Recent Applications of Computing and Mobility Technologies to Modern Manufacturing

Abstract

The highly competitive nature of manufacturing industries led to several improvements to reduce costs and improve product quality. The modern manufacturing industries integrate several computational and communication technologies for competitive advantage. This paper describes the evolution of manufacturing processes that led to the digitization of factories along with their characteristics, benefits, and challenges. The applications of main computational technologies (such as cloud computing, robotics, internet of things, augmented reality, Blockchain, big data, and artificial intelligence) in streamlining smart manufacturing are explored. Application of the latest computational technologies imposes stringent requirements on data rates, latencies, transmission reliability, and coverage of communication technologies. The fifth-generation (5G) mobile communications technology has the potential to meet these requirements. This paper discusses the characteristics of 5G and how they help in realizing future manufacturing systems.