Requirements for Economic Analysis of 5G Technology Implementation in Smart Factories from End-User Perspective

The estimated economic impact of 5G Technology in production industry is immense. Until 2030, worldwide production industry gross domestic product is expected to by up to $740 billion [4]. Providing low latencies, high data transmission rates and the possibility of operating many devices simultaneously in narrowly restricted radio cells, 5G is expected to meet the demands of networked production systems and has great potential to accelerate the ongoing digital transformation. Despite these prospected advantages, benefits of integrating 5G Technology in a production process can barely be quantified yet. 40 % of enterprises cite poor measurability of economic benefits of 5G for their specific processes as key concern [6]. Thus, improvement potential for production processes and their monetary benefit need to be quantified in order to provide decision-makers with a sound base for their investment decisions. This paper describes the requirements and a first approach of a model to quantify economic potential of 5G Technology in production. Therefore, existing approaches and models to quantify economic benefits of 5G Technology and of digitalization in production in general are analyzed. Then, the model is derived. In the end, future research needs are given.