Background
Established in 1920, Amerequip manufactures and designs accessories and attachments for construction, utility, industrial, lawn, and turf-care equipment. The company strives for innovation and constant improvement, and utilizes Lean manufacturing principles to ensure efficiency. Amerequip also uses Six Sigma practices to streamline production.
Customer Needs
Amerequip’s existing fire and security systems consisted of two motion detectors and a keypad, as well as a speaker system that didn’t function properly. As the company grew, staff members decided it was time to expand security and fire protection within the plant. Amerequip wasn’t satisfied with its current security provider’s level of service, often being overcharged or placed on hold for 20 minutes when calling with a question. Amerequip’s safety coordinator attended the Wisconsin Safety Council Annual Safety & Health Conference to investigate new fire and security technology, and visited CEC’s booth to learn more about available services. After meeting CEC at the conference, Amerequip decided to establish a partnership.
Solution
CEC partnered with Amerequip to upgrade security and fire systems at its main plant, as well as three other locations. As a result, Amerequip now has:
- A card-based access control system that eliminates keys and keypads, and allows customizable access for each employee that can be changed any time.
- Control over who has access to which buildings and zones, all managedthrough a web-based system. Visitors and service providers receive a card that allows access only to the area of the building they’re visiting. Once the visit is over, the card is deactivated and no longer provides entrance into the building.
- A security system that scales as Amerequip’s staff grows. When the system was installed, Amerequip employed 168 people; it has already grown to 230 staff members. New employees can be added as needed, and adjustments to the status of existing employees can be made at any time.
- Secured entrances that don’t allow people to walk into the building without clearance to do so.
- The ability for employees to disarm security systems with the swipe of a card vs. having to manually disarm alarms when coming in after-hours or on weekends.
“It’s easy to be irritated with service people coming into your building, but everyone here loves the people from CEC. They work along with us and can answer all our questions. When we were working on a building addition, I made requests and changes that I wasn’t even sure were possible – CEC always found a way to make it happen. We’re extremely culture-driven, and CEC is the exact same way.”
