Safer staff, equipment and premises
October 1st 2008

Traka's access management can boost security not only of premises, but also equipment. In use at Tesco, Christian Salvesen, and fitted on many Jungheinrich trucks, it makes staff accountable for their actions, saving money in the process. Brendan Coyne reports

Traka's access management system is making waves in the materials handling industry – controlling not only access to assets such as lift trucks and hand held scanners, but also reducing damage and saving time by creating accountability within the workforce. The financial savings are significant, and the reason Tesco deploys the secure key system in 18 of its 29 UK distribution centres, where it has also reduced shift start up time by 10 minutes per driver.

"People don't treat things right," says Traka MD, John Kent. "But if you make them accountable, they do – and that is the heart of our business. Globally, you cannot imagine the value of what these keys control. They keys themselves are relatively worthless, but the assets they control are huge." Easy to install, it replaces keys and locks with an intelligent key that, for example, automatically enables management to control access to every vehicle or handheld scanner, and know who is using which asset.

It means vehicles can be restricted to approved drivers, and the drivers are accountable for their actions, as it logs every truck activity (it can even combine with sensors to log impacts).

Godfrey Anderson heads up the MHE side of the business and explains how the system is used at Traka's biggest client in the sector, Tesco. "Using the iFob for Truck system, staff go to the cabinet at the start of the shift, identify themselves and are allocated a key (indicated by an LED). They proceed to the allocated truck where the standard key or code pad is replaced with our iFob. They then perform the required pre-op safety check before inserting the iFob. If it's the correct key, the truck will start, at which point they press a button to accept the truck – and the system records their acceptance, doing away with paper-based records. At the end of the shift they return the key to the cabinet, and the system shows that it has been returned." A key can also be allocated to an individual – the iFob for Personnel system, which gives unique users access rights for certain machines.

Alongside access, the system records MHE faults. Using a simple graphical representation of the key cabinet, the interface shows which trucks are in use, which have minor faults but are ok to use, and which have major faults requiring repair.

Those with major faults show up on the user interface as a blue spanner. By clicking on the blue spanner, the system shows the nature of the fault, and when the engineer is scheduled to repair it. Once fixed, the key returns to the standard yellow colour in real time, showing managers that it is ready for use. Until that point, the system will not allow the key or truck to be used.

Compatible with any truck, Anderson says Jungheinrich is presently Traka's biggest MHE customer. He claims ROI of capital cost is between 10 and 15 weeks and that customers such as Heinz have saved £85,000 in damages in first year alone. If used at all of Tesco's DCs, across 2,000 trucks, he estimates the annual time and damage savings to be in the region of £2million.

The system can also be used to allow access to hand held scanners for picking staff, ensuring that, for example, if they get dropped, the operative who dropped it is inclined to report the accident, rather than put it back into the pool of scanners.

Traka has also developed a key cabinet system with a breathalyser: The system can be set zero tolerance or the UK drink drive threshold (or any threshhold) and staff can be randomly tested before they are allowed to take a key. If they fail, appropriate action may be taken, thereby protecting bosses from potential corporate manslaughter liability.

Used by the likes of De Beers to control access to its diamonds, the Traka system is also employed by UK police forces, government departments (to ensure accountability for assets such as laptops), as well as casino's, hotels – and even Walt Disney in Florida. To date, the Buckinghamshire-based firm has sold 4,000 systems into 22 countries, earning it a second Queens Award in four years this September. As Traka MD, John Kent says, "There aren't many firms who can say they've won a Queens Award twice."

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