expert picks AI-native network for automated warehouse

Warehouse Wi-Fi is notoriously difficult to manage, with dense populations of devices creating potential interference amid busy operations. expert needed unmatched networking assurance and performance to support uninterrupted operations for its new, highly automated fulfilment center in Langenhagen, near Hannover, to meet growing customer demand for consumer electronics, computers, entertainment, and electrical household appliances.

expert’s state-of-the-art fulfilment center has an automated shuttle system that stores and retrieves goods across the 13,000-square-meter facility. Shuttle robots zip through the aisles between towering 17-meter shelves filled with televisions, laptops, gaming consoles, vacuums, washing machines, and other products, picking the orders. Larger products are transported using Wi-Fi-enabled forklifts. Items in reusable containers zoom over the smart conveyor system to be packed and delivered to retail stores or directly to customers.

“We had used three different Wi-Fi products in our offices and other warehouses, and we weren’t satisfied with any of them,” says Jan Persch, system administrator at expert. “Forklift drivers complained again and again about Wi-Fi coverage issues, and it was very difficult to monitor or measure the coverage to troubleshoot the problems.”

“We haven’t had any Wi-Fi problems in the first year of operations for the new warehouse, including the busy high season,” says Persch.

The Juniper wireless network supports both expert’s fulfillment center operations and its onsite offices. Robots, forklifts, industrial volume scales, and other specialized devices stay connected as orders are picked and packed. With plenty of capacity and strong security, office workers can connect their corporate and personal mobile devices to the Wi-Fi.

“It’s traditionally been that Wi-Fi that gets the blame” when there are wireless connectivity or performance glitches, Persch says. “But with Juniper and Mist AI, we can quickly find the root cause and often prove that the problem is not the network infrastructure.”

Mist AI and AIOps have changed the IT team’s perceptions about managing the wireless network. “Wireless was considered to be a pain,” says Persch. Now, he says, other IT staff have cross-trained on the Juniper network, which increases collaboration and advances their technical skills. “It also gives the network experts peace of mind that the wireless network will just work.”