Kilkenny plant is first to launch 5G network on site
Three Ireland and Ericsson have announced a new strategic partnership with Glanbia Ireland to increase manufacturing efficiency by installing an indoor 5G network at the company’s plant in Ballyragget.
The new 5G network, inside the cheese plant at Glanbia Ireland’s largest plant, is the first implementation in a live manufacturing environment in Ireland.
Three is working with Ericsson and Glanbia on the rollout to demonstrate how 5G can be utilised in manufacturing environments, developing further use cases which in time can be applied across a range of sectors.
In a statement, the company said the 5G network solution “will enable faster and more accurate maintenance tasks on the plant floor and will assist in problem solving, providing for richer analysis of plant processes and reducing manual administration”.
It added: “The new indoor 5G network will bring greater connectivity and data security, allowing Glanbia to trial AR and VR applications, and test how 5G can provide enhanced connectivity solutions for their wider production facilities.”
Brian Farrell, Engineering Manager at Glanbia Ireland, Ballyragget said: “We’re delighted to be involved in this ground breaking initiative with Three Ireland and Ericsson. It’s allowing us to bring to life some of the early learnings from our participation in an EU funded Horizon 2020 5G project. It emphasizes the importance of networks as an enabler for Digital Industrial Transformation and it will accelerate the trial and adoption of some innovative Industry 4.0 use cases for us.”
Karl Duffy, Head of Enterprise and Public Sector at Three Ireland, added: “The bespoke opportunities and insights which 5G can provide to organisations and sectors is really exciting to us at Three Ireland, delivering a real step-change from 4G. We are delighted to partner with Glanbia Ireland and Ericsson on this initiative. This is the first indoor 5G network of its kind in Ireland and will deliver real efficiencies for Glanbia. The opportunity is there for companies of all sizes to create a pilot and scale over time. The companies that act now will achieve first mover advantage within their sector which can’t be underestimated.”
