The “Open Sesame” of the Digital Age

Whether it’s a small physician’s practice, a research institute or a large manufacturing enterprise, it’s always important to protect equipment and documents, information and business processes. While the boss can go wherever he or she pleases, it can make sense to keep secretaries out of a factory hall or block assembly workers from entering the accounting department. Visitors, suppliers and service providers also need to be considered ― like when a cleaner works in the administration building every other workday between 6 and 8 p.m. or a supplier drops off merchandise during the night.

A lock and key aren’t enough for managing such a wide range of requirements; keys can be lost or stolen, among other reasons.

The answer is a professional access control system with RFID (radio frequency identification) technology. This involves providing company ID cards, badges or key fobs with tiny integrated chips able to receive and transmit radio signals. Authorizations to enter certain areas (or not) can then be centrally controlled.

By putting an end to the need to key in the same information two or more times and concurrently manage multiple solutions, a solution of this kind greatly boosts efficiency and reliability.

“Time management in particular poses increasingly complex challenges in today’s working world,” Thomas Christian adds. “The current trend is toward flexible working hours. Companies need solutions that are able to capture time worked on a wide range of devices, also offsite.”

The benefits that an integrated system of this type can deliver are illustrated by a manufacturing company that uses the MATRIX solution from Bosch.

All of its buildings are equipped with appropriate components for flexibly controlling which persons may enter individual areas. Access to the main administration building is regulated by online readers with door monitors, while internal doors are protected by digital cylinders and electronic locks. Depending on how each employee’s or visitor’s ID is configured, certain doors either open or remain locked.

It’s especially important to restrict access to highly sensitive areas such as R&D labs or server rooms, so their doors are protected by biometric authentication with hand vein scanners.

The production hall, the warehouse and the loading and unloading areas are also guarded by access readers. The underground garage is safeguarded by long-range readers that detect transponders in approaching vehicles at a distance of between five and eight meters and open the door for them so they can drive right in without having to brake.

An intelligent gate also automatically controls visitor and delivery traffic to ease the workload of staff.

The access control system is linked to a higher-level management system and the human resources system. Authorized staff can use their company ID card to activate and deactivate the access control system. All threads run together in the software, which ensures absolutely smooth coordination of all networked functions.