The scanner works at one end of the warehouse.
Halfway down the aisle, it freezes. The picker walks back towards the office, waits for it to reconnect, then walks back to the shelf.
Twenty times a shift.
Nobody logs a ticket. It’s just “the Wi-Fi”. Everyone knows it’s rubbish.
Why Factory and Warehouse Wi-Fi Struggles
Wi-Fi that works fine in an office often struggles on a factory floor or in a warehouse. The usual reasons are:
- Metal everywhere: racking, machinery and stock block and bounce Wi-Fi signals
- Distance: one or two access points trying to cover a huge space
- High ceilings: access points mounted too high, or in the wrong place
- Moving devices: scanners and tablets that need to hop smoothly from one access point to the next
- Consumer equipment: office-grade or home-grade kit that was never designed for this
We cover the office side of this in Why Your Office Wi-Fi Is Letting You Down. Factories and warehouses add a few extra challenges.
What Poor Wi-Fi Really Costs
A few seconds of waiting doesn’t sound like much. But multiply it by every scan, every picker and every shift, and it adds up to hours of lost time every week. It also leads to mistakes, when people give up and write things down to enter later.
How to Fix It Properly
1. Start with a site survey
A survey measures the signal across the whole site, including the far corners and the aisles between the racking. It shows where the gaps are, rather than guessing.
2. Use the right access points in the right places
Business-grade access points, placed where the survey says they’re needed, usually make far more difference than simply adding more.
3. Make sure devices can roam
Scanners and tablets should move smoothly between access points without dropping their connection.
4. Separate your networks
Keep office devices, scanners, machines, CCTV and guests on separate networks. It’s more secure, and one busy network can’t slow the others down.
5. Check the cabling and switches
Access points are only as good as what they’re plugged into. We explain why in Why Network Switches Matter More Than Most Businesses Realise.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can we just add a Wi-Fi booster?
Boosters often make things worse in large buildings, because devices cling to a weak signal. A planned system with proper access points works far better.
Do we need a site survey for a small warehouse?
Even in a small space, metal racking can create dead spots. A survey is the quickest way to know for sure.
Need Help?
At Affirm IT, we start with simple questions:
- Where on site does Wi-Fi drop out?
- What devices rely on it: scanners, tablets, machines?
- Is everything on the same network?
Want to know where your IT is holding you back? Take our free 2-minute IT scorecard, or work out what downtime costs you with our downtime cost calculator.
Or get in touch with us. At Affirm IT, we provide IT support for manufacturers and managed IT support in Derbyshire and across the East Midlands.
