Telefónica Delivering the Promise of 5G for Gestamp

Automotive component manufacturer Gestamp has been working with Telefónica to implement a 5G network on the factory floor of its plant in Barcelona. The project was part of the 5G Barcelona initiative (a collaboration between Mobile World Capital Barcelona, Telefónica, and Gestamp) that is looking to progress digitalization across the city and the Catalonia region.

The bandwidth and low latency provided by 5G connectivity allied with an edge computing network means that Gestamp can process data concerning its machinery in real time, perform large-scale simulations with the data, and optimize decision-making concerning its operations. The work at Gestamp is a step change regarding how a 5G network can support manufacturers with the benefits of 5G (bandwidth and low latency) coming to the fore; previous ABI Insights related to this topic (IN-5854, IN-5849) have concluded there is a dearth of real-life uses cases for such a network and Gestamp demonstrates the potential for a 5G network inside a manufacturing plant. For Telefónica, the work with Gestamp shows how the Communications Service Providers (CSPs) can provide an end-to-end solution for an enterprise vertical.

Gestamp is a multinational firm specializing in the design and manufacture of highly-engineered metal components (bodywork, chassis, manufacturing mechanisms, tooling) on behalf of automotive manufacturers. The company’s customers are looking to produce lighter and safer vehicles that have improved energy consumption, plus more and more customizations. Gestamp needs to optimize its processes in order to meet these challenges.

The project stems from Telefónica’s 5G Technological Cities initiative, which the firm started in 2018. Having connected the machinery on the factory floor to the 5G network, Gestamp and Telefónica have created a virtual model or digital twin of the factory processes; capturing the data produced using Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC). Telefónica is deploying its Virtual Data Center in Edge, which is located in Barcelona and very close to the Gestamp factory, that provides local compute processing and single-digit millisecond latency, which would not be achievable with Round-Trip Delays (RTDs) associated with transporting data to and from the public cloud and data center back-ends.

Away from Barcelona, Gestamp has been working on several projects that would benefit from a similar approach. The company’s Global Quality Digital Certificate has been established in many plants and looks to collect and store all production-related information in order to improve traceability of the parts; providing visibility and control of all the chassis parts produced. At one of its facilities in Poland, Gestamp devised its Cold 4.0 project, whereby a single cold stamping line is collecting more than 30,000 variables; however, the challenge is transforming the data into insights that augment the decision-making process.

Gestamp is a good example of how 5G edge computing can support local data processing and analytics. But 5G edge computing projects require manufacturers to have a degree of maturity when it comes to digital transformation. Gestamp has been working on optimizing its decision-making processes and connecting its Barcelona facility for many years.

For Telefónica, the work with Gestamp highlights that CSPs can not only support a manufacturer deploying 5G, but also offer solutions that help improve processes and transform a manufacturer’s operations. This positions Telefónica as part of the ecosystem inside the plant, as opposed to being a bit-pipe provider.

Scalability will be an issue going forward for both Telefónica and Gestamp. Gestamp has 112 manufacturing plants across 23 countries, plus 13 Research and Development (R&D) centers, and with the use cases such as those mentioned above, it is likely to look to replicate the work in Barcelona elsewhere. Ideally, Gestamp would have a single provider delivering the work; however, Telefónica operates directly in only 14 countries, but offers services in more than 170 countries via strategic partner agreements. Furthermore, 5G edge computing requires that 5G spectrum is available locally, the compute power can be as close to the source of a plant as possible, and so where spectrum is available, Telefónica will need to have partner arrangements with local CSPs to support the backbone network to deliver the latency requirements. These conditions, as well as an enthusiastic municipality like Barcelona, will not necessarily be in place close to other Gestamp plants.