industry unlocked
Hozefa Saylawala, Middle East
Director, Zebra Technologies
Hozefa Saylawala, Middle East Director,
Zebra Technologies, discusses the need
for manufacturing businesses to keep on
top of their security game with up to date
protocols for workers in order to monitor
incoming and outgoing traffic.
ARE YOU OVERLOOKING
Y
THIS KEY SOURCE OF SAFETY AND
SECURITY IN YOUR WAREHOUSE?
You may use a number of different technologies
to help improve the safety and security of your
warehousing operations, such as:
• Mobile computers equipped with
Augmented Reality and navigation tools to
help safely guide workers through picking
and put away actions in busy warehouses
and distribution centres
• Sensors, the Internet of Things (IoT) and
Blockchain technologies to monitor time- and
temperature-sensitive inventory as it moves
through the supply chain
• A host of data security measures taken to
defend against IT system breaches
Yet, many warehouse and distribution centre
(DC) operators forget about how powerful their
printers can be in proactive security and safety
efforts, and that needs to change. Especially with
management tools like PrintSecure, companies
can encrypt connections, allow only permitted
access and regularly update their printers to
address new threats.
Smart Cards (and card printers) help to
improve worker safety and data security
Controlling access to your facility is the first step
to keeping workers and data physically safe.
Shift workers, seasonal workers, transporters,
inspectors, customers, supply chain partners and
many others are constantly coming and going.
Gate guards aren’t going to recognise every face
and not every warehouse has security officers
and video cameras at all entry points or covering
every square inch of its facility. On top
of that, you may have restricted access
areas within your four walls that require
additional security clearances, such as
areas where expensive equipment, goods,
tools or hazardous materials are stored.
In these cases, card-based access
control systems can prove very valuable.
However, you must be sure to mitigate
the risks of stolen, shared or fake ID
cards being used.
That requires you to use a very specific
type of PVC or smart card technology
and a very specific type of card printer
to ensure the cards you issue can
sync with back-end security clearance
systems to flag anomalies.
For example, your printer should be
capable of producing smart cards
featuring highly detailed, rich colour
images, crisp barcodes and other
smart security features that are critical
to facilitating fast, accurate ID and
access verification. An ambiguous photo
can make it challenging to spot an
impersonator with a stolen badge.
Ideally, you should select an enterprisegrade
card printer that can also be used
to print cards for other purposes, such
as forklift training verification, time clock
systems and more. Beyond offering
edge-to-edge printing customisation
options, these types of card printers
44 Issue 24 | www.intelligentciso.com