Military
A large Midwest manufacturing facility
needed ways to increase productivity in order fulfillment.
The
work flow was being interrupted when employees ran out of product.
They needed a way to be re-supplied quickly, which required better
communication between order fulfillment and stockroom
employees . Valcom Services designed a system that
allowed order fulfillment to signal when stock ran low. Signaling
provided a digital readout
that identified the employee's location and opened an immediate
handsfree communications channel allowing verbal instruction as to what
product was needed. The system could be reprogrammed
instantly from a PC when necessary.
The system provided 288 communication paths
between employees and operators. Special speakers hung from
chains—adjustable to height—were installed over the conveyor belts.
The system also provided background music, with programming chosen daily
by the employees.
After September 11, government agencies in the
nation’s capital realized that they were unprepared to notify and inform
employees immediately in the event of a serious emergency. Several agencies solved this problem with an overhead paging
system.
One agency occupies several facilities in Washington and Maryland, each
with hundreds of employees.
The agency equipped each facility with a notification system that would
alert and direct employees within minutes of an event.
Valcom speakers and horns were installed to cover all common
areas. A
VCS Communication System, provided by Valcom Services, controlled
the system in each building.
The systems were interconnected, so that an announcement could be
broadcast to
each facility independently or all
facilities simultaneously. The systems were
also provided with redundant access for added reliability.
Because the systems are used only in an emergency, the agency opted for
wiring supervision, an option that equips the VCS to monitor all wiring
to speakers and horns. In
the event of a wire break or short, an audible and visual alarm notifies
security personnel that a fault has occurred.
The fault is then corrected and the system reset.
In big city hospitals,
things change with incredible speed.
Keeping up with the changes can be overwhelming, and a hospital values
any tool that makes it easier.
At a large hospital in Houston, the paging system can be updated with a
few mouse clicks on a PC.
Zones, group zones, priorities, alert tones, music programs and several
other functions can be changed in an instant by
trained
hospital personnel.
Programming can also be done remotely.
The hospital’s VCS Communication System controls
more than 2000 speakers on dozens of zones.
It can also control desktop administrative stations and digital visual
message displays. All wire
runs are electronically monitored, so there is never a danger that an
emergency message will not be heard.
A wire break or short triggers an alarm on a digital
display that identifies the area of trouble.
The modular, microprocessor-controlled VCS provides both one way and
talkback paging in up to 360 zones.
Multiple announcements (live or pre-recorded) can be broadcast to
different zones simultaneously, without interrupting signal tones or
music broadcasts in other zones.
When it comes to
paging, military bases are full of challenges.
They are spread over many buildings, and need lots of zones. They need
coverage to many large outdoor areas. They need the ability to broadcast
paging, signal tones, and prerecorded announcements. They must be able
to send different messages to different zones simultaneously, without
interrupting broadcasts in other zones. They are highly secure, and must
be fail safe in an emergency.
Valcom Services
met all these challenges, and others, at an Air Force Base in the
western US. It is so secure that we cannot mention what state it is in,
much less its name.
A Valcom paging
system installed in 1985 was extended to more than 50 buildings, using
fiber optic cable that had recently been installed between the
buildings. Horns on the base perimeter were tied into the system also.
The final configuration included hundreds of speakers and horns, and
more than 200 zones.
The Valcom
VCS Communication System was installed as the system central
control. The modular, microprocessor-controlled VCS can be expanded to
360 zones, and is programmable (on site or remotely) with a PC. It has a
serial output for system activity reporting, so that system traffic
information can be used to make updates and changes instantly.
A
rocket launch facility at Cape Canaveral is a challenging
environment for a public address system. Three locations,
separated by miles of snake and alligator-infested landscape, must be
served. Several access sources with different levels of priority
must be accommodated. Outdoor areas more than a
quarter mile away from horn loudspeakers must be covered.
Few places on earth are subject to the environmental extremes of a
rocket blasting off into space.
The public address
system for one such facility provides paging, signaling and audio
distribution using state-of-the-art digital technology. Valcom
Voice over IP (VoIP) provides the
communication links between the Operations Center, the Vertical
Integration Facility (where the rocket is assembled and loaded), and the
Launch Pad. The
VCS Communication System is the central control.
The
microprocessor-controlled, PC-programmable VCS, with remote programming
and diagnostics capabilities, provides multiple talk paths.
Employing state-of-the-art digital technology, it connects to both
centrally amplified (70-volt) and distributed amplified (24-volt)
components, with expansion capabilities for 360 zones, 7 inputs, and
eight talkpaths.
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