The Guide to
Industrial WiFi
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It’s impossible to imagine a smart, digitized facility without wireless. However, the path to reliable wireless at this type of facility
hasn’t always been smooth.
In the past, operational teams (OT) have been skeptical about
industrial wireless. In fact, some have deployed miles of cable to
avoid it. This approach is expensive and time-consuming. And
with facilities increasing focus on digital transformation, wireless
lays the foundation necessary to begin down this path.
Operations’ skepticism exists for good reason in some instances.
IT teams have deployed wireless solutions meant for enterprise
environments. These solutions can be unreliable and frustrating
in an industrial environment. Often, they sour OT on the idea of
wireless in this type of setting.
This creates tension between the IT and OT, and can leave facilities with a solution that’s behind the curve.
The fact is, deploying wireless in an industrial setting is not nearly
as simple as deploying it in an office. Industrial environments face
unique challenges and conditions, including dense infrastructure
and hazardous environments. Overcoming these challenges
requires a different approach.
Reliable and effective industrial wireless is possible, but it requires careful planning. The process is more complex than in
enterprise settings, but purpose-built industrial wireless products
and design can aid in making it successful.
In this guide, we’ll share practical tips
for how companies can bring their IT
and OT teams together to make digital
transformation happen. We’ll cover:
The business benefits of deploying
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02
03
industrial wireless
The top 4 misconceptions about
industrial wireless
Tried and true tips for getting it
right the first time
The Business Benefits of Deploying
Industrial WiFi
The process industry is competitive and constantly changing.
To keep up, companies are upgrading their facilities and network
infrastructure. Ultimately, their goal is to build a connected facility
that is more responsive to customer needs, shifts in demand, and
operational conditions.
These changes increase the need for data gathering, control,
analytics, connectivity of machines and people, network capacity,
and security. And in turn, those new demands create more complexity and require more advanced networks.
Today’s industrial wireless tools can help support these new
requirements, paving the way for business benefits such as:
• Uptime and productivity
• Cost reduction
• Real-time decision making
• Turnaround
• Mobility
• Safety
In this section, we’ll explore these benefits and their impact on the
connected facility.
The Business Benefits of Deploying Industrial WiFi
UPTIME & PRODUCTIVITY COST REDUCTION REAL-TIME DECISION MAKING
Production issues are costly. In some cases, a facility
might lose as much as $20,000 a minute. That’s why
uptime and productivity are critical success factors.
But how can wireless contribute to improving them?
Connecting people and machines
With effective wireless technologies, operations
workers are no longer confined to a control room.
Instead, they can track critical data on hand-held
devices and receive real-time alerts from equipment.
This allows operations leaders to respond quickly
to actionable information. They can immediately
contact the right expert, collaborate securely, and
address any issues. This accelerates decision making,
decreasing downtime.
Adding redundancy
Wireless can add a layer of redundancy for the
network. This helps ensure that critical data gets
through and that outages do not take down an entire
network. Quality of Service (QoS) features enable
manufacturers to prioritize critical traffic, helping ensure that it is not delayed or dropped due to network
congestion.
One of the most obvious benefits of wireless is its
cost: it is significantly more affordable than devices
requiring wiring. However, the cost difference is
not the only way wireless can help companies save
money. Other benefits include:
Faster time to market.
Wireless enables more flexibility with configuration,
which is critical when introducing new product
lines or changing processes. This flexibility creates a
financial advantage, improving time to market, fostering greater scalability, and enabling innovation.
Increased efficiency through analytics.
Real-time wireless analytics help operations manage
asset and worker utilization for greater efficiency.
Connecting machines, databases, and people is not
only possible with wireless, it is often more efficient
than cable.
Reduced complexity.
Today, companies want to align enterprise business
systems with production technologies. The reason
is simple: it reduces operational costs and complexity. However, this is possible only with a unified
wireless infrastructure that supports both IT and
OT. Uniting these systems will save money, improve
operations, reduce maintenance, and allow for
increased automation.
Wireless networks give OT leaders access to vital
production information across the supply chain. This
enables more competitive manufacturing through:
Remote expert collaboration.
Wireless can support secure, high-definition video
conferencing. This helps when the use off-site experts
is needed, speeding problem resolution and lowering
costs.
Visibility across the facility.
Wireless sensors help monitor environmental conditions. They can trigger alerts to OT if a problem is on
the horizon. Then, OT can resolve the issue before it
causes a long downtime period.
Mobile workforce.
OT personnel are no longer tethered to their desks.
Wireless enables connectivity across the plant.
This means OT can get the information they need
throughout the day on their tablets or handheld
devices, while giving them more time in other areas
of the facility.
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