who explains that “5G is designed for enterprise; it is not faster 4G or a plaything for consumers.”

Focusing in on i4.0 our project manager Riccardo Weber explained that “i4.0 enables us to connect machines to machines with precision and the benefits from those connections are tremendous.

“We can capture more data and bigger packs of data, this is where 5G is a key enabler. But we can also manage that data far better to the point where we’re talking about viable AI and machine learning.”

The article also talks to AE Aerospace, who WM5G partnered with to trial the country’s first ever private 5G network, with operations director Ian Bouquet-Taylor explaining that the aerospace sector has spent years being inefficient.

“We’re still often paper-driven and it takes far too long to do stuff, not like automotive where you are expected you deliver on time, every time,” he adds.

“To a certain extent, aerospace has hidden behind safety claims and compliance paperwork to cover inefficiencies. However, 5G will remove many of those barriers, because things we need to know will be at our fingertips straight away.”

The feature goes on to explain the business case of adopting 5G technology, how supply lines can remain clear despite an increased flow of data and how a cultural shift may be required to adopt i4.0 and 5G.

Read the full article.