Mahmoud-El Bana, IMEA Head of Enterprise Campus Edge Sales at Nokia
Industries worldwide urgently need to balance productivity with sustainability and safety. In sectors like mining, manufacturing, and logistics, high energy consumption and worker safety risks are critical challenges. To address these, advanced digital connectivity solutions, such as private wireless networks and industrial edge for real-time data processing, are essential for facilitating Industry 4.0 and fostering long-term sustainability.
The Untapped Potential of Digital Transformation
Industrial operations, often viewed as heavy polluters, hold significant potential for positive change through digital transformation. By leveraging advanced connectivity and real-time data analytics, industries can reduce emissions, improve safety, and enhance efficiency. For example, deploying remote machine controls and digital twins can help minimize resource wastage, energy consumption, and operational downtime, while also keeping workers out of harm’s way.
Private wireless networks, especially those based on 4.9G and 5G, offer high-performance, low-latency connectivity that supports Industry 4.0 applications like drone inspections and real-time environmental monitoring. Autonomous mining trucks, for example, have demonstrated fuel savings and reduced wear and tear, further contributing to sustainability. These improvements are not only environmentally beneficial but also bolster profitability through reduced energy and maintenance costs. By enabling these and other innovative use cases, enterprises benefit from real-time situational awareness and proactive problem-solving, significantly improving operational safety and environmental outcomes. Unlike traditional Wi-Fi, private wireless networks provide broader, more reliable coverage, reducing the number of access points needed and thus further decreasing energy use.
Measuring Impact: The Sustainability Calculator
Quantifying sustainability benefits is essential for industrial leaders aiming to align with ESG goals. The Nokia Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator, helps enterprises measure the environmental, social and societal benefits of deploying private wireless solutions and new Industry 4.0 applications, such as critical worker communication and environmental monitoring. Based on data from multiple sources, including reputable external data sources, previous project quantifications and network models, the tool provides an estimate for decision-makers to evaluate the positive impact on Greenhouse Gas emissions, worker safety, and operational efficiencies, and provides them with a clear digitalization path to optimize operations
Findings from a GlobalData report highlight that deploying private wireless networks can lead to a 10% or greater reduction in emissions for industries, and the Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator shows that some enterprises can achieve up to 25% reductions.
Enhancing Worker Safety
Safety remains a priority across industrial environments. Industry 4.0 applications powered by private wireless networks and industrial edge enable remote machine control and predictive maintenance, whilst increased situational awareness reduces the exposure of workers to hazardous conditions through highly accurate tracking and positioning technologies, intelligent IoT sensor data, real-time alerts and navigational assistance. Notably, the Private Wireless Sustainability Calculator indicates that companies adopting these technologies could reduce safety incidents by up to 35%, illustrating the dual benefits of protecting employees and minimizing associated costs.
Private wireless and edge technologies provide enterprises with robust data collection and analysis capabilities. By using real-time insights to extend machine lifetime and minimize downtime, industries can reduce material waste and energy consumption while enhancing worker safety. Critical worker communication helps not only to improve collaboration, fuel and energy consumption for on-the-ground workers, but biometric wearables also ensure real-time health monitoring and emergency dispatch. Drones equipped with sensors for inspections in dangerous or hard-to-reach areas further exemplify how private wireless improves safety and reduces emissions.
The Path to Sustainable Growth
Sustainability and digital transformation are intertwined pathways for long-term industrial growth. By integrating private wireless networks and industrial edge, industries gain the technological foundation to drive ESG initiatives, stay competitive, and ensure safer, more efficient operations. This foundation supports new Industry 4.0 use cases, such as digital twins and predictive analytics, essential for achieving future sustainability targets.
The future of industrial sustainability hinges on embracing digital solutions. Industry leaders should consider adopting private wireless networks and tools like the Sustainability Calculator to advance their ESG goals. Doing so will not only safeguard environmental integrity but also position enterprises for sustained profitability and global competitiveness.
