Sumitomo Electric conducts demo experiment of 5G and AI at its plant

June 17, 2021

Sumitomo Electric Industries, a major cutting tool maker, announced on June 9, 2021 that it conducted a demonstration experiment using 5G and AI in collaboration with the telecommunications company Softbank.

The experiment was conducted at Sumitomo Electric Industries’ Osaka Works. The purpose of the experiment was to visualize the movements and working hours of workers automatically and in real time. The experiment was run from March 26th to May 24th, 2021.

Four cameras in the plant recorded the movements of the workers. Both companies sent video data through 5G to a cloud server and utilized AI to analyze video. Sumitomo Electric Industries used to measure working hours manually. By utilizing 5G and AI, the company was able to significantly reduce the human resources required for measurement work.