Impact of 6G Network Performance on Manufacturing Efficiency in Smart Factories

Abstract

This research analyzes the relationship between 6G-oriented network performance indicators and manufacturing efficiency in a smart-factory context. The study uses a manufacturing dataset containing 100,000 observations and 14 variables, including network latency, packet loss, production speed, quality-control defect rate, error rate, predictive maintenance score, environmental conditions and efficiency status. The analysis includes data profiling, missing-value verification, efficiency distribution, grouped statistical comparisons, network-performance analysis, production-speed analysis, correlation analysis, latency and packet-loss group comparisons, operational analysis and visualization. An interactive Streamlit dashboard was also developed to support multi-KPI monitoring. The results show that production speed differs substantially across the recorded efficiency categories, with average production speeds of approximately 450.79 units/hour for High efficiency, 334.13 units/hour for Medium efficiency and 254.85 units/hour for Low efficiency. In contrast, average network latency varies only slightly across the efficiency categories. The Pearson correlation between network latency and packet loss is approximately -0.0069, indicating negligible linear association in the analyzed dataset. The study is observational and therefore does not claim that latency or packet loss independently causes changes in manufacturing efficiency. The latency and packet-loss bands used in the project are analytical comparison zones rather than universal 6G engineering thresholds. The findings support a multi-KPI approach in which network, production, quality, maintenance and operational indicators are considered together.