Ultra-Modern Distribution Center Relies on an Aruba ESP Network to Deliver World-Class Services to Vendors, Retailers and Shippers

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company (NYSE: HPE), today announced that WIPTEC, a nationally recognized leader in order fulfillment for the retail and e-commerce markets, has deployed an Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform) network at their new 1.7 million-square-foot distribution center in Longueuil, Quebec.

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WIPTEC, a nationally recognized leader in order fulfillment for the retail and e-commerce markets, has deployed an Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform) network at their new 1.7 million-square-foot distribution center in Longueuil, Quebec. (Source: WIPTEC)

WIPTEC manages a total of 85 million parcels per year from two facilities, preparing and shipping hundreds of thousands of products every day from an inventory of over 250,000 different SKUs. Fulfilling orders for customers ranging from boutiques to big-box retailers requires a rigorous process to maintain the degree of precision that their clients have come to expect. State-of-the-art equipment, combined with logistics management systems, allows WIPTEC to automate operations and fulfill even the most complicated orders accurately and on time.

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated e-commerce demand, increasing the need for technology solutions to reliably automate processes while minimizing downtime, optimizing labor utilization, and increasing the accuracy of order fulfillment. At the same time, WIPTEC’s facility environments are challenging with very high 45-foot ceilings measuring over 1.7 million square feet. Modern fulfillment centers need the right network infrastructure that provides zero downtime, and fast, reliable access for thousands of devices.

When it came time to assess the network needs for the new Longueuil facility, WIPTEC’s objectives were to simplify the deployment of switches and access points, centralize network management capabilities and choose a solution that could scale to meet future needs.

“The network is at the core of everything we do because our WMS warehouse management system is used to access our database in real-time,” said Jean Francois Robert, director of IT at WIPTEC. “In our business, real-time is very important for us so we need the fastest and most reliable network possible.”

To select their network solution, WIPTEC put out a formal RFP to multiple vendors, including Aruba. After a thorough evaluation, they decided to standardize the new facility on an Aruba ESP network, with WiFi 6 indoor access points, outdoor access points, access switches, and Aruba Central for network management.

“We choose Aruba because of the simplicity of deploying the access points and switches, as well as the management capabilities of Aruba Central,” explained Robert. “Aruba had the right solution for us.”

Managing a Complex Environment

WIPTEC operates more than 10,000 networked devices for inventory tracking, security, and lighting. These devices include bar code and RFID scanners, mobile computers, tablets, wearables, video displays, surveillance cameras, monitors, robots and automated guided vehicles.

“We have video displays throughout the facility that relay productivity data in real-time,” said Martin Ball, president and CEO at WIPTEC. “We can see the number of orders in the system, and that helps us know where to send our employees within the fulfillment center to maximize productivity. It’s a dynamic environment and to achieve our goal of maximum efficiency and accuracy, we need real-time information displayed. This is all relying on the Aruba network.”

For WIPTEC, every millisecond matters, and zero network downtime is mission critical to the business. “With thousands of employees and many, many thousands of requests to the database at the same time, we need a system that won’t fail and will be very efficient and fast,” said Robert. “We work seven days a week, 24 hours a day, 361 days per year,” added Ball. “So, the network needs to be up and running all the time.”

Another benefit that WIPTEC is seeing from their Aruba ESP network and their other technology solutions is with their employee recruiting efforts. “Our objective in using technology is not to replace humans, but rather to help humans do their jobs better,” said Ball. “If we have good technology at the service of our employees, it helps attract people and make them happy to work for WIPTEC.”

WIPTEC is currently in the process of upgrading their legacy infrastructure with Aruba solutions at their original facility. Looking to the future, they plan to build more fulfillment centers, including one for refrigerated and frozen food that is slated to open in 2023.

About WIPTEC pick, pack & ship

WIPTEC pick, pack & ship is a Quebec founded company since 2002. For the past 19 years, the company has stood out as an expert in order fulfillment for B2B (retail) and B2C (e-commerce) markets. Situated in Sherbrooke & Longueuil, its modern and technological infrastructure span a surface of over 2 300 000 square feet, employing over 1 000 associates daily and shipping 85 000 000 parcels per year. A leader always in search of innovative solutions, WIPTEC offers companies all over the world, comprehensive, efficient, integrated and highly strategic solutions, from support of post-production products to shipping to point-of-sale or residential addresses. Its operations also include assembling activities, kitting, inventory management and process engineering. Owner of its own software technology, LEAD WMS, WIPTEC combines quality, productivity and advanced technology in its numerous fulfillment centers. For more information, visit www.wiptec.ca.

About Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company

Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, is the global leader in secure, intelligent edge-to-cloud networking solutions that use AI to automate the network, while harnessing data to drive powerful business outcomes. With Aruba ESP (Edge Services Platform) and as-a-service options, Aruba takes a cloud-native approach to helping customers meet their connectivity, security, and financial requirements across campus, branch, data center, and remote worker environments, covering all aspects of wired, wireless LAN, and wide area networking (WAN).

To learn more, visit Aruba at www.arubanetworks.com. For real-time news updates, follow Aruba on Twitter and Facebook, and for the latest technical discussions on mobility and Aruba products, visit the Airheads Community at community.arubanetworks.com.

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