By Juan Pedro Tomás
Steel producer ArcelorMittal France, Orange Business Services and Ericsson announced the launch of 5G Steel to test 4G/5G connectivity at ArcelorMittal’s industrial sites in France over the next three years.
The French government supports this initiative as part of the France Recovery plan.
Orange Business Services, Ericsson and ArcelorMittal France have developed this project together, including the design of industrial use cases adapted to ArcelorMittal’s challenges and business requirements.
This deployment will meet the needs for industrial network performance and connected workers and operations in a production environment on complex industrial sites.
Ericsson said that the 5G private network provides extensive coverage, to cover all of ArcelorMittal’s complex industrial sites, both outdoors and indoors.
The 5G private network will also meet the high-performance requirements of modelled processes, connected devices and production data, while the network’s low latency will support the deployment of autonomous vehicles and remote-controlled machinery as well as security in high-risk areas.
5G Steel will enable ArcelorMittal’s plants, starting with Dunkirk, followed by Mardyck in Hauts-de-France and Florange in the Grand Est area, to deploy use cases requiring high-speed cellular connectivity.
The vendor also said that these industrial use cases include better worker flexibility and mobility in different situations. In addition, autonomous rail vehicles in Dunkirk and Florange, autonomous road vehicles, remote maintenance with feedback from the field, virtual or augmented reality and safety devices are also relevant use cases.
Director of Digital Transformation at Arcelor Mittal France, David Glijer said: “ArcelorMittal is firmly committed to its digital transformation and is positioning itself as a leader in the digitalization of the steel industry. In production, maintenance, logistics and development, digital technologies have already begun to transform our processes, increase the reliability of our operations and improve the comfort and safety of our teams. The opening of our two Digital Labs in Dunkirk and soon in Florange is another illustration of ArcelorMittal’s desire to create an ecosystem at the crossroads of industry and digital.”
Head of Ericsson, France, Franck Bouétard said: “With 5G Steel, Ericsson is pleased to support ArcelorMittal in testing new industrial use cases based on 4G/5G cellular technologies. Ericsson once again demonstrates our expertise and technological leadership with private networks in a complex industrial environment.”
With 5G Steel, ArcelorMittal will develop key industrial projects, such as remote maintenance and autonomous vehicles.
According to Ericsson, maintenance teams can support operations and access the necessary documentation through the use of tablets. Once the maintenance operation has been carried out, they validate it and record it directly in the company’s information systems. With augmented reality, the teams can also access documents, images or call on an expert remotely and live.
In the autonomous vehicles field, transport by rail is essential at ArcelorMittal’s large sites. The Dunkirk site, for example, has 44 kilometers of track to transport products between the various manufacturing stages. With EasyMile, ArcelorMittal will launch the first autonomous train on an internal private network, which will be put into service in 2023. ArcelorMittal is also working on a heavy-duty road vehicle capable of transporting up to 120 tons of steel coils.
