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Case Study: B Factory × Octogen — Full Factory Coverage. Even Through -20°C Cold Rooms.

Case Study·Food Manufacturing·Malaysia6 min read
B Factory × Octogen · Q1 2025

One Factory. Zero Excuses.
Zero Cold Room Blackouts.

How a well-known Malaysian ice cream manufacturer replaced RM 24,000 in failed counterfeit radios with an Octogen RBT V61 LoRa system — covering every corner of the factory floor, straight through -20°C cold storage walls.

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Factory Coverage
0 Units
RBT V61 Deployed
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Cold Room Blackouts
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Cost Saved vs. Counterfeit
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ClientB Factory (Ice Cream Manufacturer)
IndustryFood Manufacturing
ScaleFull Factory + 2 Cold Rooms
LocationShah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
EquipmentRBT V61 ×30 + R8002 Repeater ×2
Service DateQ1 2025
Choose your perspective

Which role are you? This problem looks different from every floor.

“We were shouting across the production floor for years. I did not realise how much time we were losing until it stopped.”

You care about whether the whole operation runs as one unit — from the production line to the cold room to the loading bay. B Factory's manager knew the counterfeit radios were a problem long before they ran the numbers. The Coordination Breakdown challenge and the Results Dashboard are the most relevant sections for you.

“The moment I stepped inside Cold Room A, all communication cut out. We had no way to reach anyone until we walked back out.”

You deal with the hardest environment — sub-zero temperatures, thick insulated walls, and the safety risk of being unreachable. The signal dead zone section explains exactly why the counterfeit units failed your team, and why LoRa technology changed everything.

“We lost two batches waiting for instructions that never got through. That is real money — and it was all because the radio cut out at the wrong moment.”

Your problem: batch timing is tight and any delay cascades. The moment comms break down between production and cold storage, product quality is at risk. The Solution Steps section shows exactly how the channel design was built around your workflow.

“After our third radio purchase in two years, someone finally asked why we kept buying the same things that kept breaking.”

You are dealing with the real cost of counterfeit radios — not just the purchase price, but replacement cycles, downtime, and worker frustration. The Hidden Costs tab lays it out clearly. The numbers will change how you think about the next equipment decision.

The Challenges They Faced

These problems — you may have faced them too

① Cold Room Blackout

The Radio Died the Moment You Walked In

B Factory's counterfeit radios had a real-world range of 10 to 15 metres — barely enough to cross the production floor. The moment a worker entered a cold room with its thick insulated walls, communication dropped to zero. There was no workaround.

  • Cold Room A at -20°C: complete signal blackout from all units tested on day one
  • Remote production line: maximum 8m range — workers had to shout over machinery noise
  • Loading bay: signal collapsed due to metal roller doors and exterior wall interference
“I once spent 20 minutes looking for a supervisor who was in the cold room the whole time. There was no way to reach her. That cannot happen in a food factory.”— Warehouse Supervisor, B Factory
② Shouting Across the Floor

5 Teams, 5 WhatsApp Groups, 1 Production Line at Risk

With no reliable radio, B Factory's teams defaulted to WhatsApp groups — one per department. Inside cold rooms, gloved hands and freezing screens made phones unusable. On the factory floor, machine noise drowned out voice calls completely.

  • Cold room workers removed gloves to use phones — food safety and temperature protocol violation
  • Production line leads averaged 4 to 7 minutes to get a response during peak hours
  • Two batch overruns occurred in a single quarter due to delayed cold storage handoff confirmation
“We had five group chats and still could not get a clear answer fast enough. Someone had to physically walk to find the person — in a -20°C freezer room.”— Production Manager, B Factory
Counterfeit Radios (cumulative)Octogen Rental (cumulative)
RM 20k
RM 7k
RM 36k
RM 13k
RM 52k
RM 18k
3-year Octogen rental saves 65% vs. counterfeit replacement cycle — with real coverage included

RM 8,000 Per Purchase. Three Purchases in Two Years.

The counterfeit radios were cheap on day one. By the end of year two, B Factory had spent more than RM 24,000 replacing units that never lasted, with no improvement in coverage and no support when things went wrong.

