Lewisville, Texas, factory producing “Street Macro” 5G base stations
In September last year, Swedish network infrastructure vendor Ericsson announced it would invest $100 million in a U.S. smart factory to help facilitate rapid network deployments for domestic customers. Today the company announced it has produced the first 5G base station, millimeter wave Street Macro units, at the new factory.
Ericsson is working with both AT&T and Verizon on their ongoing millimeter wave network deployments, and is also engaged with T-Mobile, which plans to use millimeter wave as party of a three-tiered spectrum strategy reliant on its merger with Sprint.
In a statement, the company referred to the millimeter wave Street Macro as “key to Ericsson’s 5G portfolio for its North American customers.” The radio is also used in the local 5G network deployment at the factory.
Erik Simonsson, head of the factory, said, “We are on target this year to have the most fully automated, sustainable 5G smart factory in the U.S.” Ericsson also has an automated smart factory in China to support its operator customers in that market. Within the factory, 5G is used to support flexible production, automated warehousing, logistic, automated assembly, packing, product handling and autonomous carts.
“We’re excited to produce advanced 5G radio products for our U.S. customers, to meet the demand for next-generation 5G networks across the county,” Simonsson said. “It’s also exciting to use our own 5G products in the factory for wireless connectivity to increase production efficiency.”
When Ericsson initially announced the Texas factory, the company’s Niklas Heuveldop discussed localized manufacturing and sustainability, noting “how 5G, IoT and AI will transform industries, leading the way for increased investments in smaller, nearshore manufacturing sites with unique mass customization capabilities and significant positive impact on sustainability and customer experience.”
