5G TIMBER

It is expected that in the coming years, the implementation of 5G in the EU manufacturing sector will drive €458.3 billion in additional industry revenues and €131.8 billion in added GDP contributions. The use of 5G technology along with other enabling technologies, such as edge-computing and AI, can bring up to 20% to 30% increase in productivity. However, 5G and smart manufacturing are currently more widely adopted in verticals with high-volume, easily standardisable, low-margin business models where cost-savings and productivity efficiency are necessary to achieving economies of scale. The use of 5G, edge-computing AI by small and medium manufacturers is rare due to costly technological risks and lack of best practices.

The 5G-TIMBER project will address the challenges outline above by developing 5G-enabled UCs and implementing field trials for different small and medium size manufacturing industries: small volume machinery, hand-assembled elements production, and construction focusing on the wood value chain (WVC). The project will demonstrate key innovations in the field of timber material models; open standards for production data, and secure exchange thereof; data analytics at the edge; precise indoor localisation; Digital Twin (DT) and augmented reality (AR); industrial IoT.

To support the rapid uptake of 5G technologies, considering real industrial practices and constraints in the EU timber industry over the whole value chain, focusing on small-volume manufacturing industries. Working closely with wood industries, 5G-Timber aims to increase wood-based materials recycling by 50%, increase productivity by 15%, reach 99% of the work done in the factory (vs. 85% today), reduce on-site work by 10%, reduce product nonconformities by 10%, and increase workers’ safety in wooden houses production and onsite assembling.

Expected Impacts

1. Accelerate the twin green and digital transition of the manufacturing and construction sectors.
2. Create green, flexible and digital ways to build and produce goods.
3. Increase the attractiveness and safety in manufacturing and construction jobs and point the way to opportunities that allow workers to upskill.
4. Set out a credible pathways to contributing to climate neutral, circular, and digitalised energy intensive industries.
5. Increase productivity, innovation capacity, resilience, sustainability and global competitiveness of European energy intensive industries.
6. Contribute to a substantial reduction of waste and CO2 emissions.

5G TIMBER plans to participate in standardisation actions in order to create an industry-led framework and to support the exploitation of the core project innovations. As these innovations are expected to become relevant in the scope of T&L ecosystems, a series of specifications towards the adaptation of 5G TIMBER project outcomes is required. The goal of this task is to:

1. Define a plan with a focus on identifying the principal contributions developed during the project’s  timeframe, the opportunities for project-wide submissions to different standardisation development organisations (SDOs) as well as national certification authorities and Working Groups (listed below);
2. Implement activities related to the standardisation of the different novel techniques, interfaces and findings created under the scope of the 5G TIMBER project:
   1. the identification of the pertinent and crucial innovations of 5G TIMBER that need to be standardised,
   2. the development of methodologies for converting the innovations into standards contributions,
   3. the coordination of contributions across SDOs and industry forums and
   4. a follow-up of the 5G TIMBER partners to maximise the chance of success with the standardisation efforts.

The consortium will provide feedback to the standardisation process by providing experiences, lessons learned, and research results, relevant to the overall 5G architecture, network softwarisation and slicing, network management, UCs and key requirements, as indicated below.

Activities foreseen:

A dedicated standardisation action plan, identifying relevant standardisation and regulatory bodies,

1. Setting up the standardisation activity roadmap and continuing the updating of this roadmap based on the project’s work progress and in conjunction with the SDOs progress, (Roadmap Produced)
2. Contributions to Made-In-Europe, FoF, 5G-PPP pre-standards WG with at least two (2) white papers based on the experiences in the validation of the UCs over the 5G technologies and addressing gaps.

Objective 7: To identify and validate applicable standards as well as provide rationalised contributions to key standardisation bodies (ISO, 3GPP, ETSI, IEEE, CEN, CENELEC, etc.) to sustain standardisation in WVC industries and facilitate the acceptance and adoption by the market of the developed solution.

Sub-objectives:

• O7.1 Identify and analyse the related existing standards within DTs, materials models, production data exchange, semantic data representation of industrial data relevant to machine development and servicing; AR, BIM, and Industry 5.0 UX assembly technologies, 5G NPN setup and maintenance.
• O7.2 Contribute to the relevant SDOs (ISO, 3GPP, ETSI, IEEE, CEN, CENELEC, etc.) working groups as well as reach out to organisations like Small Business Standards (SBS), PDES, Inc., ProStep, Energy Valley (D5.8, D5.9).

Expected measurable results:

1. at least 10 contributions to the most relevant pre-standardisation and SDOs with adoption status included in a public report delivered by M35.
2. Provide at least 8 recommendations and best practices to relevant organisations such as EFFRA/Made in Europe.

Reason for applying to HSbooster.eu services

The project is applying for a Standardisation Booster service to ensure that the 5G-TIMBER project aligns with existing standards and contributes to the creation of new standards where necessary. As outlined in the project description, the adoption of 5G technology in the manufacturing sector can bring significant benefits in terms of increased productivity and GDP contributions, but the widespread implementation of 5G in small and medium manufacturing industries is hindered by costly technological risks and lack of best practices.

By working with the Horizon Standardisation Booster, they aim to develop a comprehensive understanding of the existing standards and best practices related to 5G-enabled UCs, edge-computing, AI, and other enabling technologies in the wood and manufacturing industries. They believe that this support will be critical in ensuring that the project is aligned with existing standards and that the innovations they develop can contribute to the creation of new standards where necessary.

Furthermore, they recognise that the development of new standards is essential for the widespread adoption of 5G and smart manufacturing in the EU manufacturing sector, particularly in the more traditional wood sector. The project aims to address some of the challenges in the small-volume manufacturing industries of the wood value chain, and they believe that the insights and recommendations from the Standardisation Booster service will be instrumental in developing new standards and best practices that can be widely adopted across the industry.

Overall, th project is applying for the Standardisation Booster service to ensure that the 5G-TIMBER project is aligned with existing standards and contributes to the creation of new standards where necessary. They believe that this support will be critical in realising the full potential of 5G and smart manufacturing in the EU manufacturing sector and bringing significant benefits in terms of increased productivity, sustainability, and workers' safety.