  • Initial purchase: 20 units at ~RM 400 each = RM 8,000, failed within 6 months
  • Replacement cycle: re-purchased twice more with same poor performance each time
  • Production downtime from communication failures: estimated RM 12,000+ over 18 months
  • Zero after-sales support — supplier disappeared after delivery
“Each time we bought new ones thinking maybe this batch would be better. It was never better. We just kept paying for the same failure.”— Procurement Manager, B Factory
The Turning Point

After their third radio purchase failed within weeks of deployment, B Factory ran a full cost audit. The total spend on counterfeit radios over 18 months had exceeded RM 24,000 — more than what a proper professional system would have cost. They had not been saving money. They had been paying twice for equipment that never worked.

The next purchase would be the last one — and it would actually solve the problem.
The Solution

4 things Octogen did at B Factory

Not a radio swap — a full communication infrastructure review, designed around the factory layout, cold room architecture, and team structure. Click each step to explore.

01
RF Site Survey
T−14 Days
What we didThe Octogen team conducted a full RF audit of B Factory — measuring signal penetration through cold room walls (220mm insulated panels), mapping dead zones in the production floor, loading bay, and basement storage. LoRa propagation tests were conducted in both cold rooms at operating temperature. Output: a full coverage plan report with R8002 repeater placement coordinates.
02
RBT V61 + LoRa Design
T−7 Days
What we didBased on the RF survey, Octogen designed a 4-channel system using the RBT V61 LoRa digital radio. Two R8002 repeaters were positioned to bridge coverage from the production floor through both cold rooms to the loading bay. Channel plan: Ch1 Cold Room Operations, Ch2 Production Line, Ch3 Logistics, Ch4 Management. Every channel was verified for penetration through the factory's specific wall materials.
03
Equipment Deploy
T−1 Day
What we didAll 30 RBT V61 units were pre-programmed, labelled by team and channel, and cold-room tested at -20°C before handover. The two R8002 repeaters were installed at survey-specified positions before the morning shift. A 20-minute team briefing confirmed every supervisor was confident on their channel assignment before the first live shift began.
04
Ongoing Partnership
Continuing
What we didOctogen provides ongoing support and maintenance for all 30 units. When B Factory opened their second warehouse site, the system was extended — no new infrastructure investment required, just additional RBT V61 units on the same channel plan. The new site was fully operational within one day.
System in Action

What factory-wide comms looks like in real time

This is the actual channel load from B Factory's busiest production shift — 4 channels, 30 devices, both cold rooms running live.

Channel Usage (Peak Production Shift)
Ch1
94%
Ch2
88%
Ch3
71%
Ch4
52%
30 units · Cold rooms confirmed online · 0 dropouts
Coverage Status (Post-Installation)
RelayProduction Floor ✓Cold Room A -20°C ✓Cold Room B -18°C ✓Loading Bay ✓Coverage: 100% (pre-install: 38% effective)
Live Comms — Cold Room Shift, 14:32
14:32CR-A→Batch 7 ready for transfer, requesting loading bay standby
14:33Load→Bay 2 clear, forklift in position. Send it.
14:33Prod→Line 3 pausing 4 minutes for batch handoff
14:34CR-A→Transfer in progress. Quality check on exit.
14:37Mgmt→Confirmed. Batch 7 logged. Resume line 3.
Signal confirmed inside -20°C cold room · 0 protocol violations

4 channels · 30 devices · 2 cold rooms live · 0 coverage gaps

Full Deployment Timeline

3 days — from survey to live factory comms

Day 1

RF Survey & Planning

Factory mapping · Coverage design
  • 08:30Octogen team on-site — full factory walkthrough with RF testing equipment
  • 10:15Cold Room A tested at -20°C: LoRa penetration confirmed at 100%, counterfeit at 0%
  • 12:00Cold Room B and basement storage mapped — 3 additional dead zones identified
  • 15:30R8002 repeater placement finalised — coverage plan report delivered to factory manager
“When they showed us the signal map, we finally understood why the old radios never worked in the cold room. The LoRa test was the first time we heard a clear voice from inside the freezer.”
Day 2

