A Square Peg in a Round Hole: The Complex Path for Wireless in the Manufacturing Industry

TL;DR

This paper examines the challenges and misalignments hindering the adoption of wireless technologies in manufacturing, emphasizing the need for better industry-academia collaboration to facilitate the next industrial revolution.

Contribution

It identifies key gaps between industrial needs and academic interests, and proposes convergence strategies to promote wireless integration in manufacturing.

Findings

Wireless adoption is hindered by industry-academia misalignment.

Manufacturing machinery longevity impacts wireless technology integration.

Proposed convergence paths aim to align academic research with industrial needs.

Abstract

The manufacturing industry is at the edge of the 4th industrial revolution, a paradigm of integrated architectures in which the entire production chain (composed of machines, workers and products) is intrinsically connected. Wireless technologies can add further value in this manufacturing revolution. However, we identify some signs that indicate that wireless could be left out from the next generation of smart-factory equipment. This is particularly relevant considering that the heavy machinery characteristic of this sector can last for decades. We argue that at the core of this issue there is a mismatch between industrial needs and the interests of academic and partly-academic (such as standardization bodies) sectors. We base our claims on surveys from renowned advisory firms and interviews with industrial actors, which we contrast with results from content analysis of scientific articles. Finally we propose some convergence paths that, while still retaining the degree of novelty required for academic purposes, are more aligned with industrial concerns.