Tensor is Just the Right Flavour of Security for Glanbia Cheese

Glanbia Cheese is the leading mozzarella cheese manufacturer in Europe. Their corporate headquarters is located in Northwich, Cheshire, and they have two manufacturing facilities: one in Llangefni, North West Wales and one in Magheralin, Northern Ireland. Glanbia Cheese employs approximately 350 members of staff and the vast majority of these work in the manufacturing facilities.

A few years ago, Glanbia Cheese started looking for “a more sophisticated access control system,” Conor Carville, IT Manager, recalls. Their previous system was key-fob based, and couldn’t give them any centralised information such as the times that people had entered and exited. They wanted an up-to-date access control system that was easy to use and had a robust reporting facility.

After reviewing several systems, Glanbia Cheese decided on Tensor because it was the best match for their criteria. Conor said they particularly liked the detailed, granular ability of the Access Control system.

“With Tensor, it is possible to create access permission as specific as ‘this particular person can go through this door at this time on this day, but not on this day,’” he said. This is enabled via the employee’s security profile and access pattern combination. Movements through all controlled doors are recorded on the central .NET software as they happen.

“The Tensor salesperson made a memorable impression when they came to do a product demo,” said Conor. “They were professional and approachable.” The ease-of-use of the Tensor WinTA.NET software impressed them as well.

Tensor Operations Department originally installed the system and there have been a number of upgrades and expansions ever since, such as new turnstiles in their Northern Ireland factory and latest-generation access control readers added in their new visitor reception.

System integration is a key strength and area of expertise for Tensor, so it was possible to incorporate Glanbia Cheese’s old key fobs into the new access control and time and attendance system, saving them the hassle and cost of buying new ones.

Glanbia Cheese makes great use of the WinAC.NET software, which not only gives them full control of who goes where and when, but also a perfect audit trail for due diligence purposes.

They also use the WinTA.NET software, which is the flagship product of Tensor’s range of Windows-based time and attendance products. It provides total control over the creation of working rules, Access Control, Job Costing and System Security.

Both sites have multiple clocking units providing quick and reliable time and attendance monitoring.

When the WinTA.NET software was first installed, Conor and two other IT members of staff were trained on how to use the new system. This included how to set up employee groups and profiles for the access-controlled doors and common troubleshooting tips. “The training was very good; high-quality and well-presented. The Tensor trainer was able to answer all of our questions fully,” said Connor.

When asked whether he thought Glanbia Cheese used the Tensor system to its fullest possible extent, Conor replied that “since we focus mainly on the access control parts, we don’t use lots of the features Tensor offers, like the absence planners.”

A popular and often mission-critical feature of the Tensor Access Control system – especially for companies in the food and beverage processing sector – is the automated fire roll call. This feature enables administrators to book employees to a specific fire assembly point and removes the cardholder from the fire roll-call report to provide a real-time roll call of any cardholders remaining in the building.

Glanbia Cheese has deployed the Tensor .NET fire roll call system to cover both of their factory sites, with 2 printers per site. It has been used successfully many times for emergency and evacuation drills. Connected directly to the fire alarm system, the system automatically prints a list of who is registered on-site via the dedicated fast-output printers.

Asked what he liked most about the Tensor Access Control system, Conor said, “it’s very easy to use. For example, we had a new staff member arrive in IT and we could run him through the necessary daily system tasks quickly and easily. He picked it up with no problems!”

The company has called Tensor Helpdesk for assistance on a few occasions. Conor described Tensor’s HelpDesk analysts as “very helpful and knowledgeable.” Tensor Operations engineers have had to visit Glanbia Cheese to fix some hardware problems, but only twice in seven years. In Conor’s words, “the service was good, and the engineers were also very knowledgeable.”

One of the great advantages of choosing Tensor is that the system is very modular. Once the basic system is in place, it can be configured to expand as a business grows or be re-configured with new sites or other sites amalgamated. The Business and Enterprise editions of WinTA.NET can handle multiple sites and unlimited numbers of employees.

Glanbia Cheese is making plans to expand their Tensor system in several ways into their new visitor centre in Magheralin. The first is to include the visitor centre within their existing Tensor Time and Attendance system and to extend its Access Control elements. They are also considering ways of using the Self Service Module (“SSM”) in Magheralin.

SSM is an easy-to-use application that can be used by employees for clocking in/out for time and attendance and booking holidays. It can also be used on behalf of visitors to book appointments as part of a visitor management system. It can either be accessed from a browser or from a mobile phone app.

The overall improvement to business processes that Conor has noticed after the Tensor system was installed was in “the enhanced monitoring abilities” offered by the real-time recording of data. He also appreciated “the excellent flexibility and control over adding and removing people from door access. It’s easy to set up temporary access too.”

Summing up his experience with Tensor, Connor said they were: “A professional service from professional people, who are always willing to help in any way they can.”

Customer Information

Glanbia Cheese Ltd
4 Royal Mews
Gadbrook Park
Northwich
Cheshire
CW9 7UD

Website: glanbiacheese.co.uk
Phone: 01606 810 900
Email: glanbiacheese.co.uk/contact