Fenland Foods UK

Time Sensitive Communications. How Ascom Wireless Solutions DECT System helps ensure that a Lasagne, freshly cooked and chilled in the morning, is guaranteed to be on a supermarket shelf by evening.

Quality Solutions

Fenland Foods, part of the Northern Food Group, produce between 2.5 and 3 million individual meals a month, using fresh ingredients processed under very strict hygiene conditions.

Ascom Wireless Solutions won the Contract to supply a new integrated DECT system, comprising three different handset options and linked to an existing PABX.

Our package was chosen in preference to competitors because of its flexibility, robustness and the quality of communications delivered, in what is technically a difficult environment with large amounts of stainless steel machinery and floors and walls constructed from sheet metal.

Smart Integration

Fenland needed three distinct benefits from the system. Lone Worker protection for Engineers; integrated communications for Management and, of prime importance, rapid and reliable contact with its Production staff. The nature of their business demands that fresh ingredients are rapidly turned into finished product with the maximum left on their ‘Best By Date’, when they reach the store shelf. Having to respond to fluctuating consumer demand also results in production programmes often changing at a moments notice. DECT has allowed them to be in instant contact with Process staff 24 hours a day. By Group Calling they can advise specific teams of changes in plan, or to check quality issues. In turn, they can contact packing and dispatch departments to update them on finished product that’s ready for shipping. Fully laden chiller trucks have to leave the site around the clock, with each load already sorted by Store destination, in what is the ultimate in JIT Management.

Before DECT was installed, Fenland had a hard-wired phone and a paging system. The two didn’t integrate and often individuals took time to answer or couldn’t be found. Now all key Production staff have their own Messenger Handsets combining two way speech and text messaging, along with vibration calling, vital in what can be noisy conditions. Fenland management have seen a marked improvement in efficiency along with quicker response times to specific events.

Loneworker Protection Too

Engineers are on call at all times, often working alone in roof voids that carry most of the control equipment on site. Lone worker protection was provided using Protector Handsets. They incorporate an alarm button, which when pressed automatically sends an alert to a pre-determined group, including other DECT carriers, Reception and the Gate House. ‘Guard Tour’ software also transmits calls to each Handset every half hour, raising an alarm should the carrier not acknowledge.

Further Expansion

Managers use Handsets which are more like ordinary mobile phones, but link directly to the rest of the system. This flexibility was another benefit that attracted Fenland to Ascom’s solution. All Handsets are able to contact either existing internal hard wired phones or off-site to the public network via the Company’s PABX.

Overall, the introduction of DECT at Fenland has proved to be a significant help in keeping them competitive, in what is a very fast moving environment. So much so that already they are expanding their system by twenty-five percent.

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