Installation & System Test

Repeater setup · Full unit testing
  • 07:00R8002 repeaters installed at survey positions before morning shift begins
  • 09:30All 30 RBT V61 units programmed and labelled by team and channel
  • 11:00Full system test in both cold rooms at operating temperature — all units confirmed
  • 14:0020-minute team briefing completed — all supervisors confident on channel assignments
“On the first test, I pressed the button inside Cold Room A and heard the production line respond instantly. After two years of silence in that room, it felt unreal.”
Day 3

Live Operation & Handover

First full production shift · Zero issues
  • 07:00First full production shift on new system — all 30 units active simultaneously
  • 09:45First cold room batch transfer coordinated via radio — zero delays, zero walking
  • 14:30End of shift review: 0 dropouts, 0 protocol violations, 0 glove removals for phones
  • 16:00Handover complete — B Factory team fully self-sufficient on the system
“The whole shift ran without anyone leaving their station to deliver a message. We did not realise how much unnecessary walking we were doing just to communicate.”
Final Score

3-Day Deployment Scorecard

Installation + First Week Metrics
Cold Room Coverage100%
Signal Dead Zones0 ✓
Unit Faults at Deploy0 ✓
Protocol Violations0 ✓
New Site ExpansionYes ✓
The Results

Numbers don't lie

0%
Factory Coverage Achieved
Including both -20°C cold rooms
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Signal Dead Zones
Previously: 62% of factory affected
0 Units
RBT V61 Devices Active
Across 4 channels, full shift coverage
0%+
Cost Saved vs. Counterfeit Cycle
3-year total cost of ownership comparison
0k+
RM Wasted on Counterfeit Radios
The cost that finally triggered the switch
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Factory Sites Now Covered
Original factory + new warehouse expansion

We thought we were saving money by buying cheaper radios. We were wrong. After three purchases and RM 24,000 later, we were still shouting across the production floor and completely blind inside the cold rooms. The Octogen system changed everything — our cold room supervisors can now communicate instantly without leaving their station or removing their gloves. When we opened the second warehouse, we extended the same system without hesitation. It was the obvious choice.

B
Procurement Manager
Operations Division · B Factory (Ice Cream Manufacturer)
Common Questions

Things you probably want to know

LoRa uses sub-GHz frequencies that penetrate dense materials — concrete, metal shelving, and the thick insulated panels used in cold rooms — far better than standard UHF/VHF radios. For cold storage facilities, this is the difference between total blackout and 100% coverage. The RBT V61 also operates reliably at -20°C and below without battery or signal degradation.
The RBT V61 is a professional digital radio with built-in LoRa capability, designed for environments where standard radios fail — factories, warehouses, cold storage, and large buildings. Paired with the R8002 repeater, a single system can cover an entire industrial facility including areas that have historically been RF dead zones.
Yes — this is exactly what B Factory did when they opened their second warehouse. The same R8002 infrastructure and channel plan extends to new sites with minimal setup. Additional RBT V61 units are programmed and added to existing channels. B Factory's second site was fully live within one day.
In open-air conditions, the gap can seem small. In real-world industrial environments — thick walls, metal interference, low temperatures, longer distances — counterfeit radios fail reliably. Their actual frequency tolerance and output power rarely match specifications. B Factory's 10–15m real-world range on a unit sold as '5km range' is a very common experience.
The RBT V61 is IP54 rated — resistant to dust and water splashing, suitable for standard food factory cleaning protocols. For cold room use, the units were tested and confirmed operational at -20°C during B Factory's deployment. Workers no longer need to remove gloves to communicate, which eliminates a direct food-safety protocol violation.
B Factory's 3-year Octogen rental cost was 65% lower than their counterfeit replacement cycle — and that calculation does not include the production downtime value they recovered. Pricing depends on unit count, site complexity, and whether RF site survey and ongoing support are included. Contact us for a factory-specific quote.
Your factory, your team

Don't pay twice for communication that doesn't work

B Factory spent RM 24,000 on counterfeit radios before making the switch. You don't have to.

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