Cargill, one of the world’s largest food, agricultural, and industrial companies, partnered with NTT DATA to deploy a fully managed Private 5G network across manufacturing and processing facilities worldwide. The initiative provides a secure, scalable digital foundation supporting connected worker programs, SAP modernization, robotics, automation, and emerging Edge AI use cases.
When Wi-Fi Can’t Keep Pace with a Global Rollout
Cargill operates large-scale industrial facilities where traditional Wi-Fi and wired infrastructure can struggle to provide reliable connectivity across expansive indoor and outdoor production environments. The company needed to support a global SAP rollout, increase workforce productivity, reduce downtime, improve operational visibility, enhance worker safety, and provide connectivity for robotics and industrial automation systems, the kind of AI-enabled and physical automation workloads that traditional wireless was never built to carry at scale.
One Network, Built for Robots as Much as Workers
NTT DATA delivered a fully managed Private 5G service designed for industrial environments, providing fence-to-fence wireless coverage and seamless mobility for workers, industrial devices, robots, and AI-enabled applications. The solution supports connected workers using smartphones and ruggedized tablets, autonomous inspection robots, real-time operational visibility, and future physical AI deployments, while minimizing complexity for local site teams.
50+ manufacturing and processing sites deployed globally, connected through more than 160 radio access points.
What Scaling from 20 Pilots to 50 Sites Looks Like
The rollout has moved well past the pilot stage, and the operational results reflect that scale:
- 50+ sites successfully deployed globally, with over 160 connected radio access points.
- Expansion from roughly 20 pilot and test sites to 50 production deployments within months, with ambitions to grow by 100 additional sites.
- Real-time SAP ERP access for frontline workers.
- Improved workforce productivity and operational visibility.
- Reduced unplanned downtime through proactive monitoring and robotics-assisted inspections.
- Improved worker safety through automated inspections of hazardous areas using Spot robotic systems.
- A scalable blueprint established for additional facilities.
“Our work with NTT DATA is a true partnership, allowing us to confidently advance our global digital transformation strategy. Private 5G gives us a secure, scalable foundation to support connected workers, robotics and edge AI use cases across our operations.” – Robert Greiner, Director, Platform Engineering, Cargill
Physical AI Starts With a Spot Robot in Amsterdam
The deployment demonstrates that Private 5G has evolved beyond proof-of-concepts into enterprise-scale operational infrastructure. The program establishes a replicable model for food processing, manufacturing, industrial processing, and other Industry 4.0 sectors, showing how Private 5G can serve as the connectivity foundation for automation, robotics, Edge AI, and digital transformation across geographically distributed production environments.
A notable example is the use of Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot at the Amsterdam facility, where autonomous inspections improve safety and detect potential equipment issues before failures occur. As Cargill modernizes its manufacturing environment and deploys SAP ERP globally, Private 5G enables secure, low-latency access to critical operational data while supporting automation and advanced robotics, illustrating how Private 5G can move beyond isolated pilots and become a strategic operational platform that supports Industry 4.0, Edge AI, physical AI, and connected workforce initiatives at global scale.
Why Private 5G Beat Wi-Fi for AI-Ready Manufacturing
Private 5G was selected because it provides deterministic performance, low latency, enhanced security, broader coverage, and better mobility than traditional Wi-Fi in complex manufacturing environments. The technology supports mission-critical industrial applications, large outdoor coverage requirements, connected worker mobility, robotics, SAP access, Edge AI workloads, and future scalability across hundreds of facilities.
NTT DATA and Celona: Who Built the AI-Ready Network
NTT DATA served as the strategic partner responsible for design, deployment, operation, and lifecycle management of the Private 5G environment. The collaboration focused on building a scalable global architecture capable of supporting connected workers, robotics, SAP modernization, and AI-enabled manufacturing operations.
Cargill provided operational requirements, use-case validation, and digital transformation leadership.
Celona provided the Private 5G platform technology. Celona’s 5G LAN can be standardized and scaled across large manufacturing estates, addressing common deployment challenges and reflecting established best practices.
