"Modern manufacturing is all about leveraging the network to respond rapidly to market demands. WLAN plays a critical role by enabling cost-effective, scalable infrastructure that can be changed on the fly."

The factory floor, the backbone of a manufacturing enterprise, is an ideal setting for WLAN to have a significant business impact. Wi-Fi can support communication, inventory control, supply chain management, process monitoring, and product flow applications. And an Extricom WLAN can perform in industrial environments that other WLANs would find impossible to deal with.

The benefits that WLAN provides to manufacturers include:

• Barcode readers and other scanning devices for quality control monitoring and inventory control.
• RTLS to track location of machines, raw materials and finished products.
• VoWLAN to provide cost-effective communications between factory floor, back-end offices, and customers.

Unique Challenges of Manufacturing

The manufacturing environment is as harsh as it gets, and most WLAN solutions simply can't function there. Challenges include:

• Large machinery and other metal structures pose multiple obstacles to wireless signal propagation.
  
• The RF environment is constantly changing as production lines are moved around.
  
• Certain types of machinery such as industrial microwaves can severely impact devices and applications using the 2.4GHz band.
  
• Heat and dust can inhibit basic system functionality.
  
  

The Architecture Built for WLAN

CORE REQUIREMENTS			EXTRICOM UNIQUE VALUE
Reliable, Comprehensive Communications: WLAN must be highly resilient. Otherwise, connectivity outages will directly impact employee productivity and enterprise profitability.			Guaranteed Service: Extricom WLAN technology delivers a guaranteed and consistent data rate throughout the coverage area.
Support Highly Mobile Workforce: Solution must meet performance needs of continually mobile employees without roaming and re-authentication issues.			Multi-Layer Channel Blanket: Unique infrastructure provides maximum bandwidth, mobility, and coverage to each individual employee.
Wire-Like VoWLAN: VoWLAN is an increasingly critical tool, and must operate flawlessly, with toll-quality calls.			Zero-Latency, Seamless Mobility: Extricom WLAN is purpose-built for the industry's best voice over Wi-Fi performance.
Ease of Use: Quick, flexible installation to meet changing space needs, and the ability to handle a dynamic RF environment are critical.			The Lowest Cost of Ownership: Extricom's solution eliminates the cost of RF cell planning, and is deployed and maintained with plug-and-play simplicity, resulting in 50% lower TCO than competing solutions.

The Future of Wi-Fi

Manufacturers clearly see the importance of Wi-Fi to their business success. The question is: how confident is your company's IT staff that today's technologies can meet the current and future demands of their environment?

Ask us how manufacturing enterprises have succeeded with Extricom. Extricom's Wireless LAN is specifically designed to answer the challenges posed by pervasive Wi-Fi, providing the high-performance, resilient, and future-proof infrastructure they require.

For more information on how an Extricom WLAN can help you achieve your goals, fill out our contact form or visit the Products section of Extricom's website.