In January of 2024, Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse tapped Velaspan for wireless help. The engagement started like most, with a site survey, but didn’t stop there. Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse ultimately tapped Velaspan’s entire wireless services portfolio. Three months later, with their new network up and running, they called us the “best vendor” they’d ever worked with. The favorable feelings were mutual. And the wireless results? A testament to top-notch collaboration.
The Challenge
Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse’s 180,000-square foot Langhorne, Pennsylvania facility moors company operations, storing hundreds of thousands of auto parts delivered by 500+ vehicles to technicians throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Be sure to wave the next time you see their green and yellow cars!
By early 2024, though, the warehouse’s wireless coverage, performance, and capacity were faltering. Essential warehouse scanning devices struggled to roam from access point to access point, creating delays that slowed operations, dampened morale, and made it impossible to evaluate employee parts-per-minute performance. Velaspan’s investigation confirmed: the wireless network, about a decade old, had reached end of life (EOL) and end of support (EoS). It was a wonder it delivered as long as it had, considering it ran solely on the inferior 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi spectrum and featured fewer than a dozen access points – 50 or so less than required by modern design.
Now, often when Velaspan breaks the news to mid-sized businesses that it’s time to rip and replace their network, the business seeks ways to scale the project down. However, Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse opted for the complete overhaul their wireless needed and deserved – a choice that lets them take advantage of new security options and other add-ons that offer business benefits in the long run.
“There was a great rapport between our team and Velaspan from the start,” says John Myers, Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse VP of IT & Continuous Improvement. “They brought expertise, but they also listened closely and validated our team’s knowledge. There was no talking down to us. The decision to play the long game and hire Velaspan for the complete engagement was an easy one.”
The engagement included two specific requests:
Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse needed help choosing a hardware vendor. Often customers come to Velaspan with a vendor in mind; Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse, meanwhile, wanted to take our lead – a coveted chance for our team to objectively and expertly guide a key detail that directly impacts connectivity outcomes.
“We liked the fact that Velaspan is vendor-agnostic, doesn’t make money on hardware, and makes recommendations driven strictly by results,” Myers says.
Secondly, Eastern Auto Parts asked Velaspan if, post-deployment, we could train their internal IT staff to replicate the new Langhorne network in the company’s 40+ smaller branch locations up and down the East Coast.
Always eager to work with businesses in our own Pennsylvania backyard and thrilled to see a mid-sized business treat wireless with reverence often reserved for global enterprises, we got rolling.
Full Speed Ahead
Velaspan conducted a use-case assessment – the critical first step in any RF design.
Our engineers asked every question needed to bring Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse to 2024 enterprise wireless standards and to ensure all standards, preferences, and needs are met, now and for the foreseeable future. In-depth discussions spanned warehouse use, equipment, and business goals. We uncovered their desire for guest and voice networks and plans for heightened security and other technologies that have a bearing on Wi-Fi hardware and licensing. We learned that they wanted to manage all forthcoming networks at other branch locations from Langhorne headquarters, if possible.
With a crystal-clear understanding of all of these factors necessary to wireless design, the time came to present hardware vendor options.
Our team compiled a vendor selection report outlining the pros and cons of two manufacturers qualified for this use case. Of the two, we recommended HPE Aruba, for several reasons: HPE Aruba is cloud-based and cloud managed, offering unmatched ease. It allows for deployment of local wireless controllers at the company’s headquarters as well as cloud managed APs at their remote sites, all on one unified interface – rare among cloud-managed platforms. Even more, HPE Aruba supports guest and voice networks and the degree of security Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse desired.
Eastern Auto Parts took our suggestion, and onsite work commenced.
A site survey, design, installation, and deployment went off seamlessly, and on schedule. At every turn, Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse was uniquely responsive and cooperative. So cooperative and responsive, in fact, that time and budget were freed up to design and deploy wireless for their nearby office complex without adding to project scope! Both networks were deployed in March without any wireless downtime thanks to an after-hours cutover. A post-installation site survey verified that the networks were performing exactly as expected before user devices were introduced.
From there, knowledge transfer commenced. Our Velaspan team armed Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse IT staff with the knowledge needed to not only manage and support their two new Langhorne wireless networks (monitoring, onboarding new access points, managing users, basic configurations, troubleshooting, and data collection), but to independently deploy refreshed networks across the company’s remaining 40+ buildings in months and years ahead.
When the knowledge transfer complete, Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse transitioned to Hypercare, a 30-day support period designed to address any migration and network stability issues prior to transitioning to steady-state operations. None materialized – it’s been smooth sailing!
Outcome
Today, Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse wireless connectivity is seamless and strong, resulting in smoother company-wide operations.
“We went from ten or more open IT tickets a day down to none most days,” Myers says.
The addition of a Wi-Fi calling network has offset the warehouse’s cellular connectivity challenges.
“One team member was thrilled when he realized he could finally make a phone call from a portion of our building where calls were impossible before!” Myers adds.
Looking ahead, the network’s capacity for added scanners and security means Eastern Auto Parts Warehouse can freely scale without fear of bumping into wireless limitations – one of the key benefits of wireless well done.
The crowning accomplishment? Getting here was a delight for all involved.
“Velaspan is one of the first vendors we have worked with that’s delivered well beyond expectation. Without a doubt, they gave us our money’s worth,” Myers says. “They’re personable and professional, but even more, their expertise and attention to detail across everything from reporting to project management to technical assistance is exactly what is needed in WLAN design, deployment, and management. This is one of the best projects our company has worked on, largely because Velaspan held our hand when needed and trusted and empowered us where it made sense. I highly recommend Velaspan for any mission critical Wi-Fi requirements.”
Experience Seamless Wireless Solutions with Velaspan. Reach out today to discover how we can support your business goals.
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