Smart cranes in the 5G economy

Konecranes digital solutions are already implemented on a global scale, as the company has more than 600,000 assets under service agreement. Soon, products will become increasingly smarter, ultimately becoming autonomous in performing operations that are required of them. For this to happen, Konecranes needs to able to move more and more computing power to the edge, increase communication bandwidth and decrease latency.

"We see the digital automation cloud as a potential technology that our customers may be using in the future, and we want to be prepared for the possibilities it provides," says Juha Pankakoski, Executive Vice President of Technologies at Konecranes.

Taking M2M to the next level

He adds that the new mobile network technology has the capacity to bring machine-to-machine (M2M) communications, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) security, and machine learning to the next level, which would benefit ports and large manufacturing operations.

The Konecranes premises in Hyvinkää will house this private mobile broadband. The network is expected to accelerate IIoT-related research and product development and business-critical broadband connectivity.

Now in its early stages of development, 5G is set to become the foundation for a ubiquitous ecosystem of intelligent sensors and devices. This next technological revolution will play a key role in driving digitalization across different industry sectors.  

 

Text: Gino de la Paz
Photo: Konecranes