With digital transformation metamorphosing the manufacturing sector, there are various technologies and practices that are yet to come to light for many leaders in the industry. From recommending the right network, and automating redundant processes to enabling smart manufacturing – everything is a puzzle waiting to be solved. As an industry expert and experienced in dealing with multiple large-scale manufacturing industries, Mr. Hari Nair, Vice President Head of Solution Engineering India & Global Solution Center at Tata Communications, was a guiding light for the members of the CXO Tech Council by CORE Media.
"Integrating OT systems with security built-in is the need of the hour. We need to make the decision-making process fast and secure to maintain consistently high production quality.”
Hari Nair Vice President, Head Solution Engineering India & Global Solution Center, Tata Communications
This talk was powered by Tata Communications and promoted peer-to-peer sharing of challenges, ideas, and solutions for different industries in the manufacturing sector. This article is a summarized version of the key points highlighted by Mr. Nair to aid digital transformation in the sector: -
1. Adopting an end-to-end network is crucial for uninterrupted connectivity
Fluctuating bandwidth and latency remains to be a serious issue concerning a majority of the manufacturing units. It makes deployments a painstaking task and messes with the overall timeline of a project. Mr. Nair emphasized the importance of adopting end-to-end network connectivity on production floors. It greatly helps the network provider get complete visibility of the problem areas in the network and accordingly take timely actions towards mitigating them. Moreover, end-to-end solutions eliminate the need to deal with multiple network providers, drastically help improve the QoS and enable faster resolution of issues.
2. Newly generated 5G use cases will be an ideal solution for manufacturers
With multiple machines and equipment running simultaneously on a production floor, a traditional network solution is insufficient for consistent and uninterrupted connectivity. More importantly, a common network solution is not compatible with different types of production. For instance, the network provider must design a customized use case for a company that operates in remote locations, such as mines located in the middle of jungles, to provide optimum service. Mr. Nair explained that clear use cases help build robust and consistent connectivity. He further elaborated that a typical production floor with a customized use case will use 3 different network solutions – a campus LAN, an end-to-end network or wifi, or newly developed 5G use cases to make smart manufacturing a reality. He reiterated that optimizing the 5G network is better with an end-to-end solution.
3. Data security should be a priority for the network provider
While discussing the significance of data security in a production unit, Mr. Nair remarked that data is critical. As a result, it should stay within the boundaries of the factory to keep it safe from external threats. Moreover, he pointed out that there still exist certain restrictions on the type of data that OT systems can handle. This data cannot be released into the public environment, as there is always the risk of cyber attacks damaging the integrity of the information. Therefore, the network provider should introduce built-in security while providing connectivity to clients. This functionality should empower the manufacturers to make decisions in a secure and rapid manner to avoid production delays and quality issues.
