CLIENT
Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, Howmet Aerospace is a 130-year-old 14-billion-dollar global leader in engineered metal products operating in 16 countries and employing over 40,000 workers. Their products are used nose to tail on commercial and military aircraft, as well as on jet engines, industrial gas turbines, automobiles, commercial transportation vehicles, wind turbines, solar power systems, and construction and industrial equipment. Howmet Aerospace’s largest and fastest-growing market is aerospace, where they have had a major presence since the Wright brothers’ first flight way back in 1903. Howmet Aerospace had a need to create a safer work environment in their manufacturing facilities so that employees would feel comfortable returning to work amidst workers’ concerns being infected by co-workers carrying the Coronavirus. The client had tested numerous thermal camera solutions designed to detect elevated body temperature, but the client remained dissatisfied with everything they had tested.
CHALLENGE
The biggest challenge was how to ensure the client’s employees that the client’s numerous manufacturing facilities were indeed safe and that it was unlikely anyone inside the facilities would become ill from being exposed to other employees who had contracted Coronavirus. The client had also already invested heavily in time & money implementing their DSX access control system. The client needed a solution to detect elevated body temperature which would also integrate with their DSX system and spare the client from needing to hire a security service to carry client-issued thermometers and scan every employee entering the facilities.
SOLUTION
Working closely with the client’s trusted integration partner System Design Associates in Woodland Park, NJ, the client agreed to implement ZKTeco SpeedFace model SF1008+. In addition to being a highly accurate body temperature detection device, SF1008+ also integrates with the client’s DSX system. SF1008+ has a built-in face and palm recognition reader in addition to its thermal sensor. Employees’ faces (alternatively palms) are first scanned prior to entering the facility for identification purposes. SF1008+ then scans the employee’s face for body temperature. If the employee passes the body temperature inspection, only then will the SF1008+ output the employee’s badge# via its Wiegand output to the DSX panel. If the employee has the necessary access rights, the DSX panel unlocks the gate securing the facility. However, if the employee fails their body temperature inspection, no Wiegand signal is output from the SF1008+ to the DSX panel thereby keeping the gate entry locked. This ensures no one inside the facility has an elevated body temperature thereby reducing the risk of employees being exposed to anyone contagious.
System Design Associates has been providing Integrated Building Systems for commercial building owners and managers throughout New Jersey and New York City since 1981. They offer onsite surveys, field coordination, project management, as-built documentation, installation, and repair/maintenance services.
RESULTS
The client is completely satisfied with SF1008+ face matching speed, body temperature detection accuracy, and DSX integration. After the units are fully deployed at their Pittsburgh manufacturing facility, the client intends on implementing SF1008+ in its other manufacturing facilities located throughout the world.