Toyota Production Engineering Corporation (TPEC) has tapped Nokia to deploy an industrial-grade private wireless network at its manufacturing design centre in Fukuoka, Japan.
Initially, the private LTE/4.9G network will be deployed at TPEC’s site supporting a range of IoT-based devices that enable equipment digitisation and visualisation. Over time, the network will be upgraded to 5G, featuring ultra-low latency to support even faster throughput.
“We conduct R&D on cutting-edge facilities and technologies, and is responsible for production preparation, facility development and design, and quality data management. By adding Nokia 5G private networking to our capability, we will contribute to Toyota's manufacturing through this new digital engineering technology,” Akihiro Onishi, engineering fellow, Engineering Innovation Division, TPEC.
TPEC, a subsidiary of Toyota Motor Corporation, focuses on digital engineering to introduce new tools and processes to car manufacturing.
Looking forward to a 5G future
The private network project is spearheaded by local systems integrator NS Solutions (NSSOL).
Following this contract award, TPEC will assess the use of LTE/4.9G and 5G private wireless networking across its manufacturing sites, with the aim of designing innovative production processes.
“Working with NSSOL, our 5G-ready private wireless network solution will enable TPEC to integrate next-generation manufacturing use cases that help accelerate its digital transformation, and realise its future automotive IoT vision. Together with NSSOL, and Toyota’s closest partner TPEC, we are delivering a breakthrough in the domestic automotive industry,” said Donny Janssens, customer team head of enterprise, Nokia Japan.
5G networking will help the manufacturing process to evolve into a more automated operating environment. With super-fast speeds, ultra-low latency and multiple simultaneous connections via Massive MIMO, 5G is a major step forward to delivering the manufacturing industry’s transformational applications, services and workflows.
Nokia will provide its Digital Automation Cloud (DAC), an industrial-grade global digital automation service platform that deliver a reliable, secure, and high-performance private wireless network, which is scalable according to needs. A compact, plug-and-play system, it includes 4.9G/5G network equipment (core network, base station) and a cloud-based operation monitoring system. With Nokia DAC, users can securely collect, process and host all generated proprietary data on site.
On the other hand, NSSOL will provide wireless area design, license application support, system construction, and on-going maintenance and operation.
“We are pleased to play a part in the realization of TPEC's advanced digital transformation initiatives. Through this project, together with TPEC and Nokia, we would like to do our utmost to support digital transformation in the automobile manufacturing industry,” Toshiaki Yoshida, general manager, Telecom Solutions Business Department, NSSOL.
