Modern manufacturing has become increasingly connected. From robotics and autonomous vehicles to real-time sensors, artificial and super intelligence, and automated production systems, today’s factories rely on wireless connectivity to keep people, machines, and data moving.

The Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) band is helping manufacturers build the private wireless networks they need to support these technologies. By providing access to shared spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band, CBRS gives manufacturers a flexible connectivity option that can be tailored to their facilities, operations, and evolving technology needs.

For National Manufacturing Month, we’re spotlighting how Manufacturing x Digital (MxD), Dow Chemical, Toyota Material Handling, John Deere, and Ericsson are using CBRS’ successful sharing framework to bring smarter, more connected manufacturing to life.

MxD: Putting Smart Manufacturing to the Test

In Chicago, MxD, the Digital Manufacturing and Cybersecurity Institute, is helping manufacturers explore what’s possible with connected technologies.

MxD operates a CBRS-powered private wireless network that provides manufacturers with a platform to test factory automation and other emerging technologies in a real-world environment. By giving manufacturers an opportunity to evaluate these technologies before deploying them on their own production floors, the network helps lower the barriers to adopting advanced wireless solutions.

The use cases being explored include industrial automation, connected devices, and other technologies that can help manufacturers improve productivity and modernize their operations.

MxD demonstrates how CBRS can serve not only as a connectivity solution, but also as a platform for manufacturers to test, refine, and deploy the technologies shaping the next generation of American manufacturing.

Dow Chemical: Modernizing a Massive Manufacturing Facility

At Dow Chemical’s facility in Freeport, Texas, CBRS is helping modernize operations across a massive industrial campus spanning 40 production plants and 20 square miles. 

Before deploying a private wireless network using CBRS, workers relied heavily on paper-based processes and had to move between plants, the field, and the control room to exchange documents and coordinate operations. Dow partnered with Kyndryl to digitize these processes, deploying four intelligent radio towers using shared CBRS spectrum across the facility.

The results were significant. In just four months, Dow completed more than 28,000 digital procedures, including maintenance monitoring, fire inspections, and document processing. The network helped improve efficiency, enhance worker safety, and boost productivity and reliability across the facility.

Dow’s experience demonstrates how CBRS can help manufacturers tackle practical challenges on the factory floor – replacing manual processes with connected digital tools while giving workers faster access to the information they need to keep complex operations running.

Toyota Material Handling: Connecting Automation and AI

At Toyota Material Handling’s 200,000-square-foot production facility in Columbus, Indiana, CBRS is helping transform how the company manages its warehouse and manufacturing operations.

Toyota replaced its wireless infrastructure with a private 5G network, creating a more robust wireless foundation for advanced technologies across the facility. The network supports automation, artificial intelligence, real-time sensor monitoring, and other business-critical applications.

These capabilities allow Toyota Material Handling to connect equipment and systems across its operations while improving productivity, efficiency, and safety.

The deployment illustrates how private wireless networks can help manufacturers move beyond simply connecting devices. With the right spectrum infrastructure in place, manufacturers can build a foundation for increasingly automated and intelligent operations.

John Deere: Bringing Connectivity to the Factory Floor

John Deere is using CBRS-powered private networks across multiple manufacturing facilities in Illinois and Iowa to connect digital technologies directly to its production operations.

The networks support a range of applications, including video analytics for quality control, autonomous vehicles, and robots. By connecting these systems through a dedicated private wireless network, John Deere can integrate advanced technologies into its manufacturing processes while maintaining the connectivity needed for day-to-day operations.

These applications highlight one of the most important opportunities for CBRS in manufacturing: enabling machines, sensors, vehicles, and other devices to communicate reliably across complex industrial environments.

As manufacturers increasingly turn to automation and AI to improve production, connectivity will be just as important as the technologies themselves. John Deere’s deployments demonstrate how shared spectrum can provide the wireless foundation for that transformation.

Ericsson: Building the Future of Wireless Technology

At Ericsson’s USA 5G Smart Factory in Lewisville, Texas, CBRS is being used to power the production of the very technologies that are helping connect the modern economy.

The 300,000-square-foot facility uses a CBRS-powered private network to support energy management, environmental monitoring, augmented reality for remote support, and mobile alerting. These applications help employees monitor operations, respond to issues, and reduce potential production losses.

The facility has also become more than a manufacturing site. With more than 500 new jobs, Ericsson describes the facility as a place of innovation that is helping fuel the deployment of 5G infrastructure across the United States.

Ericsson’s experience shows how CBRS can support both sides of the manufacturing transformation: helping companies build advanced technologies while simultaneously modernizing the facilities where those technologies are produced.

The Future of Manufacturing is Connected

The experiences of MxD, Toyota Material Handling, John Deere, Dow Chemical, and Ericsson demonstrate that there is no single way to use CBRS on the factory floor. Manufacturers are using shared spectrum to test new technologies, automate operations, improve safety and efficiency, and connect the machines and data that power modern production.

These deployments are part of a broader transformation already underway across American manufacturing. As factories adopt more robotics, artificial and super intelligence, autonomous systems, and real-time analytics, reliable and flexible wireless connectivity will become increasingly important.

CBRS is helping provide that connectivity today. By giving manufacturers the ability to deploy private wireless networks tailored to their operations, shared spectrum is helping turn the connected factory from a vision into a reality – strengthening the technological foundation of American manufacturing for years to come.