Thailand's largest mobile operator Advanced Info Service (AIS) is working with Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corporation and Suranaree University of Technology (SUT) to leverage 5G technology and innovation to transform normal factories into smart facilities.
Mr Tanapong says the company is committed to deploying the potential of 5G in the industrial sector while ensuring a leading position amid challenging situations.
Tanapong Ittisakulchai, chief enterprise business officer of AIS, said the company is committed to deploying 5G in the industrial sector while ensuring its leading position amid challenging situations.
Through collaboration under a memorandum of understanding (MoU), the deployment includes 5G cloud automated guided vehicles (AGV), inspection patrol robots, 5G augmented reality (AR) remote guidance, virtual reality (VR) monitoring in real-time as well as a robotic arm.
The project aims to build a smart factory through 5G industrial solutions.
"We have deployed standalone [SA] AIS 5G digital infrastructure on a 2600 gigahertz middle-band spectrum with excellent properties to make a use case and reduced latency to provide full support for Internet of Thing [IoT]," said Mr Tanapong.
"We built a prototype factory to level up management capabilities and transform manufacturing processes in the context of a rapidly changing industrial sector."
Peerapong Uthansakul, director of SUT's Institute of Research and Development, said the collaboration is crucial to transform practices of the industrial sector and consistent with the University's mission to research, adapt and transfer technology to the industrial sector.
Referring to 5G cloud AGV, Mr Peerapong said it can create its own map, move autonomously and work quickly, accurately, and on time, making it a vital tool to boost efficiency inside the factory, warehouses and the production floor.
The 5G Robotic Arm has improved capabilities appropriate for use in the factory and production. The Robotic Arm can inspect a product and pick multiple products or equipment of various sizes rather than just one kind of object as before, he said.
5G AR remote guidance is a tool to improve efficiency by handling the work of many departments, Mr Peerapong said, adding 5G inspection patrol robots have the duties of a security guard to watch various areas. It has facial recognition capabilities as well as the ability to raise alarms regarding suspicious activity.
5G VR monitoring in real-time is a quality assurance inspection tool to ensure the product is made to a uniform standard from raw material to finished good.
Ling Zhi, vice president of global marketing at ZTE, indicated the company is willing to expand 5G intelligent manufacturing in Thailand.
ZTE has innovated 5G applications covering over 15 key industries with partners.