Warehouse & Logistics
Private 5G for Warehouse Automation
How an 850,000-square-foot, high-turnover distribution center replaced its unstable Wi-Fi network with EdgeNectar’s private 5G, achieving seamless mobility and a lower operating cost despite higher device price.
Business impact
The challenge
Legacy Wi-Fi and its limitations
The warehouse ran on 200 Wi-Fi industrial access points and 200 Wi-Fi PDA barcode scanners for picking, receiving, and cycle counting. As the operation scaled, network problems grew with it:
- Frequent scanner disconnects during peak workflows.
- Dropouts in high racks and metal-rich aisles.
- Slow scan-to-database updates from latency spikes.
- Manual credential management for every device, and shared-password security risk.
Resulting in slower throughput, rising IT labor, and higher operational-interruption costs.
The Solution
Zero-touch private 5G, pre-provisioned before it ever shipped
The facility upgraded to EdgeNectar’s integrated private 5G solution: an on-site EdgeNectar 5G system, a remote 5G cloud controller for monitoring and provisioning, far fewer CBRS radio units than the 200 Wi-Fi APs they replaced, and 200+ CBRS-enabled PDA scanners with pre-provisioned SIMs.
EdgeNectar configured every network parameter before shipment — the 5G network pre-tuned and optimized, every PDA SIM provisioned in advance. Devices auto-connected on arrival: no Wi-Fi passwords, no SSID setup, no certificates. After installation, the warehouse IT team needed to do no network operations at all — no troubleshooting, no credential resets.
5G PDA scanners still cost more than Wi-Fi scanners today, though that gap has narrowed sharply over the last 2–3 years. But measured on total cost of ownership, private 5G already wins: it eliminates the repeated Wi-Fi tuning, scanner reconnection failures, manual inventory recovery, and daily IT troubleshooting that were the real cost driver all along.