By the SightShield team · · 3 min read
Why factory networks are different
A factory or warehouse network spans long distances, harsh conditions and many kinds of devices: office PCs, ERP terminals, barcode scanners, CCTV cameras across the yard and boundary, biometric machines at the gate and canteen, and sometimes machine controllers. Dust, heat, vibration, electrical noise from motors and welding, and lightning on open sites all work against it. The design has to account for each.
Fibre between buildings
Copper Ethernet reaches 100 metres. Between sheds, the security cabin, the gate and the office block, use fibre. Fibre covers hundreds of metres to kilometres, is immune to electrical noise, and does not conduct the surges and earth-potential differences that destroy switches connected by long copper runs between buildings. Use outdoor or armoured fibre in proper underground ducts with draw pits.
CCTV for Large Campuses →Industrial switches where needed
In offices, ordinary rack switches are fine. On the shop floor, in outdoor cabinets and in hot sheds, use industrial switches: DIN-rail mounted, fanless, rated for wide temperature ranges and vibration, often with fibre ports and PoE for cameras. Place them in sealed, ventilated enclosures with surge protection on incoming copper lines.
Ring topology for resilience
Linking switches in a ring of fibre, rather than a simple chain, means a single cut cable or failed switch does not cut off half the site. Industrial ring protocols such as ITU-T G.8032 (ERPS) can restore traffic in under about 50 milliseconds, so cameras and scanners barely notice.
Wi-Fi in warehouses
Warehouses are hard for Wi-Fi: tall metal racks and changing stock levels absorb and reflect signal. Mount access points to cover aisles from above or along the aisle ends, and plan for the devices that matter — handheld scanners and vehicle-mounted terminals need reliable roaming between APs as forklifts move. A survey with racks stocked, not empty, gives realistic results.
Separate the traffic
| Network (VLAN) | Devices |
|---|---|
| Office | PCs, ERP, printers |
| CCTV | Cameras, NVRs, monitoring station |
| Attendance and access | Biometric machines, turnstiles, boom barriers |
| Operations | Scanners, terminals, machine interfaces |
| Guests and contractors | Internet only |
Typical layout for a mid-size plant
- A main rack in the admin block with the firewall, core switch, NVRs and servers.
- Fibre to each production shed, the warehouse, the security cabin and the canteen.
- An industrial switch in a sealed enclosure in each shed, feeding cameras, APs and terminals.
- Wi-Fi access points over warehouse aisles and the dispatch area.
- UPS at the main rack and in each enclosure.
Power protection
- An online UPS for the main rack and the NVR.
- Smaller UPS units in outlying cabinets, or PoE fed from a protected switch.
- Surge protection on copper lines that leave a building, and good earthing.
- Generator changeover tested with the network running, so nothing reboots.
Documentation and support
Factories change constantly: new machines, new sheds, moved lines. Keep an up-to-date network diagram, labelled cables and a port list, and record VLANs and IP ranges. When something fails at 2 am on a night shift, this documentation is what allows a quick fix.
Quick answers
Why not run Cat6 between sheds?+
Beyond 100 metres it does not work reliably, and even shorter outdoor copper runs between buildings are vulnerable to lightning and earth-potential differences. Fibre avoids both.
Can CCTV and ERP share the same fibre?+
Yes. VLANs keep them separate on the same fibre and switches.
Do you work in running factories?+
Yes. We schedule cabling and cut-overs around shifts and keep existing systems running until the new network is tested.
Can the same network carry biometric attendance for several gates?+
Yes. Biometric machines at each gate and canteen connect over the network to one attendance server or cloud service.
Can wireless links replace fibre between sheds?+
Point-to-point wireless bridges can link buildings where trenching is impossible, but fibre is more reliable for permanent links.
Do we need managed switches?+
Yes, for VLANs, PoE management and ring redundancy across the site.