Most biometric systems available are tailored for office or residential environments, which do not face the harsh conditions commonly found in industrial settings. These conditions include extreme temperatures, dust, vibrations, and exposure to chemicals, all of which can impair the functionality and accuracy of delicate biometric devices. Consequently, industries are often left with few options that can reliably meet their specific needs for durability and operational resilience, forcing them to either adopt less suitable solutions or invest heavily in customizing existing technologies to suit their harsh operational environments.

The good news for industries grappling with the harsh realities of their operating environments is that Invixium products are specifically designed to fill this gap. Continue reading to learn more about the specific non-clean and hazardous sectors where Invixium solutions have delivered tremendous value and cost savings!

Airports

Ensuring secure and efficient identification of staff and workers is vital in the dynamic environment of airports. Advanced biometric solutions provide the ruggedness needed to thrive amidst dust and grime, fluctuating temperatures, 24/7 continuous operation, and significant electromagnetic noise levels from various equipment. By swiftly verifying staff credentials, biometric solutions enhance operational efficiency and minimize unauthorized access risks to high-security areas like tarmac, hangars, and data centers. Biometrics effectively combat issues like buddy-punching, time theft, and unauthorized access by customizing access privileges based on individual roles and clearance levels.

Oil and Gas

Oil and gas industries pose multifold challenges. Often located in the most remote and harsh environments, the sites are exposed to extreme temperatures, dust, and the presence of chemicals and fumes. The effect of high humidity and corrosive substances can lead to the failure of biometric devices. However, the adoption of biometric solutions has brought about a revolution in the way these industries operate. Biometric security prevents time theft and protects data, and advanced rugged solutions can work in such extreme conditions providing biometric accuracy.

Mining

Biometric solutions can help the mining industry to overcome significant security and safety challenges. Touchless biometric authentication like face recognition can provide a more reliable and secure identification method. It can reduce the risk of accidents caused by unauthorized entry to restricted areas. Apart from security, biometrics can also increase the efficiency and productivity of the sites. By using biometrics for time and attendance, organizations can accurately track workers’ hours, reducing intentional and unintentional time theft and improving payroll accuracy. This can help mining companies comply with labor laws and regulations while improving efficiency.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing industries require accuracy, security, speed, and flexibility to meet the needs of large workforces in the most extreme environments and biometric access control and workforce management solutions deliver it. With user-friendly enrollment, authentication, and employee management, biometrics has made its way to manufacturing facilities. Once integrated with HRMS, biometrics can help streamline time and payroll management.

Construction

Akin to mining, the construction industry is synonymous with extreme weather conditions and harsh environments. The impracticality of using fingerprints due to manual labor, lack of network connection points, easy access to high-risk areas, and a large and diverse workforce can jeopardize the competence and productivity of the worksite, but advanced biometric solutions like face recognition and finger vein with their liveness detection or anti-spoofing capabilities can play a pivotal role in addressing these situations.

Metal or Chemical Production

Metal or Chemical production plants present a unique set of challenges due to the presence of hazardous materials, high temperatures, fluctuating pressure levels, and corrosive substances. In such environments, where the slightest mishaps can have catastrophic repercussions, ensuring the safety and security of both individuals and resources is paramount. Touchless biometric solutions like face recognition that can withstand such harsh industrial conditions emerge as game-changers for this industry by eliminating the need for direct contact and preventing unauthorized access to sensitive areas.

Agriculture

The agriculture sector is characterized by a large labor force, sensitive areas like production facilities, strict health standards, and expensive pieces of equipment. Striking the right balance between operation efficiency and safeguarding assets is extremely crucial in this industry. Biometrics, equipped with health & safety features like touchless access and temperature screening, alongside advanced time and attendance functions, offer the ideal solution. By precisely monitoring labor attendance, managing visitor access, generating real-time insights into facility traffic, and regulating access to high-risk areas, modern and rugged biometric solutions revolutionize safety and efficiency in the agriculture industry.

Our Trailblazing Solution

Here at Invixium, we are driven by an unwavering commitment to address the unique challenges of these industries. Our NDAA-compliant, made-in-Canada, modern, and rugged biometric solutions are specifically engineered to thrive in the industrial and critical infrastructure sectors.

