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Last month, I was back in China on another media tour, where the main focus was a site visit to a smart port facility. This is very much the world of Industry 4.0, and while quite different from my everyday analyst work in enterprise communications, the underlying technologies are pretty similar. In particular, that would be cloud, 5G, AI and even IoT.

Data is the common denominator across all of these, and the more data you can capture, the more effective these technologies can be. That’s certainly the case for enterprise communications, customer experience and future of work in general, and equally so for the myriad of use cases related to Industry 4.0.

The latter was on full display in Tianjin, China, where I was part of a private group tour of the Tianjin Port Groups’ (TPG) site. This is the sixth largest port operation in China, but is arguably the world’s most advanced in terms of deploying smart technologies. Using 5G networks and cloud-based AI applications, the level of automation has to be seen to be believed.

These technologies power a fleet of 76 autonomous cargo vehicles that seamlessly move shipping containers to and from the docks, where gantry cranes load and offload cargo with incredible precision. In the parlance of transportation logistics, these vehicles – known as Intelligent Guided Vehicles (IGVs) – are a use case for horizontal transport, where all the movement is on the ground.

To go a step further here, another use case would be vertical transport, such with elevators or escalators, but that’s not the focus here. The logistics world takes many forms, and there is no shortage of great use cases for cloud, 5G and AI. Given the scale of operations like TPG, however, the complexity is mind-boggling, and if these technologies can win the day here, there really isn’t much that they cannot handle.

Taking all that into account, this is an IoT use case of the highest order. TPG is a world-class showcase for what’s possible with the right technology, along with a sense of purpose to automate a critical linchpin for today’s global supply chains. This isn’t to diminish the value of these technologies to power UCaaS and CCaaS platforms, but Industry 4.0 applications like smart ports really do take things to another level.

I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to experience TPG first-hand, and I think my readers will find this of great interest. Now that I’ve told you a bit, I’m now going to show you a bit. Below is a short video clip I took during the tour, and the ballet-like flow of movement speaks for itself. Everything you see is fully automated, and the only sound you’ll hear is the hum of engines and the wheels of commerce turning.

Following that are a few of my many photos, and I hope you enjoy them. If you want to learn more about my TPG visit, I’m working up a full-length article that will soon run in a leading tech publication, so stay tuned.