Restore Productivity With Wireless Solution

The problem with early adoption of groundbreaking technology is that the kinks haven’t been worked out. While vendors typically resolve those technology hiccups fairly quickly, if you are a company who has already made the investment, you might be stuck with kinks for some time. That was one of the reasons an international industrial manufacturer based in Ohio sought a new wireless solution from systems integrator Snively Inc. in 2008. Already a Snively client, the manufacturer needed a trusted partner to remove two obsolete WLAN installations that no longer functioned and then install a cutting-edge solution that provided wireless coverage for handheld computers, printers, and voice. “They were using a combination of wired Ethernet and older WLAN equipment,” explains Justine Blank, VP of Snively. “They had problems with poor voice over Internet Protocol [VoIP] connectivity, printer problems, and spotty wireless coverage in their 250,000-square-foot facility.” Blank explains that early WLAN methodology often meant installing antennas and then just adding more in attempts to improve connectivity. “If you aren’t familiar with the technology, you don’t realize antennas interfere with one another, and that can actually reduce your connectivity,” says Blank. “I mean the technology has come a long way, but it is just as much about the physics of the installation as it is technology.”

Vendor Support Overcomes Objections, Streamlines Installation Process
After evaluating the situation, Snively recommended a full overhaul of the wireless system, including new WLAN equipment that is integrated with the company’s existing wired network, plus a virtual LAN (VLAN) to support the new VoIP phone system. One challenge for Snively was overcoming corporate standards dictating a hardware vendor different from Snively’s recommendation. Blank feels strongly that the role of a systems integrator is to explain why one vendor solution is better than another — corporate standards or not. “If they want something that we know is not the best fit, we have no problem telling them that,” says Blank. “All manufacturers have their niche, and it is our job to know the difference.” Beyond articulating why the recommended Motorola solution was preferable, Snively used support from the vendor to reinforce its argument. “It was a competitive win situation, so Motorola sent someone to back us up, and having Motorola walk in with us was a big statement to the customer,” says Blank.

That support also came in handy as the installation moved forward since Snively was installing recently released versions of Motorola products. “Motorola sent us an on-site engineer who had direct access to product development people — that made the installation seamless to our customer,” says Blank. The $30,000 solution, which included Motorola RFS6000 wireless switches, Motorola AP300 wireless access ports, Motorola MC9090 handheld bar code scanners, and Zebra printers, was installed over three days while the manufacturing site remained in full production. That meant using a lift to get installers nearly 30 feet in the air and safely over the top of running equipment. To prepare for the installation, the systems integrator used a planning tool from Motorola that evaluates and recommends the necessary equipment and its placement for full wireless coverage. “One of our engineers imports a computer-aided design [CAD] drawing of the facility into the LAN planning software that runs on his laptop. We input site details [wall heights, barriers, building materials, etc.], and then this tool gives us a map of the optimal places to install antennas,” explains Blank. Snively then places the antennas, which they fully test in their own facility first, and runs a final test of the entire network. “The tool is phenomenal; we have never had to move an antenna.”

Immediate Success Delivers Additional Projects
While it is too soon to measure ROI on the system, Blank says the response from the customer has been positive, especially about the voice equipment. “When you are using your wireless laptop or handheld, it will keep trying to send data over and over so you don’t really know how strong that wireless pipe is, because eventually the data makes its way through the wireless pipe. But when your calls drop, you notice immediately. That is when you understand why you need a strong wireless network,” says Blank. “So for us, providing a good voice pipe was the biggest success of this installation because the customer saw immediate results.”

The improved system has allowed the manufacturer to save on employee time that used to be spent running back to offices to print documents or make calls. Those tasks are now all accomplished wirelessly throughout the structure, thanks to a fully operational WLAN system. “The most successful installation of any WLAN solution has a minimal impact on the end customer during installation, but leaves them with a self-monitoring, highly functioning system,” says Blank. “Wireless is like any other utility you need to run your business; you shouldn’t have to think about it, it should just work.”

To learn more about the Safety Tracker, go to BSMinfo.com/jp/3914.

Snively expects two more steps to this installation: adding wireless in areas that require explosion-proof wireless antennae and installation of a similar WLAN solution in each of the manufacturer’s six other sites. There is also the potential that the customer will adopt Snively’s Safety Tracker customized inspection application on its handhelds. This custom application uses bar code technology and custom information-recording templates to do equipment inspection from a handheld. The application allows the safety manager to use his handheld to record safety inspections of equipment while walking through the facility, then upload and search those records at his desktop. www.snivelyinc.com, www.motorola.com/business.