Our flagship model IXM TITAN shines as a testament to innovation and encompasses features like fast face recognition, rugged construction, multiple connectivity options including cellular, large user capacity, RFID and mobile credentials, and integrations with third-party systems for video surveillance and HRMS applications making it an ideal choice for these industries. To augment this, our companion software, IXM WEB provides a powerful security and business operations package that features visitor and employee enrollment, a live feed to all device cameras, and intuitive dashboards to facilitate decision-making.

Read our case studies at IOCL, Mara Technologies, PPG, and more!

The post Biometrics: Transforming the World, One Rugged Industry at a Time appeared first on Invixium.

What’s the Problem?

If the complexity of the daily challenges in Oil & Gas weren’t enough, the high potential for risk exposure and security breach certainly doesn’t help.

Like it often does, technology is here to offset some of those risks, but before we dive into INVIXIUM’s biometric access control solutions, let’s see an overview of the issues:

• Harsh Environments Disrupt Biometric Accuracy: Oil & Gas facilities are rarely located in friendly climates. Offshore platforms, refineries, and pipelines are commonly exposed to severe weather patterns and rugged terrain. The results are data disruption in biometric devices, not to mention the effects high humidity and corrosive substances can have on sensitive tech. Which is often fatal.
• Integration with Existing Systems: Legacy technology often resists new system integrations. Particularly with security protocols such as surveillance cameras, alarm systems and door access controls. Specialized expertise is always necessary when dealing with what are often sensitive tech infrastructure, to ensure compatibility and interoperability.
• Large Volume of Personnel and Assets Increases Complexity: High traffic and heavy asset loads are common phenomena on site, and not only pose higher security risks but can make daily tracking and management difficult to control. Legacy solutions such as keys and access cards are not only insufficient in ensuring security, but offer extreme limitations in data, tracking and traffic flow analytics.
• Regulatory Compliance Oversight: A daily challenge on traditional sites, regulatory oversight is next to impossible to monitor and adequately track across remote and offshore locations. Common issues such as card sharing, spoof prevention etc. expose liability potential, increase security leaks not to mention cause reduction in overall operating efficiencies.
• Balancing Operational Efficiency vs Maximum Security: The never-ending tension between ensuring strong security while minimizing operation disruptions is a reality on every site. Particularly in the controlled chaos of the Oil & Gas sector, where challenges and issues can vary wildly every day and where quick access is critical.

Relevant Biometric Solution Features for Oil & Gas

• High-end Materials: The security solutions should be made from durable and high-quality materials that resist corrosion, rust, and wear and tear. Materials such as stainless steel, aluminum, and reinforced polycarbonate can provide the necessary durability.
• Scratch-Resistant Glass and Metal: The security solutions should have scratch-resistant glass and metal surfaces to withstand daily use and maintain their appearance over time.
• Heat Sink: Oil and gas facilities can get very hot, and security solutions should have a heat sink to dissipate heat and prevent damage to the internal components.
• Vandal Protection: Physical security measures, such as vandal protection, can deter tampering or sabotage attempts. For example, security cameras should be enclosed in a durable and tamper-proof casing to protect against vandalism.

How Invixium’s TITAN is an All-in-One Solution?

IXM TITAN is a biometric access control solution that combines ruggedness and durability with an elegant design, making it an ideal choice for the oil and gas industry. Here are some additional details on its features:

• Rugged Construction: IXM TITAN is built to withstand harsh environments and challenging conditions, with an all-aluminum body, Corning® Gorilla® glass LCD, and an IK10 impact rating.
• Biometric Authentication: The device supports multiple biometric authentication options, including face recognition combined with fingerprint or finger vein recognition, providing high levels of security and accuracy.
• Integration Capabilities: IXM TITAN can be integrated with various systems, such as security cameras and door locks, to provide a comprehensive access control solution.
• Remote Management: The device can be remotely managed and monitored through a web-based interface, allowing administrators to track user access and manage security settings from anywhere.
• Elegant Design: Despite its ruggedness, IXM TITAN has a sleek and modern design that can complement any interior décor, making it a stylish addition to any oil and gas facility.
• Multiple Applications: IXM TITAN is ideal for more applications such as biometric time tracking, self-attestation, surveillance and more.

Overall, IXM TITAN is a biometric access control solution that is both rugged and elegant, making it an excellent choice for the oil and gas industry. Its features provide high levels of security, integration, and remote management, while its design can enhance the aesthetic appeal of any facility. To schedule a demo of the TITAN, click here.

The post Biometric Security Challenges in Oil & Gas (And Why You Don’t Need to Worry) appeared first on Invixium.

