Innovation Projects Welding is one of the most The real next gen aspect of this Project Budget commonly used processes for the is allowing the operator to action £3.9m production of electric powertrains these services using augmented and whilst the welding talent pool reality equipment, namely Microsoft (Government £1.9m) is significantly limited in the sector, Hololens, to visualise instructions, How Atlas is ATS Budget £414k the increase in EV production has and enable OEM remote technicians accelerated the need of automated to ensure onsite repair and Enabling the Timeline April 2020 - March 2022 and reliable welding outputs. maintenance is done right. 5G Enabled The welding process creates Atlas provided a digital platform Manufacturing terabytes of data extremely fast so for the collection, analysis and it’s important to have a network and communication of massive amounts Project system connectivity able to process of near-real-time, large file data at this data as quickly as it’s being Ford’s E:PrimE facility in Dunton, produced. AI algorithms can then be Essex. By now, we all know what 5G is. deployed and monitor the quality of Faster, better, stronger (as the six What was the goal of the the welds and consequently adjust Why is Edge important? million dollar man might say). In our 5GEM Project? the welding machine parameters to personal lives it makes our access ensure a quality output. With 5G, retrofitted 5G enabled to information and entertainment sensors are able to collect and instantaneous, but how are we The automotive industry is in the Further to this, remote machine transmit data at near real-time using it to make the world of process of total transformation, maintenance can be triggered when speeds. It’s possible to process manufacturing better? striving to provide fully electric data from a laser welding process is information about individual and hybrid plug-in electric vehicles showing there is excessive heat build As part of our innovation projects, globally. Ford in Europe is rapidly up in the laser lenses. That means Atlas has been involved in the 5G re-deploying their assets to meet that the lenses require replacing and Enabled Manufacturing (5GEM) production of low carbon vehicles by operators can connect with OEM Project: a joint effort by Ford, HSSMI, 2030. The Electrictrified Powertrain suppliers and contractors through Lancaster University, TM Forum, TWI, (E:PrimE) facility is one of their private 5G networks to share process VFE, and Vodafone, aimed at proving ‘factory of the future’ testbeds data and servicing instructions the efficacy of private 5G networking where 5G is an enabling technology securely. in manufacturing. for capturing and managing vast amounts of data. ATLAS WORLD MAGAZINE SPRING, 2022