Safety improvement and traffic management automation in logistics centre using Singu Smart Security Desk

Due to the growing popularity of security for both various types of facilities, as well as people, security companies, with more and more employees, are expanding their offer. The security topic in the logistic park areas is particularly sensitive as each of such objects is visited by hundreds or even thousands of people every day. The main purpose of registering people who visit a facility and controlling the flow of goods is to enhance the security of the real estate. It would seem plausible that increasing the security resources would strengthen the control of transport, pedestrians, and car traffic in the facility and that is why logistic companies often go in this direction. However, can increasing the protection resources be a guarantee of the traffic flow on the entry gateways? Is a man the best verifier of who and why visits our facility?

A logistics centre is a specific place. The owners and all those involved in the operation of the facility know it the best. The area of the logistics park is mostly visited by permanent and temporary workers, suppliers – that is, technical maintenance services, as well as cooperating companies and guests. Therefore, car traffic takes place continuously, and in the lack of its liquidity, it can become quite a challenge – especially for new visitors to the park.

In such places, employee records are most often carried out using access control. This applies to pedestrian or, less frequently, to car traffic. Regular suppliers, maintenance services, and guests are registered using a paper form. In this case, the security must be multitasking. If the security guards are disciplined, they would record every entry and exit from the site, indicate the route, anticipate a person with a phone call (and thus verify the guest) and hand over a badge. This requires a lot of work on the part of employees.

In order to streamline all processes related to the registration of entries into the facility, as well as to increase the level of security in logistics parks, special tools dedicated to serving guests are created. Just like security companies, IT companies are trying to meet the expectations of logistics centres. Only the owner of the object is to decide whether the resources in security department will be increased, or whether he will use IT tools that will speed up the service for all the people and cars visiting the facility. The decision is difficult because this type of IT tools is new to the European market, and traditional approach to the process of handling people and cars is still very popular in logistics centres. In addition, the implementation of any IT tool always involves adapting the company to specific, new standards. However, more and more companies from the logistics industry not only own or use modern buildings but can also implement innovative solutions and focus on the continuous optimization of all processes occurring in this type of real estate. An example of such a company is Logicor - the owner of over 600 logistics facilities in Europe with a total area of nearly 16 million square yards, with 23 logistics centres with an area of over 1.2 million square yards in Poland alone. Logicor has decided to implement the Singu Smart Security Desk system which was designed by Krakow-based Velis Real Estate Tech. The investor chose this system mainly due to its adaptation to the specifics of the operation of logistics parks because Singu Smart Security Desk is a tool allowing to control and record all entries and exits from the site. The application is integrated with CCTV monitoring, which can be used on any entrance to the site. The tool also works with RFID tags that uniquely identify vehicles entering the park. The use of RFID tags allows you to automatically raise the barrier for a car with an attached tag.

“The application of RFID technology integration, high quality IP CCTV monitoring, access control and software available in the 'cloud' was a big challenge, in particular, when it was necessary to ensure the continuity of the process. Cooperation with such an experienced partner as Logicor allowed us to quickly achieve the project's maturity," says Adam Penkala, the co-owner of Velis Real Estate Tech.

The Singu Smart Security Desk system is a tool that allows you to register the arrival of guests, regular suppliers and temporary employees in several ways. Guests can be pre-booked in the application both by administrator and tenants. After entering the guest's data, an automatic notification is sent to them along with an effective invitation that contains the route map, company data, and address. The invitation may also contain a QR code which, after scanning, will automatically register the guest's entrance to the object, the so-called mobile check-in, like at the airports. The tool also allows you to register entries of all guests through the security already at entry gates.

Regular suppliers and temporary employees are entered to the application as persons regularly visiting the facility and most often receive RFID tags attached on the windshield of a car, which automatically activates the barrier and thus enables quick entry to the site. Reading the RFID tag simultaneously sends information to the application that records the entry of a car and sends a notification to the company or person to whom the given vehicle has arrived.

The use of monitoring on entrances also allows you to view current and save historical data from the camera image. CCTV monitoring together with the Singu Smart Security Desk application enables the management of entries and exits without the participation of the security. The current preview of the camera allows you to verify the registration plate, and the intercom connection to the place of entry allows verification of the entering person. Such a solution makes it possible to reduce the human resources on entrances, and, at some gates, to permanently eliminate the presence of people. The entry registration process is carried out by remote contact with the security or is fully automated. This system records the full history of entries to the site and allows you to print an evacuation report which contains data of all persons currently staying in the park.

The implementation of the application for managing and handling entrances, entries, and exits from the park area is a big step into the future in relation to the current functioning of the facility. It introduces standardization and enables transparency and access to all data available online in the application. In particular, this type of solution has a large impact on faster service at entry gates, improvement of facility security, cost reduction and – thus – is an added value for end-users. The companies renting space in a given logistics centre have access to the platform, they can see all the traffic of people and cars going to their surface on an ongoing basis, and they have the ability to pre-book deliveries or confirm that a given vehicle can leave the logistics centre. The tool is to provide value for the security, owner, guests or suppliers but in particular, for tenants of logistic centers.

"The implementation of Singu Smart Security Desk was a well-thought-out and significant step forward, both to improve the flow of traffic in the Park in Logicor Piaseczno and the work of our employees. It is very important for us to take care of the safety of an object, and thus – to increase the satisfaction of tenants, as they are always our priority. We decided to implement Singu Smart Security Desk due to the modernity of the tool, experience of Velis and the ability to customize the functionality to our specifics. Thanks to the use of Smart Security Desk, we implement our innovation strategy, in this case, the solution in the field of using modern technology on our facilities. I am glad we were one of the first in Europe to implement integrated, comprehensive tool to help not only us, owners but also the manager, a company providing integrated FM services, as well as guests and our tenants,” says Roman Skowroński, Head of Asset Manager at Logicor for Central and Eastern Europe.