ALLPCB
Overview
When discussing signs of modern industrial transformation, management theorist Peter Drucker wrote, "Automation is the path to progress." That observation has gained relevance in the Industry 4.0 era, where intelligence and networking are core characteristics. As digitalization accelerates, mechanical manufacturing is moving toward greater efficiency, precision, intelligence, flexibility, and collaboration, driving a transformation of industrial systems.
Industrial control remains a central element of production and has become increasingly important in digital transformation. With the arrival of 5G networks offering high speed, low latency, and large bandwidth, combined with edge computing, big data, and artificial intelligence, comprehensive connectivity among people, machines, devices, and systems can help reduce costs, improve quality, increase efficiency, and enhance safety and sustainability.
In industrial automation, there are relatively few native 5G products, so manufacturers typically add connectivity devices on production lines to achieve 5G access. In many factories, 5G is more widely applied to higher-level systems such as ERP, MES, and SCADA, and rarely reaches deeper PLC control domains including logic control, process control, and motion control. Although wired connections provide stable latency for PLCs, factories with numerous lines and machines host many PLCs, and line reconfiguration—especially for flexible manufacturing - requires extensive rewiring and program debugging.
These limitations make PLCs more eager to integrate with 5G wireless networks. Schneider Electric executives have indicated an interest in using 5G+PLC as a practical example to illustrate 5G's potential and to promote an industrial ecosystem around it.
White Paper and Field Practices
At the 2023 China International Industry Fair, Schneider Electric, the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, and China United Network Communications Group Co., Ltd. jointly released a white paper titled "5G+PLC Deep Integration Solution." The white paper documents practical 5G+PLC production-line transformation cases in multiple factories in China and outlines feasible approaches for applying 5G+PLC to industry digitalization. It details 5G+PLC use in discrete manufacturing across the production lifecycle, covering network planning, deployment, operations, and performance requirements, along with application case studies that illustrate how 5G can change manufacturing models.
In a foreword to the white paper, the president of the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology noted that PLCs, as core industrial controllers, will experience functional, form, and structural changes when integrated with 5G technologies. This integration can enable more intelligent, reliable, and secure industrial control, and practical applications are expanding from peripheral production and logistics control toward core production control.
To realize the value of 5G for high-quality industrial development, it must be integrated with the real economy and deeply aligned with operational technology (OT) and industrial automation systems.
Trends in Discrete Manufacturing
As demand for flexible production increases, discrete manufacturing is moving toward customized flexible lines, tighter OT/IT network integration, and new converged automation systems. Segment-based processes enable customized production, driving flexible production needs. Lean production requires OT and IT network convergence to share shop-floor data with enterprise management. Traditional complex network topologies are evolving toward a three-tier architecture of device, edge, and cloud, with MES, SCADA, and ERP increasingly deployed on edge computing nodes or industrial clouds.
New network architectures require communication between field devices and edge compute nodes to provide large bandwidth, low latency, and deterministic delay - capabilities inherent to 5G. For flexible production, 5G's low latency, high reliability, and strong security support wireless OT communications. For flatter network architectures, 5G enables peer-level communications among industrial devices. 5G also provides native "one network across the facility" capabilities, and features such as 5G LAN second-layer access and network slicing enable flexible allocation of network resources, aligning with the trend of OT/IT network convergence in discrete manufacturing.
5G Enabling PLC Control
Deep integration of 5G and PLCs can transform manufacturing modes and production forms. With continued 5G evolution and introduction of R16 features, reliable low-latency capabilities make 5G-based PLC control increasingly feasible. Note: The connection between PLCs and field devices is referred to as PLC southbound communication.
In production environments, if 5G is to carry PLC southbound communication, it must support industrial OT networks and various industrial protocols. This requires 5G to support layer-2 networking, meaning 5G endpoints and the network must support 5G LAN functionality. At the edge consolidation layer, besides the primary PLC there is also the 5G core network and edge servers (MEC), typically co-located and connected by Ethernet or fiber.
Because PLC-based control systems sit closest to field devices and perform precise operations and process control, they impose strict latency and error constraints. Historically, these connections have favored wired links, and wireless networks were not considered for many control applications for latency and determinism reasons.
White Paper Scope
The white paper presents a comprehensive 5G+PLC production-line solution that spans initial analysis and research to full production deployment. It covers system architecture, classification of 5G+PLC application scenarios, 5G network planning, deployment, operations, and performance requirements.
At the system level, the white paper divides a typical 5G+PLC architecture into three tiers: field access devices, edge-centralized deployment, and upper-layer applications. This architecture follows traditional PLC control patterns while minimizing impact on control program developers and equipment manufacturers, reducing implementation difficulty and improving replicability.
Application Scenarios
The white paper categorizes 5G+PLC application scenarios into four types: logic control, process control, motion control, and external devices. Different devices and machines have distinct communication needs: video transmission devices require larger bandwidth, while control devices prioritize latency stability.
Proponents expect the architecture to flatten cloud-edge-device interactions and increase field-device intelligence, enabling more efficient use of cloud and edge compute resources, higher line openness, lower costs, and broader equipment choices, which could allow control systems to run on lower-cost devices.
Operational and Network Support
Network operators have proposed both customized network capabilities and standardized products to meet varied industrial scenarios. One approach is to offer a base network plus value-added services to enable rapid and efficient network deployment.
Challenges
Integrating 5G with industrial control introduces several challenges. First, there is misalignment between CT and OT performance standards. Second, compared with extremely low latency in wired device connections, 5G-based wireless access can incur production efficiency losses. Third, network instability could introduce safety risks for certain motion-control equipment; production safety is the top priority in manufacturing.
Addressing these issues requires cooperation among industrial enterprises, communications providers, and telecom operators to develop compatible approaches, design new electrical and mechanical safety architectures, create production-line design tools and supporting solutions, and ensure stable, reliable industrial 5G private networks that deliver real value to industrial users.
Policy and Future Direction
5G is a key technology for advancing the industrial internet, and the industrial internet is a primary arena for large-scale 5G applications. China is actively issuing 5G industry policy guidance, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's publication of "5G Fully Connected Factory Construction Guidelines" is expected to promote deeper 5G adoption from peripheral production functions into core control domains. Ongoing 5G standard and technology iterations will accelerate IT and OT fusion in factory control layers, enhancing production flexibility and transparency. Full 5G coverage in factories can help improve quality, reduce cost, and increase efficiency.
Industry Deployments
Schneider Electric has conducted research and practice on industrial 5G applications to support connected factory construction. Since 2019, Schneider Electric has deployed 5G networks at factories in Wuxi and Guangzhou and conducted extensive performance and security testing. The company has proposed a model of fully distributed 5G core deployment, decentralized implementation, and centralized group management for architecture and operations. Beginning in 2022, Schneider Electric implemented multi-campus 5G private network solutions across more than twenty smart factories and logistics centers in China, aiming for unified network standards, rapid application replication, and centralized management. In future scenarios, combining 5G with VDI PAD-like technologies is proposed for quality control, maintenance, and remote training to reduce hardware and operations costs and support leaner assets.
Conclusion
5G+PLC applications are expanding across industries to deepen practical adoption. New 5G standards and technologies are expected to accelerate IT and OT convergence at the factory control level, while more traditional automation vendors are incorporating ICT technologies to solve practical problems in digital transformation. Industry participants are working to advance digitalization through practical deployments and collaborations.
