Tier-1 automotive supplier replaces 1,400 Wi-Fi APs with a single CBRS network

Who we worked with.

A Tier-1 automotive seating and interior supplier with eight production facilities in the upper Midwest. Anonymized at the client's request.

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What they were dealing with.

The client was preparing a multi-plant rollout of autonomous material handling. Their existing Wi-Fi network — built in three layers over twelve years — could not deliver the handover or uplink reliability the AGV vendor required as a precondition for sign-off. Two prior consultants had recommended a Wi-Fi 6E refresh; both proposals depended on assumptions the client's own scanners and forklifts kept disproving.

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How we engaged.

We started with the AGV vendor's signaling requirements and worked backwards: latency budget, packet loss tolerance, handover frequency, and the cell-edge SINR the radios needed to maintain. We then ran a calibrated walk through one pilot facility and confirmed that no Wi-Fi reconfiguration would meet the budget at scale. We modeled CBRS GAA against the facility's RF environment, validated against a second measured walk, and authored a multi-vendor RFP. We sat on the client's side of the procurement table through award.

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What changed.

First plant went live in 14 weeks from kickoff. Uplink availability for AGVs measured at 99.99% over the first 90 days. Edge AP count dropped 62% versus the prior design's planned refresh because Wi-Fi was no longer being asked to carry the mobile-asset workload. The client is now rolling the same pattern across the remaining seven facilities.