Introduction

Experts in the industrial environment acknowledge the growing need for wireless technology.The emerging wireless handheld devices dramatically expand mobility when applied to standard industrial activities like inventory and stock management. The increased productivity and cost savings far outweigh the cost of investing in new wireless technology.This chapter describes how to implement a wireless network in an industrial environment. Although there are various types of industrial applications, we will focus on applying wireless technology to a retail store environment. Retail stores implement wireless technology for a number of purposes, including helping their employees to track inventory using a mobile system, and allowing customers to self-scan purchases and check the price of items.

Although it may be easier to think of applying wireless technology to large superstores, the mobility that wireless provides offers a big advantage for smaller stores. Smaller stores cannot support the number of employees or merchandise that large superstores do, so if they implement wireless technology they are able to streamline the staff dramatically. By adding mobile devices, a store owner can provide customers with the ability to answer their own questions about pricing and inventory. Customers who are more self-reliant do not require as much help from staff. Similarly, employees with self-reliant customers do not require the same amount of support from their management.

Through the case study presented in this chapter, you will learn how a consulting company can apply the design principles described in previous chapters.The flow through the discovery and planning phases show typical...