The network is inside the multi-purpose dairy processing plant at Glanbia Ireland’s facility in Ballyragget, County Kilkenny.
Ericsson has partnered Three Ireland and Glanbia, a global leader in agriculture and nutrition, to launch Ireland’s first indoor 5G campus network in a live manufacturing environment.
The indoor 5G network, inside the multi-purpose dairy processing plant at Glanbia Ireland’s facility in Ballyragget, County Kilkenny, will bring low latency and better data security across Glanbia’s largest Irish plant.
High maintenance
The idea is to enable faster and more accurate maintenance tasks and provide richer analysis of plant processes, helping reduce manual administration and boost efficiency.
The coverage will be provided by the Ericsson Radio Dot System and combined with Three Ireland’s 5G spectrum.
Glanbia will trial bespoke 5G use cases, including augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applications, and test how 5G can provide enhanced indoor connectivity for their wider production facilities.
Karl Duffy, Head of Enterprise and Public Sector at Three Ireland, commented, “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.”
He added, “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.”
Beyond the Horizon
Brian Farrell, Engineering Manager at Glanbia Ireland, Ballyragget, commented, “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 emphasises 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.”
Ericsson and Three Ireland first launched 5G together in 2020 are working together to develop 5G consumer use cases through the global Ericsson Startup 5G programme.