From remote areas to large cities, construction sites are subject to widely varying environments and each site’s specific conditions, including airborne contaminants, chemical exposure and other challenges. Managing and protecting large workforces under these conditions, sometimes spread over enormous worksites or multiple locations is a prime task of construction firms.

Controlling access to construction sites serves multiple important purposes: tracking time and attendance is the top need, but restricting access to unauthorized persons reduces enterprise risks, including theft, mischief and accidental injuries.

Hundreds of workers may be scheduled to begin a shift at the same time, creating the potential for significant entry congestion and delays. For larger firms, this concern is multiplied across multiple work shifts and sites, made even more challenging by large shift changes when hundreds or thousands of people leave and enter at the same time.

COVID-19 adds another layer of complexity to these businesses’ check-in process: with government mandates requiring social distancing at work, managers are revising entry protocols and daily operations. Understandably, workers have concerns about their and their families’ health as they come to work. Many businesses are beginning to incorporate health checkpoints as part of the process to alert managers when workers arrive that may need further health screening, while also reassuring workers that steps are being taken to protect their health.

To answer all of these concerns, construction firms require fast, touchless workflows durable enough for a world’s worth of conditions. Construction companies are exploring biometric authentication methods because they promise rapid, efficient authentication and time tracking. And, the most advanced biometric systems support health screenings during entry. With accurate payroll, business profitability, site security and workers’ health at stake, leading construction enterprises are looking seriously at security and workforce management systems that have high accuracy and comprehensive built-in features while minimizing the complexity of workflows and maintenance tasks.

Unique Security Conditions Faced by Construction Sites

Construction businesses need a new solution to meet their unique needs, including new security plans in response to COVID-19. The industry’s most pressing concerns are:

• Simple and quick construction employee clock-in workflow

  To support large workforces and their productivity, attendance solutions on construction sites need high speed and accuracy. Delays in entry not only cost enterprises and workers time and productivity, but also increase the risk of crowding at doors – leading to potential exposure to illness. Clock-ins need to be simple so workers can spend less time waiting to enter the worksite. Further, high accuracy is required to prevent accidental or intentional time theft.

• Ruggedness to withstand challenges from weather and worksite factors

  Typical construction sites are exposed to the elements, so on-site security needs to withstand a range of possible weather conditions: high heat or cold, rain, dust or snow and bright or dim lighting. For long life, and to maintain safety in construction conditions, deployed security hardware should be rugged and industrial-grade quality.

• Contactless health checks

  Governments now require construction worksites to add temperature screening to their entry protocols. Temperature checks should be rapid and touchless to maintain efficiency, as well as minimize the potential for crowding and illness transmission by contact. Just one case of illness would lead to an entire shift being quarantined, resulting in significant financial loss.

• Management of employees across many locations

  Construction businesses have hundreds or thousands of employees assigned to different shifts and work sites – but administration may be located in a single office. To manage their staff remotely and ensure multi-site security, administrators need an access control system that integrates with their existing Access Control System or HRMS.

IXM TITAN + Enhancement Kit: The Ideal Future for Construction Sites

Invixium offers construction enterprises a powerful, timely option: IXM TITAN + Enhancement Kit, a complete health and security solution that simultaneously performs touchless face recognition and temperature screening. TITAN provides an impeccable answer to each of the construction industry’s unique needs:

• High Throughput for Large Shifts and Changeovers

  IXM TITAN boasts a face recognition throughput of 15 to 18 users per minute and a temperature screening speed of 12 to 15 users per minute. In summary, TITAN can screen the health of each user, grant access and digitally track employee time at the site via touchless biometrics in just a few seconds. These speeds are TITAN’s advantage over traditional time cards and thermal gun temperature screening, and will not be slowed down by workers wearing safety gear like hats or glasses – TITAN can authenticate users with facial obstructions at the same speed.

• High Accuracy in Challenging Environments

  IXM TITAN’s high accuracy and liveness detection eliminate time theft and stand up to the demands of a high-volume construction site. With an all-aluminum body and IP67 and IK10 ratings, TITAN is built to endure challenging environments across all seasons. Its Corning® Gorilla® Glass LCD is tough enough to withstand the rigor of daily use, and the built-in gyroscopic sensor provides vandal-proofing by triggering an alarm when an attempt to remove the device is made.

