Case Study: Coopers Brewery achieves resilient brewery-wide WiFi and reliable AGV operations with Cisco Meraki

Enabling new automation practices and securing a mobile workforce

Coopers Brewery, a family-owned Australian brewer, needed a resilient, enterprise-grade network to support production, staff mobility and multiple branch offices—most critically reliable Wi‑Fi coverage for automated guided vehicles (AGVs) navigating rows of stacked beer. ICT Coordinator Bradley Brazil selected Cisco Meraki cloud-managed MR access points and MX Security Appliances to replace an ad-hoc network and deliver secure, always-on connectivity across the brewery and interstate sites.

Cisco Meraki deployed an initial dozen MR16 APs, then 38 additional MR APs to blanket the production floor and support AGVs, plus three MX appliances (with more MX units added later) to establish site-to-site VPNs. Devices arrived pre-configured in the Meraki dashboard and came online in minutes, allowing an MX to be running within minutes and a rogue home Wi‑Fi unit to be removed via the dashboard in under a minute. The solution delivered uninterrupted roaming across offices, reliable AGV operation (avoiding production downtime), cloud-based remote monitoring via the Meraki mobile app, and faster roll-out of mobile devices and future management tools.

Coopers Brewery

Bradly Brazil

ICT Coordinator