Manufacturing - From Perimeter to Internal Controlled Access.

It is no secret that manufacturing facilities are potential targets for malicious attacks, creating a need for a comprehensive security strategy. The first step in securing a facility is to assess all the threats throughout the layers and process areas of the facility.

The purpose of physical security in manufacturing plants is to detect vulnerabilities and prevent unauthorised entries. Common threats to industrial plants include violence, theft, counterfeiting, vandalism, and trespassing. Many manufacturing plants are relatively accessible and have multiple entrance points. Therefore, it makes sense that investing in layered access control solutions is a popular and important avenue of securing a facility.

Investing in Modern Access Control Technology

Traditional keys and combination locks provide multiple security and end-user issues, including:

• Reluctance to use
• Require physical contact to enter
• Doors being propped open due to the time-consuming nature of physically opening them with traditional methods
• Locks and keypad combinations are frequently needed to be changed due to staff turnarounds

With a new-generation access control system, an approved employee can simply swipe his / her card to enter or re-enter the approved area of the plant. If a card is lost or an employee leaves, simply disable the card and issue a new one.

Biometric-based access control solutions offer even tighter exterior / interior control, and the Pandemic-era large advancements have been made in both the touchless entry and biometrics. Speed gates can be easily integrated with GDPR-compliant AI facial recognition technology to ensure only authorised personnel can be in highly sensitive areas of the manufacturing plant. Software such as this also assists in allowing companies to determine numbers of staff quickly and effectively in one area and to quickly determine who is where at what time. Settings can be fine-tuned down to setting times that access will be approved per person at each shift. Knowing the whereabout of your employees in these critical organisations is paramount when it comes to having to evacuate in case of fire or another emergency.

A Layered Approach

Integrated security systems should layer several different technologies throughout the facility to create a welcome but secure building for staff and visitors. These technologies should be able to communicate in real time and work in conjunction with each other to alert security monitors and employees of threats so that more efficient responses are possible. Preventing physical attacks will also keep criminals from gaining access to critical data and controlling networks.

Ballistics and Burglary Protection Packages

Having a facility that is notorious for being a target means you must plan for the worst. Active shooters are meticulous planners with an “MO” for going inside buildings to seek out targets. High security doors keep unauthorised entry at bay. But what if that shooter decides to unload on the front entrance in an attempt to gain entry? A bullet-resistant package can safeguard the integrity of your door up to a certain point and save lives.

Security doors have curved glass and moving door wings with glass inserts. Because of this, security doors can accommodate Level 3 bullet-resistant glass. All bullet-resistant glass in the United States must conform to the standards outlined by Underwriters Laboratory, or “UL.” Through testing, Level 3 bullet-resistant glass must be able to stop:

• Three shots within a 100 mm triangle with no spalling on the non-secure side (or glass chips that could fly and injure)
• Three shots within a 32 to 44.5 mm area with some spalling acceptable
• One unsupported edge shot with some spalling acceptable

Theft can also be combatted with a burglary protection package. Studies have shown that 90% of all burglars are opportunists, taking advantage of inadequate security of a building. They are usually not focused on specific objects, but instead strike as soon as they have identified an opportunity to walk off with their stolen inventory within a short amount of time.

Burglar resistant RC3 shield doors are ideal for situations where the entrance and facade are an integral part of the security system and a high degree of burglary-resistance is required. In combination with the added safety and security, our doors retain the benefits of a revolving door, like energy saving and draft reduction. In many cases a manual attack resistant entrance is even requested directly by the insurance companies themselves. This type of protection package reduces the risk of valuable inventory being stolen and minimises the chance of collateral damage in the process.

• Premium materials built to last
• Easy integration with most access control systems
• The right entrance for the right area
• Combat piggybacking and tailgating
• ‘Level Up’ where it counts most to you – in security, safety or aesthetics.
• The right protection package can defend against an active shooter incident
• Safety afterhours with night-locking doors and protection packages
• Rapid technical troubleshooting for reduced downtime
• Safe and comfortable for a pleasant user-experience
• Collaboration with an entry expert from project conception to installation and beyond into service and maintenance

We understand the level of worry and planning that can arise around the protection of a manufacturing facility. It is because of this understanding that we are able to offer reliable, high, medium and low security entry solutions - often as a layered approach, that are designed to mitigate risks without impacting efficiency.