Hendrix UTD

Hendrix UTD‘S Agricultural Processing Factories Reap Rewards From Sonim

XP3340 SENTINEL Lone Worker Solution
Hendrix UTD is a Dutch company, that makes compound food for prime central European markets including Germany,Belgium and the Netherlands.Hendrix’s six Dutch factories rely heavily on reliable and rugged on-sitecommunications to maintain operational performance and safeguard engineers in the dusty, loud and extremely challenging conditions found within its busy fodder manufacturing facilities.

The Challenge
When the government sold the radio frequency used by Hendrix UTD’s factory-based security system, Hendrix UTD had to find an alternative solution to support its six facilities operating in the Netherlands.

It was eager to replace its existing 10 year old communications system with a reliable, robust platform that could meet its increasingly stringent operational and safety criteria and deliver a solid return on investment.

“Handsets Risk Being Dropped Into Water, From Vehicles And From Heights Of Up To 50 Metres Onto Really Hard Surfaces.”

The nature of Hendrix UTD’s manufacturing environment, products and raw materials created some unique challenges as Remko Hendriks, Project Manager for Hendrix UTD states, “Our Dutch factories produce dry compound feed including compounds, premixes, concentrates and speciality products, in what can be a dusty, hard and rugged environment. Movement of materials through the processing facilities takes place over seven floors which can mean operating heights of up to 50 meters. Raw materials are mostly transported by boat from the river to the factory and after production loaded onto trucks for transportation.

This means that our engineers work in an environment where their handsets are at risk of being dropped into water, from vehicles and from great heights onto really hard surfaces. In addition, the factory produces noise levels well beyond 85 dB which makes it difficult to hear or make voice calls when in the factory. For these reasons, it was crucial that our new site communications included rugged handsets with good speech quality.” “Safety features were also para- mount,” Hendriks adds. “Many of our Hendrix UTD maintenance staff work alone, at night and in hazardous conditions.

To ensure they are safeguarded,we have strict safety controls and processes which are audited by Hendrix UTD’s worldwide labour inspection team. Hendrix UTD also mandates the inclusion of an emergency button on handsets so that engineers can send urgent requests for help even if they are unable to make a voice call.”

The Solution
As part of a two year assessment process, Hendrix UTD examined several technology alternatives including DECT but this was considered too cost prohibitive and also insufficiently rugged for Hendrix UTD’s heavy duty industrial environment. It also required extensive hard wired infrastructure which was inappropriate for the complex sites.

Hendrix UTD finally selected the CapX Private GSM solution offered by telecom partner Scaldis Telecom. This involved the installation of strategically located base transceiver stations within individual sites and full integration with the company’s IP system to allow alarm notifications to be sent direct to the engineers’ mobile phones.

To provide high levels of reliability and to withstand the rough handling and tough working conditions, Sonim XP3340 SENTINEL ultra-rugged GSM handsets were specified to run on the new system. No ordinary GSM phones, the Sonim handsets go well beyondMIL-SPEC criteria in terms of physical durability and feature a tough Corning® Gorilla® Glass display, which is both scratch proof and shock resil