Hyundai Motor Group (HMG) has signed an agreement with Singtel to deploy 5G at its Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre in Singapore (HMGICS), which includes an electric vehicle production facility.
HMGICS is HMG's open innovation hub for research and development in advanced mobility ecosystems “with the aim of revolutionising the future mobility value chain”.
It will use Singtel's 5G campus network with mobile edge core solutions.
This will provide high-speed connectivity and massive bandwidth to enhance HMGICS' high-precision quality control in manufacturing operations, HMGICS' CEO, Hong Bum Jung, said.
Hong added that the partnership would result in Hyundai Motor Group's first global deployment of a 5G network in vehicle manufacturing for a cloud-based centralised mobile robot management solution.
Meta-factory
“We believe that Singtel's 5G solution will not only redefine the manufacturing process, but the partnership will realise 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, ” he said.
Hong added that the “game-changing meta-factory will enable us to test-run the factory virtually, in order to calculate the optimised plant operation and enable plant managers to solve problems without having to physically visit the plant”.
Apart from introducing smart mobility solutions in areas such as electric vehicles (EV), autonomous vehicles, and new forms of mobility products and services in Singapore, the HMGICS will also serve as a testbed for human-centred intelligent manufacturing and verification of Industry 4.0 technologies .
“Augmented by Singtel’s capabilities in 5G, artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT), and Hyundai’s deep expertise in smart automotive manufacturing solutions as well as robotics, HMGICS will be the leading facility for the development of a metaverse for the manufacturing industry,” a Singtel spokesperson said.
Paragon
Singtel’s Paragon, an all-in-one platform for 5G networks, edge computing management and services orchestration, will enable the factory to manage and analyse the manufacturing process and performance of the networks, thus allowing real-time monitoring and feedback, the Singtel spokesperson added.
Paragon will also support Hyundai’s new capability that allows customers to personalise their chosen vehicles and watch their cars being manufactured live via their smart devices.
Once ready, the vehicles will be transported by specially designed autonomous vehicles to the Centre's 620-metre-long Sky Track where customers can test drive them.
Singtel enterprise business managing director Lim Seng Kong said the company's 5G network and MEC (multi-access edge computing) solutions “will overcome the performance limitations of wi-fi to deliver the promise of digital twins and eventually metaverse for advanced manufacturing operations”.
“With innovation from Hyundai and enablement from our 5G solutions, we are looking at a new concept of manufacturing where the station comes to the cell, unlocking opportunities for hyper-customisation and other novel applications,” he added.
