阿鲁巴Wi-Fi + Central powers Industry 4.0 at manufacturing enterprise with millions of square feet across 22 countries worldwide

Strong demand for its components kept KEMET Electronics Corporation’s global manufacturing and sales facilities running at full capacity, but further growth and operational innovation had stalled.

“We determined our aging technology infrastructure was the bottleneck,” explains George Hurtado, Director of Global IT Infrastructure for the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based enterprise with 45 manufacturing and sales facilities spread across 22 countries. “Our legacy system wasn’t scalable, resilient or sufficiently secure. We clearly needed a significant refresh.”

阿鲁巴中央Answers the Needs

Given its expansive global footprint, KEMET sought a network infrastructure capable of supplying secure, high-performance voice, video and IoT connectivity to power Industry 4.0 on production floors and mobilize its workforce enterprise-wide. This included supporting dozens of manufacturing and sales facilities, each of which spans up to a half-million square feet.

为了实现其目标，Kemet希望通过云管理的Wi-Fi解决方案进行快速有效的网络优化，通过直观的集中式仪表板进行故障排除和更新。该公司还需要一个自动网络访问控制解决方案和有线访问开关。

“We were unimpressed with the licensing model our existing vendor was pursuing,” explains Hurtado. “Upon investigating alternatives and conducting internal testing, we decided to invest in Aruba for its proven innovation, reliability and centralized management.”

KEMET’s comprehensive wired and wireless solution included Aruba APs, including Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6 APs, managed by cloud-native Aruba Central, for unified network operations, assurance and security as well as ClearPass, for policy-based network access control and 2930M access switches.

Expectations Exceeded from Day One

From the start, the deployment exceeded expectations. “With our previous vendor and controller-based system, we had to manually right-size hardware and software infrastructure whenever network changes occurred,” recalls Tony Krawczynski, Manager of Network Services.

“Using Aruba Central, we have a virtual controller that scales smoothly as our needs change,” he continues. “Any modifications we make get pushed out automatically to the related APs. This is helping us move toward a zero-touch model systemically, regardless how many thousands of miles a location is from our U.S. data center.”

Slashing deployment times and reducing stress

在与Aruba代表进行了咨询之后，Kemet建立了一个积极的实施时间表，并发现其新的Wi-Fi解决方案可以轻松满足随附的需求

网络工程师Mario Luna说：“尽管我们继续获得能力并更快地部署，但即使我们的早期经验也改变了游戏规则。”

“For example, with two people, we configured and packaged 100 access points in less than two business days,” he says. “Then we simply shipped them to the site and put them in place. Because we were able to pre-stage the APs, an implementation process that would’ve formerly taken weeks, and disrupted the production floor operations, was completed non-disruptively in days.

Luna补充说：“我们还将Aruba Installer应用程序添加到我们的智能手机中。”“它提供了进一步加快流程的工具。消除大量的手动工作会大大减轻部署压力。”

ClearPass Boosts Security and Eliminates Frustrations

Due to its inability to regulate its guest connectivity in the past, KEMET commonly experienced serious productivity drains. “For instance, during popular worldwide events, like the FIFA World Cup, our Wi-Fi was frequently overloaded,” explains Krawczynski.

“Another impact was manually authenticating individuals who travel, ranging from executives to sales team members,” he continues. “It could easily take an engineer up to two hours to give a person access at a distant facility, while our business talent simply waited.”

“今天，那些头痛等等，都消失了，”克劳奇辛斯基说。“ ClearPass会根据多个标准自动标识和分类设备，从而根据我们设定的策略提供设备和用户访问。”

支持行业的细粒度可见性关键4.0

此外，当Kemet执行其战略行业4.0计划时，物联网和工业物联网（IIOT）的预期爆炸使高级访问控制必须成为必要。

Beyond automating and securing access, ClearPass supplies rich contextual insights – such as device type, vendor, hardware version and behavioral attributes, like traffic destination and communication frequency. This enables the manufacturer to quickly create fine-grained access policies while reducing security risks and meeting compliance requirements, such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

“Our visibility and audit capabilities with ClearPass are unprecedented,” Krawczynski says. “In addition to regulatory compliance, there are multiple other benefits. For example, if an individual is streaming videos against a department’s policy, we can alert the appropriate manager before it impacts network performance.”

Proven Ecosystem Creates Powerful Holistic Platform

KEMET also appreciates the proven technology ecosystem Aruba brings to the partnership, which assists the manufacturer with turning network infrastructure into a powerful holistic platform for a smart digital workplace.

“For instance, we’re leveragingEnvoy, an established Aruba ecosystem provider for visitor management, and its tight integration with ClearPass to supply streamlined, secure connectivity for our customers, contractors, visitors and employee BYOD,” Krawczynski says.

“This ensures that we not only secure our network but also deliver exceptional experiences that support our brand as a leading-edge innovator in our market,” he adds.

Improving Profitability in Multiple Ways

With KEMET’s new networking solution, benefits are off the charts. “In addition to significantly improving global collaboration experiences using Skype for Business, Teams and our IP telephony system, our business is no longer restricted in any way,” Hurtado says. “We can now adopt new tools and applications on the fly.”

Just one example is faster label printing and handheld mobile scanners at KEMET’s manufacturing and sales facilities. “Such tools enable getting products out the door rather than having them sit idle,” says Hurtado.

减少制造废物也可以显着提高盈利能力。赫塔多说：“以前，较小的延迟延迟加起来，会定期导致制造不当。”“如果单个40美元的产品被大规模抛弃，那将是相当大的损失。”

他补充说：“无论是非生产性库存还是制造缺陷，数百万美元都受到威胁。”“换句话说，很难高估高性能，可靠的Wi-Fi的底线。”

IT staff shifts focus from reactive to proactive with predictive analytics

From an IT standpoint, resources are no longer dedicated to repeatedly troubleshooting the same issue, as Aruba Central supplies AI-based predictive analytics and deep insights. This gives KEMET continuous visibility into how the network is performing.

“我们广泛使用Central的见解来优化我们的网络，” Krawczynski说。这有助于Kemet积极积极地保持绩效，可用性和经验。

Although deployment, training and administration issues have been few, Aruba’s support response has consistently gone above and beyond. “On the rare occasions where we’ve needed expert assistance, our Aruba representatives assembled the right team to respond quickly and comprehensively,” Krawczynski says.

未来的准备就绪，智能基础架构

对于未来，Kemet正在考虑其他创新以帮助实现目标。目前，评估包括Aruba的动态细分，用于实时自动隔离交换流量以及用户体验洞察力，以实现主动问题识别。

“We’re interested in User Experience Insight for tasks like detecting when we’re having a DHCP server issue somewhere in our footprint,” Krawczynski says. “Then we can resolve the problem before any significant impact occurs.”

Other possibilities include expanding Aruba’s presence to standardize on wired switches from core to edge while leveraging predictive analytics and location awareness to improve manufacturing operations and inventory management.

总体而言，Kemet看到其新的网络解决方案的无限战略潜力。“我们知道我们只是在刮擦表面，”赫塔多说。“我们期待将我们的Aruba网络平台提升到一个新的水平。”