Kaba Success Story: Bridgford Foods Story

User Manual: Kaba Kaba Success Story: Bridgford Foods Kaba Access and Data Systems Americas

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Bridgford Foods Extends Access

Control Capabilities with Simple

Wireless Upgrade

Mark Whitaker, Safety and Training

Director

Bridgford Foods of North Carolina

112 Progress Place

Statesville, NC 28677

704-878-2772

www.bridgford.com

ABOUT BRIDGFORD FOODS:

In the early 1930s, Hugh H. Bridgford

founded Bridgford Foods Corporation

by launching a series of retail meat

markets in San Diego, CA. The busi-

ness flourished and eventually the cor-

poration would expand its operations

to include meat wholesaling, frozen

food distribution, meat processing and

frozen food manufacturing. Today,

Bridgford Foods has food processing

plants in Anaheim, CA, Dallas, TX, Chi-

cago, IL, and Statesville, NC. Its princi-

pal product lines include frozen bread

dough for the food service and retail

trade, shelf-stable dry and semi-dry

sausage products, beef jerky, and

long-life shelf stable sandwiches.

Customer

Success Story

SITUATION:

The Statesville, NC facility is the smallest of Bridgford’s frozen

bread plants, employing approximately 30 people. “Most people

are not aware of this, but Bridgford Foods pioneered the

manufacture and sale of frozen bread dough,” states Mark

Whitaker, safety and training director at Bridgford’s Statesville

facility. “At our plant, we have a bakery and produce bread such

as pita for our shelf-stable customers. Because we are a food

manufacturer, we have a stringent food security program. And, it

includes everything from how we receive in products to how

employees handle ingredients.”

As part of the company’s food defense strategy, Bridgford

controls the access of everyone who enters the building, including

visitors, suppliers, employees, and service personnel. “After 911

Americans changed their perspective on the nation’s security,”

says Whitaker. “Terrorism and bioterrorism became real threats.

We (Bridgford) need to have measures in place that would remove

any opportunity for terrorists to intentionally contaminate our

food supply — and keeping a tight control of who enters our

building is one way to protect ourselves.”

Kaba Access & Data Systems Americas

2941 Indiana Avenue

Winston-Salem, NC 27105

Tel: 800.849.8324

Fax: 800.346.9640

www.kaba-adsamericas.com

Customer Success Story October 2013

Customer Success Story October 2013

“What else can I say, other than

it just does its job;

it just works.” – Mark Whitaker

SOLUTION:

Installed with standalone, Kaba E-Plex 5700 Locks, two perimeter

doors enable access into the main building. Only authorized

individuals can enter through these doors; guests, visitors,

contractors. . . can only speak to personnel through an intercom

system. The other doors in the facility require keys and only three

or four people have a key to unlock the doors.

Although the E-Plex Locks are robust and deliver ample access

control, the company wanted to extend its access control

capabilities. For an advanced solution, they consulted Ace

Locksmithing, a local locksmith and certified Kaba wireless dealer.

After conducting a site survey, John Campbell, owner of Ace

Locksmithing, recommended that Bridgford Foods upgrade their

existing E-Plex 5700 Locks to E-Plex Enterprise with Wireless

Option. This three-part upgrade adds Enterprise Software to a

central workstation, wireless antennas to existing locks, and

Gateway/Router (s) to communicate from the computer server to

locks. This approach allows Bridgford to preserve their original

lock investment while gaining additional features and functions.

With the addition of Enterprise Software, Whitaker can add an

employee (including a photo), assign access schedules, manage

guests/visitors, create access groups, create reports, and pull an

audit trail from a central workstation. “Once we experienced the

system’s features/functions, we knew that we could streamline our

access control processes and

enhance our access control

intelligence,” says Whitaker. “Similar

to our original Kaba system, we

provide each employee with a unique

access code, but now with Enterprise

Software we can schedule the times

the employees can access a door and

on what days. So, if we want to grant

the office staff access on weekends,

we have that ability.”

BENEFITS:

“One feature that we constantly rely on is the audit trail,” says

Whitaker. “On the weekends, drivers enter the building. As part

of our standard operating procedures, a driver is supposed to

enter their access code then disarm the alarm; however, many

drivers forget about the alarm.” After a false alarm occurs,

Whitaker can pull an audit trail to see if a Bridgford employee

was in the facility when the alarm was set off.

With the wireless capability, Whitaker has real-time

functionality. The main Dashboard provides a visual

representation of the system’s performance and events such

as door status, signal strength, audit records, and emergency

lockdown/unlock commands. On a single screen, Whitaker can

access data and reports. Whitaker has also eliminated visiting

doors when he needs to add/delete a user or change the locks’

attributes. “With the standalone locks, if you needed to make a

change, you had to take a PDA to the lock and program directly

at the lock. While the process worked, it was very time

consuming. With the new system, I make all changes from my

workstation. Now, I can enroll a new employee in less than one

minute. The new Enterprise System has not only helped us

provide better control, it has simplified our process. What else

can I say, other than it just does its job; it just works.”