• Automated Temperature Checks and Digital Audit Trail

  IXM TITAN + Enhancement Kit is the premier solution for simultaneous, touchless face recognition and temperature screening. The Enhancement Kit screens temperatures at the medial canthus (inner tear duct) to ensure minimal influence from ambient temperature. This fully-automated workflow is prompted when TITAN’s face recognition camera identifies a face, which triggers the E-Kit’s thermographic camera to take a temperature reading within an accuracy of +/- 0.5 ⁰C (0.9 ⁰F). The solution can also communicate temperature data to the new, licensed feature of IXM WEB, IXM Health, where administrators can monitor and audit each site’s health over time.

• Administrative Efficiency

  Invixium’s enterprise-grade software solution, IXM WEB, seamlessly integrates with leading Access Control systems, HRMS and other construction software solutions. Construction administrators can view time tracking and health data, live camera feeds, shift management and more through integration or via IXM WEB itself if the business currently isn’t using a workforce management system. Invixium offers further customization to IXM WEB to meet each customer’s specific needs.

Invixium Solutions for Strong, Safe and Simple Security

IXM TITAN + Enhancement Kit meets the construction industry’s most rigorous challenges. Invixium’s intelligent dual camera solution is a proven option that construction enterprises worldwide trust to support their businesses as they optimize their security systems.

Our expert sales team is here to help you select the best solution for your business based on your needs for biometric access control, workforce management and/or visitor/employee screening. As always, Invixium strives to be your preferred biometric manufacturer by offering the finest technology on the market with knowledgeable guidance.

Contact us:
sales@invixium.com

For more information, visit:
invixium.com

The post Global Construction Firms Secure Efficiency and Safety with Advanced Biometrics appeared first on Invixium.

Mines are made up of multiple shafts; in some mines, shifts of 4,000 or more workers mine throughout dozens of shafts in one 24-hour period. Each shaft has its own access control checkpoint where workers enter for their shifts, typically involving a card-operated turnstile, then an elevator that carries them down the shaft for hours of work, but up to 20 people may be waiting to enter a shaft at a given moment.

Because workers are compensated based on how much raw material they mine in a shift, they cannot waste time waiting for a complex security workflow to authenticate their identity, screen their temperature, or log their in/out time because even minor delays can cost income. Simplicity is key, and that is why mining enterprises continue to rely on legacy access control systems that utilize cards or PINs and software that is dated, but reliable.

Access control systems in mines restrict entry to the different levels of each shaft as part of a layered security scheme that allows administrators to know who is in what shaft at what time for payroll and safety purposes. These systems work with the mine’s workforce management software for time tracking, shift management, payroll calculation and medical document management, among other important uses of comprehensive security software. However, as the world they operate in changes, mines’ needs are evolving past traditional access control toward the use of touchless biometrics.

The most immediate need mines face in the present is to screen all employees’ temperatures before entering the shaft. And, by extension, to prohibit an individual showing any indication of illness from entering a shaft. Social distancing is not possible in the mine—once someone who is ill enters a shaft, it is then spoiled, leading to a shutdown of that section of the mine. Any extended disruption is catastrophic to mining operations; closing a single shaft can cause significant financial loss.

With so much at stake, mining enterprises are focused on products that minimize complexity of workflows and maintenance. If a problem should arise, mines demand strong technical support, often requiring integrators to provide a dedicated technical support staff member on-site to significantly reduce downtime.

Emerging and Persistent Mine Security Considerations

A new solution is in demand to address longstanding access control and workforce management challenges and new health needs. Five key considerations must be addressed for such a solution to be effective:

• Fast and easy employee access to the mines

  With most mining operations running two shifts of up to 4000 miners on each shift every day, the new solution needs to be fast, easy, and accurate to maintain productivity. Any delays in transitioning miners between shifts would cost businesses productivity and employees’ pay. Miners have been known to forcefully enter their workplace when faced with access delays that could impact their paychecks, resulting in damaged property and equipment.

• Durability to withstand harsh weather and high-impact mining environments

  Closing a mine for inclement weather is not an option for most operations, so the technology used on-site needs to withstand the same conditions that miners do. From extreme heat to high wind, heavy rain, and dust storms, as well as both high and low lighting, solutions relying on biometrics need durability to authenticate in unideal conditions. Further, mines by nature involve explosions, and deployed security hardware should be rugged, ideally explosion-proof.

