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How Midea operates in Thailand a 5G fully-connected factory

(June 2024) Midea Group is a Chinese electrical appliance manufacturer. As of 2021, the firm employs approximately 150,000 people in China. It has 200 foreign subsidiaries and over 60 overseas branches. The company is on the Fortune Global 500 since July 2016.

Midea produces lighting, water appliances, floor care, small kitchen appliances, laundry, large cooking appliances, and refrigeration appliances. It is the world’s largest microwave oven manufacturer, and acts an OEM for many brands. It also has a long history in producing home and commercial products in heating, ventilation and air conditioning. It is the world’s largest producer of industrial robots and appliances.

A general view of the fully-connected factory in Chonburi

In Chonburi, Thailand, Thailand (around 1–1.5 hour driving distance from Bangkok), Midea operates an air conditioner factory. It covers an area of 208,000 square meters. It was partially put into production in Q4 of 2021. When fully built up, it will have a production capacity of 4 million air conditioners per year.

The project is Midea’s first “all 5G connected new smart factory” outside China and the largest air conditioner production base in Southeast Asia. It combines 5G, AI, big data, cloud platform, etc., and will be built into an Industry 4.0 smart manufacturing demonstration base.

This video shows how the Midea factory operates

Since 2019, Midea Group has piloted 5G + Industry IoT applications in its manufacturing bases and started deploying the ‘fully connected factory’ in 2021. The 4th economic development plan initiated by the Thai government aims to transform Thailand into a high-income country by 2030. The plan focuses on digitalization and innovation, especially in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) area where the Midea factory is located.

One of the plant’s robotic arms

Midea’s Chonburi factory uses the 5G network coverage of the Industrial Park. It implements 5G +15 scenarios and build a 5G+ industrial Internet platform. Being fully-connected provides the following capabilities to the factory:

* 5G AI inspection: Reduce errors and midsections; increase efficiency and improve first time yield by 4%。In the past, about 4000 devices need to be reworked in the production line each year due to defects. After AI detection, the number of reworked devices is reduced to 1000, and the rework rate is reduced by 75%.

* 5G Robotic Arm: With 5G robotic arms, workers no longer have to engage in dangerous, repetitive, and heavy work close to hot machines. They can use a 5G smartphone to remotely start the program. Robotic arms can then evenly and reliably adjust the production materials flow as required. The workers do not have to conduct dangerous operations, and the quality of products is improved.

An AGV in action

* 5G Automated guided vehicle (AGV): 5G technology has changed the operation mode of AGVs. Traditional AGVs mainly rely on preset routes and physical markers for navigation, which to some extent limits their application scope and capabilities. However, 5G technology gives AGVs stronger data processing and communication capabilities, allowing them to dynamically plan optimal paths by collecting and analyzing environmental data in real time, greatly improving their flexibility and ability to cope with complex environments. In addition, the high-speed, high-capacity and low-latency characteristics of 5G technology can also significantly improve the operational efficiency of AGVs. With 5G networks, AGVs can achieve precise and efficient positioning, navigation, and control in complex factory environments, greatly improving production efficiency and reducing operational errors.

* 5G Operating room: Each air conditioner assembly line is equipped with a 5G operation room to simulate and test the operating status of outdoor compressors. The air conditioner operating data is collected through the air conditioner and transmitted to the backend server through Wi-Fi or cables for analysis. Wi-Fi interference is strong, and data collection often fails. 5G backhaul ensures zero data loss and can meet the requirements of subsequent low-latency applications.

An operating room

* 5G Data Collection: 5G features massive connections and high reliability. Wireless CPEs can be used to connect devices to the 5G network, collect the running status, parameters, and output information of production devices in the factory in real time, and monitor and analyze the collected data. 5G devices can perform real-time detection and analysis on facilities that need to be manually inspected periodically. This greatly improves the utilization of equipment in the factory, shortens the impact duration of equipment faults, and effectively improves the equipment capacity.

GSMA highlighted the Midea factory in one of its studies. For more details, click here.

Originally published at https://www.huawei.com.