Welcome to Industrial Wireless

The Rise of Industrial Wireless

It wasn’t long ago when factories were without industrial wireless. The reason for the slow adoption can be attributed to many reasons. Simply put, operations teams worked under the motto of “if it isn’t broke, why fix it?” In fact, many OT engineers did their best to completely avoid the discussion until it got to a point where they didn’t have a choice. Over time, they realized it just wasn’t scalable or cost efficient to meet the evolving needs that their business started to require. The shift for factories to become “smarter” has become a necessity through things such as data gathering, analytics, network capacity and security. All designed to not just keep the factory floor operational, but to make sure it’s operating at a highly efficient and intelligent level.

Why Deploy Wireless into an Industrial Application?

Increased Productivity

Workers can no longer afford to be tied down to a control room. They need to be able to monitor all network activity on their mobile device. This allows them the flexibility to connect with co-workers, while still being able to track critical data and respond immediately if needed.

Cost Efficiency

Outside of the obvious savings in manpower for cabling, wireless allows for greater flexibility and scalability. And, as IT/OT systems begin to converge, there could be a reduction in operational costs as your infrastructure would only need to manage a single network solution rather than multiple ones.

Challenges Facing Industrial Wireless

Environment is too Harsh

Industrial environments, especially factory environments, are harsh. Heavy vibration, power and radio frequency (RF) spikes, and extreme temperatures are all factors one might deal with while trying to implement industrial wireless devices. Learn More >
Wireless is Unreliable

There’s a common misconception that wireless is unreliable due to negative personal experiences with home network equipment. However, this network equipment is typically built with cost-effective components and materials designed around the simple needs of most homes. In many cases, this has given a negative stereotype to wireless networking in general. Learn More >
Too Difficult to Deploy

This is especially the case when the responsibility of deploying a wireless network falls on someone that doesn’t have an extensive background in IT. In a large factory setting, the thought of deploying and configuring several wireless devices can be completely intimidating. Learn More >