• Automated and touchless health monitoring

  In addition to needing fast access control, now, mining operations require fast temperature checks for entry. A single infected employee could cause an entire work shift to be sent home and quarantined, leading to a drastic reduction in productivity. Additionally, only an automated, touchless solution can further ensure that COVID-19 is not spread by any access or screening devices or personnel.

• Simple workflows for all personnel

  Workflows for entry and exit need to be as simple as possible with a minimal number of steps. Further, on-screen instructions, if any, need to be clear and concise to support workers with various degrees of tech-savviness, and workflows need to be easy to remember for repeated use.

• Integration with existing access control systems

  Mining sites may already be using an existing access control or workforce management system (i.e. HRMS, CCTV and video, access turnstiles, etc.). For that site to upgrade, for example, from card access to biometrics, the new biometric system would need to be integrated into the existing access control or workforce management platform.

Answering the Needs of Today’s Mines with IXM TITAN

With a deep understanding of the industry’s needs, Invixium offers a powerful solution to mining enterprises: IXM TITAN with Enhancement Kit, an intelligent, dual-camera solution for simultaneous face recognition and elevated body temperature detection at the medial canthus. TITAN is not a mere access control device that controls turnstiles, but a complete security solution that can screen temperature and communicate timestamps and camera feeds to existing workforce management software. Each unique need of this industry listed in the previous section is answered by IXM TITAN’s purpose-engineered features:

• High Throughput Access

  IXM TITAN is a high-throughput solution that suits the volume of employees and speed at which they need to enter the mines. IXM TITAN’s touchless face recognition authenticates 15 to 18 users per minute, and the Enhancement Kit screens 12 to 15 temperatures in the same timeframe. These speeds remove the time-consuming processes of washing hands before authentication and traditional thermal gun temperature checks-both of which slow throughput and provide a potential source of infection by contact.

• Rugged Construction

  IXM TITAN’s 21 MP camera is housed in a rugged all-aluminum body that provides impact resistance and an effective heat sink. The solution is IP67 and IK10 rated for outdoor use, ensuring that it can withstand the harshest of environments. Further, IXM TITAN’s LCD is made with Corning® Gorilla® glass so the most extreme impact-even blasts from the mines-will not disrupt entry workflows. IXM TITAN also includes a gyroscopic tamper sensor that monitors for physical tampering and triggers an alarm or other notification when someone attempts to remove the device.

• Intelligent Temperature Screening & Digital Reporting

  IXM TITAN Enhancement Kit seamlessly adds temperature screening to TITAN’s face recognition functionality. When TITAN’s face recognition camera detects a face in view, the E-Kit’s thermal camera is triggered to take a temperature reading at the same time as face authentication. With an accuracy of +/- 0.5 ⁰C (0.9 ⁰F), Invixium’s solution is as accurate as thermal guns but adds the benefits of full automation, high throughput and employee temperature reporting through the IXM WEB feature, IXM Health.

• Easy to Use

  Enrollment for IXM TITAN’s face recognition takes just a few seconds and is mostly automated—an administrator simply tells the device to capture a face for enrollment through a simple process in IXM WEB, Invixium’s enterprise-grade software. During authentication, each user must only stand in view of TITAN’s camera to trigger the automated face recognition and temperature screening workflows. Instructions during enrollment and authentication are read, printed on-screen, or both, and are written to be clear for users to follow.

• Integration-Ready

  IXM WEB is Invixium’s enterprise-grade software solution that integrates with leading access control software. The solution can communicate time tracking and temperature data to whichever platform a mining business currently uses via Wiegand, OSDP or Web API.

  For mines without a pre-existing access control system, Invixium’s software solution is a powerful option. IXM WEB offers quick visitor and employee enrollment, a live feed of all TITAN cameras, intuitive dashboards for attendance, shift and health management, and VOIP functionality. Further customizations to IXM WEB can be requested based on each business’s needs.

Invixium Solutions for Strong, Safe and Simple Security

IXM TITAN with Enhancement Kit meets the mining industry’s unique needs. As a result, IXM TITAN has been successfully deployed in mining operations globally, safely supporting these enterprises and their workers as they get back to doing business.

Our expert sales team is here to help you select the best solution for your business based on your needs for biometric access control, workforce management and/or visitor/employee screening. As always, Invixium strives to be your preferred biometric manufacturer by offering the finest technology on the market with knowledgeable guidance.

Contact us:
sales@invixium.com

For more information, visit:
invixium.com

The post Advanced Biometrics Help the Mining Industry Address New COVID-19 Security Requirements appeared first on Invixium.