Germany Company pfenning logistics Futureproofs its Sites with High-Availability, Scalable CloudCampus Solutions from Huawei

The company pfenning logistics is an owner-managed group specialising in warehousing, transport, and value-added services for a wide range of industries. The warehouse and distribution network in Germany includes 100 locations with a total of 500,000 m² of logistics space. In order to ensure reliable enterprise resource planning, pfenning logistics focuses on individual logistics solutions as an important building block that enables its customers’ success in the market.

Challenge

Driven by the continued expansion of its business, pfenning logistics is continuously commissioning new warehouse locations. However, amid persistent talent shortages for qualified IT staff, customers face the challenge of having to operate infrastructure with small IT teams. In addition, digital transformation and disruptive innovations are constantly increasing the demands on infrastructure, especially in the logistics industry. Therefore, pfenning logistics was looking for a network infrastructure solution to cover all its locations -- one that would meet its specific requirements in terms of availability and scalability, while also being easy to install and operate.

Solution

Huawei’s CloudCampus solution, consisting of WLAN, LAN switches, routers, firewalls, and central cloud-based management, meets all of pfenning’s requirements. Features such as AI-optimised roaming and automatic radio calibration are the foundation for the use of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) or voice-over-WLAN (VoWLAN).

The Huawei CloudEngine S-Series switches connect access points and wired endpoints. Flexible ports with multi-gigabit copper wires and fibre-optic cables covering various bandwidths up to 100 Gbps ensure that the solution is suitable for all of pfenning logistics’ sites, which vary greatly in size. Redundant power supplies and the high PoE budget necessary to operate them provide the foundation for a highly available WLAN infrastructure. Depending on the requirements of the sites, Huawei routers with LTE or 5G uplink are also used for a redundant connection of the sites to the pfenning logistics headquarters.

The entire infrastructure is managed by a cloud-based network management solution operated by German Telekom in a data centre in Germany to ensure that the strict data protection requirements are met.

Advantages

With their smart antennas, the AirEngine Wi-Fi 6 access points provide optimal coverage for warehouse and office areas. This infrastructure can grow as requirements evolve, and it enables the use of future technologies, with no additional effort required from the customer with the operation of network management. Features such as zero-touch provisioning (ZTP) simplify network infrastructure rollout and reduce the workload for employees. WLAN planning is further simplified with the WLAN Planner, cloud-provided by Huawei. With this tool, even complex environments such as warehouses with high racks and multiple levels can be planned effectively and reliably without time-consuming on-site optical measurements.

About pfenning logistics group

pfenning logistics group is a German Mittelstand contract logistics service provider offering full-service supply chain services from the Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region. Managed by the third and fourth generations of the Pfenning family, the company looks back at 90 years of logistics experience and employs 3,700 people at 100 locations in Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Sweden. With a fleet of 800 lorries and a total storage area of 500,000 m², the company is the strong backbone for its customers’ logistics operations. In the “Top 100 of Logistics” study, it ranked 55th among 60,000 logistics service providers in Germany.

For more information, please visit https://www.pfenning-logistics.com/.

All photos by pfenning logistics.