Hyundai has decided to leverage Singtel 5G network and Paragon multi-access edge computing (MEC) platform to manage and power its small-scale electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing plant in Singapore.
Hyundai’s EV production facility, part of the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre in Singapore (HMGICS), will harness Paragon’s capabilities to enable the factory to manage and analyze manufacturing processes and network performance, thus allowing real-time monitoring and feedback.
Hong Bum Jung, CEO of HMGICS, said through its partnership with Singtel, HMGICS will feature the Hyundai Motor Group’s first deployment of a 5G network in vehicle manufacturing, leveraging 5G for a cloud-based centralized mobile robot management solution.
“We believe that Singtel’s 5G solution will not only redefine the manufacturing process, but the partnership will realize Hyundai’s vision of becoming the first mobility innovator to build a ‘meta-factory’ concept, a digital twin of an actual factory, supported by a metaverse platform,” Jung added.
Lim Seng Kong, managing director of Singtel’s enterprise business, noted that Singtel’s 5G network and MEC platform would address the performance limitations of Wi-Fi to deliver the promise of digital twins – and eventually the metaverse for advanced manufacturing operations.
“With innovation from Hyundai and enablement from our 5G solutions, we are looking at a new concept of manufacturing…[and] unlocking opportunities for hyper-customization and other novel applications,” Lim said.
“This industry-first deployment proves that 5G networks can be used for high-precision quality control and manufacturing operations that were previously not possible with the limitations of Wi-Fi,” said Bill Chang, CEO of a group enterprise at Singtel.
“Additionally, the implementation is a significant milestone in Singtel’s journey to accelerate enterprise 5G adoption and will serve as a case study to inspire other 5G-enabled manufacturing sites around the world,” he added.
Paragon will also support Hyundai’s new capability that lets customers personalise and watch their cars being manufactured live via their smart devices. Once ready, the cars will be transported by autonomous guided vehicles to a 620m-long sky track for customers to test drive.
At the same time, HMGICS is developing a metaverse for the manufacturing industry, enabling automotive companies to test run a factory virtually and optimize plant operations without visiting the plant.
