The Challenge
Midlands Scaffolding Co operates from a large industrial site in the West Midlands, with a warehouse spanning over 50,000 sq ft of racking, scaffolding components, and heavy machinery. Their warehouse management system relied on handheld barcode scanners that connected over WiFi — but persistent dead zones meant stock movements couldn’t be recorded in real time, leading to inventory errors and delays in picking orders. The existing WiFi setup was a handful of consumer-grade routers that simply couldn’t cope with the metal-dense environment and the scale of the building.
Our Solution
Our engineers conducted a detailed RF site survey, mapping signal propagation through the steel racking and metal-clad walls to identify exactly where access points needed to be placed. We specified Ubiquiti UniFi industrial-grade access points rated for dusty environments and mounted them at height throughout the warehouse on dedicated cable runs. The network was configured with seamless roaming so scanners could move across the entire site without dropping connection, and a separate SSID was created for office staff on the mezzanine level. A NanoBeam point-to-point link was installed to bridge connectivity between the main warehouse and an overflow yard building.
The Outcome
From day one of go-live the scanning system worked flawlessly across the entire site with no dead zones. Inventory accuracy improved immediately and the warehouse manager reported that picking speeds increased because staff were no longer walking back to fixed terminals to log movements. The yard building, previously completely offline, now has full WiFi and CCTV coverage. Telecom Central monitors the network remotely and has maintained 100% uptime since installation.