UniFi Architecture Upgrade for a Precision Electronics Manufacturing Plant

Overview

Company Profile

Zhejiang Hongye Electronic Precision Machinery Co., Ltd. (“Hongye”), founded in 2001 and located in Yueqing, Zhejiang Province, operates a 38,000 m² modern factory with over 430 employees and is recognized as a national high-tech enterprise. As a leader in high-end automotive components, Hongye specializes in the R&D and manufacturing of wiper systems, air filtration, and comfort driving systems. It is a Tier-1 supplier for top global automakers such as Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Toyota, GM, and BYD. Its annual revenue is expected to exceed ¥250 million by 2025.

Drivers for Transformation

With the advancement of Industry 4.0 digitalization, Hongye’s traditional network architecture could no longer meet the fast-growing business demands. In the production workshop, handheld PDAs and automated equipment frequently disconnected due to signal blind spots, severely impacting production efficiency. Meanwhile, the outdated surveillance system lacked intelligent alert capabilities and was difficult to manage, leaving the IT team overwhelmed with troubleshooting instead of focusing on innovation.

Business & Technical Requirements

Industrial-grade, highly reliable full-area coverage

Required to eliminate signal dead zones across the 38,000 m² metal-heavy production environment, ensuring over 600 mobile terminals and production devices remain online 24/7.

Simplified operations & cost control

The IT team needed to escape heavy on-site maintenance and required a unified remote management system to dramatically reduce labor hours—while also lowering annual software licensing and outsourcing costs.

Proactive intelligent security

Transition from “passive recording” to “active protection,” leveraging AI for proactive safety alerts, while maintaining compatibility with some existing hardware to protect prior investments.

Why UniFi?

Enterprise performance with zero subscription fees: UniFi’s license-free model was a major advantage—saving the customer approximately $28,000USD annually compared to competitors’ recurring licensing costs.

EFG as a powerful enabler: The Enterprise Fortress Gateway (EFG) delivers outstanding routing performance and security, fully meeting the high standards of advanced manufacturing networks.

Single-pane full-stack management: Hongye valued UniFi OS’s unified management, which centralizes network, surveillance, access control, and more into one interface—dramatically simplifying IT operations.

Deployment Highlights

Hi-Capacity, High Availability: The HA-ready, EFG-powered core delivers an industrial-grade backbone with full IPS/IDS enabled at 10G-class throughput—eliminating congestion and downtime.

High-performance wireless coverage: 40+ UniFi APs were strategically installed to deliver consistent coverage across a highly complex environment. With precise channel planning and power tuning, seamless roaming was achieved—ensuring mobile clients experience zero packet loss while roaming across the ESS.

Network security segmentation: VLANs were used to divide the network into production, office, guest, and POS payment subnets. Traffic rules were configured to prioritize ERP/MES traffic, while isolating guest access to protect core data.

UniFi Protect: AI-powered hybrid security system

AI intelligent surveillance: 37 UniFi AI cameras were installed at key production points and entrances. AI algorithms detect “Entered the work area without wearing a safety helmet.” and “Smoking detected in the factory area.” in real time, sending instant alerts to security personnel and building a proactive defense system.

Legacy system reuse & ONVIF integration: Through ONVIF support, UniFi Protect seamlessly integrated several existing third-party HD cameras—improving management experience while protecting previous investments.

Local video storage & compliance: All recordings are stored on-premises, meeting automaker supply-chain requirements for data confidentiality and IP protection.

Centralized management via UniFi Site Manager

Revolution in maintenance efficiency: The IT team now manages all devices through UniFi Site Manager. Visual topology and real-time analytics enable 95% of issues to be diagnosed remotely—reducing on-site visits drastically.

Instant alerts: Any device offline or network anomaly triggers immediate mobile alerts, ensuring problems are resolved before impacting production.

Future Outlook

Standardized replication for new factories: Hongye will directly replicate this UniFi (EFG + Protect AI system) standard solution in upcoming expansions.

Full AI and IoT integration: Plans to replace remaining legacy cameras with UniFi Protect AI system and introduce Protect IoT sensors (smoke sensors, sirens, etc.) to build a fully intelligent factory – completely free of licensing or subscriptions.

Access control upgrade: Evaluating UniFi Access to unify employee/vehicle/material access management under a single unified platform.