Orange Polska will build a second campus network in Poland after its success with the Łódź Special Economic Zone, operating in the 3.6 GHz target 5G band.
The operator says the network will be deployed in Ksawerów near Łódź, on a 6,000 square metre site of Miele’s domestic appliances plant.
The contract will last two years and the network will digitialise and automate the quality control process for manufactured products, as well as facilitate large-scale employee training programmes using virtual reality (VR).
Smart factory
The Ksawerów plant has been operating since autumn 2019 and currently employs 300 people. In March 2020, the first units of new model washing machines rolled off its production line.
As manufacturing processes develop, it is possible that the 5G network will be expanded, placing the Ksawerów plant among the most advanced facilities of its type in Europe.
The network will be a collaboration between Ericsson, Orange and Miele is described as “a perfect example of the direction in which the deployment of 5G technology is heading. The use of applications based on 5G in manufacturing is a meaningful example for other companies how to create a competitive advantage with the benefit for the development of manufacturing and the domestic market,” by Martin Mellor, CEO of Ericsson in Poland.
Devices will use SIM cards provided under contract by Orange Polska, while the network will run on eight Ericsson antennas operating in 3.6GHz and 2100MHz bands.
Competence
Julien Ducarroz, CEO of Orange Polska, commented, “This confirms Orange Polska’s high competence in rolling out 5G networks for the digital transformation of industry. We operate comprehensively. Starting from design, through delivery, installation and configuration, to network maintenance with high performance assurance.
“We will provide coverage in 5G, but also in LTE. The network will enable data transmission at speeds exceeding 750Mbps. We rely on the Orange Group’s experience gained during the deployment of similar projects in Western European countries and our own experience gained during the roll-out of the network in the Łódź Special Economic Zone”.
Autonomous vehicles
Dr. Thorsten Störmer, Managing Director of Miele Ksawerów, added,”In future, we plan to use the 5G network being built by Orange to support autonomous vehicles, a large number of IoT sensors, and remote expert support using augmented reality (AR).
“All this to further the digital transformation of our factory and increase its operational efficiency. We have also invited start-ups, with whom we want to deploy and test new 5G solutions, which we then hope to apply successfully also in our plants in other countries.”
He continued, “Together with our partners, Orange, Ericsson, LSEZ and of course the selected start-ups we will try to challenge the new 5G technology in the coming months to find out limitations and constraints.