Marco Technologies

Scope Of Work

ESG TV's Host, Kristin Henzi, and the ESG film crew got an exclusive tour inside Grassland Dairy's manufacturing plant in Greenwood, Wisconsin. It is an enormous facility and ESG was selected to install the wireless network. Established in 1904, Grassland Dairy has grown into one of the top producers of butter in the United States. Grassland receives 5 million pounds of milk daily from more than 850 dairy producers. In addition to butter, they also produce a versatile portfolio of dairy products sourced from fresh milk and cream. 

ESG installed ExtremeWireless access points both outside and inside the facility. But the climate inside the plant varies drastically going from high heat to below freezing temperatures with miles of metal piping in between. Because of those conditions, even outdoor access points needed to be installed indoors. The engineers at ESG were able to figure out a way to make sure that they had successful connectivity throughout the entire facility. There are about 100 access points that support production tablets, scanners and WiFi voice over IP. ExtremeWireless access points deliver wired-like performance, at scale, for high-density in every environment. Smart Access Points are equally adept for both distributed and centralized deployment models.

ESG engineers use a two phase process to determine how many access points will be needed. The first is a predictive study where they take blueprints and known information about the space, then run it through software that allows them to make predictive heat maps and coverage maps of the area. This allows them to give an accurate idea for quoting purposes. Phase two is an on-site survey to get real data. This means using an actual access point and computer to map the entire building for coverage based on the needs of the customer. This then allows them to accurately place the access points to ensure optimal coverage.

At the heart of the network is a mix of stacked x460 and x440 Summit switches both at the headquarters as well as the manufacturing plant which are connected via fibre optic cables. Branch locations nationwide are also deployed with Summit switches. The award-winning ExtremeWireless Controllers are simple to
deploy and manage. They provide advanced functionality to allow organizations to define how data traffic is processed without architectural constraints and in accordance with business needs. 

In addition, they have in-depth visibility and control over users and devices via Extreme's management center. ExtremeManagement delivers integrated management of your wired and wireless infrastructure from a single pane of glass. Great Wi-Fi in Extreme Conditions All of Grassland's forklifts are equipped with a tablet that wirelessly connects them to the network so that they can seamlessly keep track of all inventory Zero Touch Provisioning eliminates manual provisioning and configuring when adding network devices. One dashboard aggregates the view of users, devices, and applications. The analytics software allows IT operations to optimize the network for each and every application, enhance security for those applications, and provide data for business analytics. This empowers IT to turn the network into a strategic business asset that can now provide value to other lines of business and it enables business innovation powered by the network infrastructure.

Watch the video at: esgexperience.com/news