TruFood Manufacturing employees are surrounded by chocolate, granola and nutrition bars each day in their three facilities throughout Pittsburgh, Pa., and one in Commack, N.Y. As dreamy and carefree as that sounds, security is an important component for any food manufacturing facility. Over the years, TruFood implemented two separate security systems — one for biometric authentication and a separate one for access control — making ongoing monitoring and management increasingly time intensive and inefficient. The original system included first generation biometrics, which was groundbreaking at the time but didn’t allow for any changes in fingerprints over years, e.g., damaged prints, weight fluctuations, etc. There was no machine learning in the original systems deployed, which led to inaccuracies and delays. Add to that, the system was aging out after 10 years of use and vendors were no longer supporting the systems, plus hardware issues were popping up again and again with no easy fix. The nature of the existing disparate systems at different sites prevented TruFood from implementing the same system company-wide. It was clear an upgrade was needed to ensure the company’s commitment to secure manufacturing.

The managers at TruFood began their due diligence researching the various access control options in June 2022, which continued for about six months. After several demos and onsite visits with Pittsburgh-area integrator Fedora Intertech, the team decided on Suprema’s BioStar 2 solution and completed installation for the Pittsburgh facilities in April 2023.

Changing a decade-old system for multiple facilities is no easy feat. In addition to costs and time, there are training considerations for employees used to the existing system. Suprema’s BioStar 2 was able to bridge that gap. TruFood was able to reuse their existing strike locks, mag locks and wire from the previous technology and use Suprema’s management software, updated fingerprint readers and door controllers. This solution allowed TruFood to run both the old and new systems simultaneously while re-enrolling all staff members into the new system and training, ensuring no downtime. Software was installed separate from the hardware, with the help of integrator Fedora Intertech at each site, which further made for a seamless transition. With decades of experience implementing best-of-breed technology, Fedora Intertech helped add expertise every step of the way from system design, engineering, installation and ongoing support.

IMAGE COURTESY OF SUPREMA

Suprema’s BioStar 2 solution is a web-based, open and integrated security platform that provides comprehensive functionality for access control, time and attendance management, as well as visitor management. It encrypts all personal data and supports both SDKs and web APIs to integrate BioStar2 with third-party software. Users can control the platform remotely with the mobile app and mobile access cards are available for employees as well as visitors.

Managers can give visitors or staff access to specific areas within the facility with the Visitor Management Portal. The platform’s flexible architectural system supports both centralized and distributed systems to suit any company’s needs. The solution has been designed to support all access control features for optimal performance including door, elevator, zone control, graphic map, server matching, image logs and audit trail. The attendance management system allows users to set various work rules and personalized time & attendance reports for fixed/flexible/floating shifts as well as a detailed timesheet calendar view. The platform includes mobile access through its app, which includes user registration and credentials issued directly to smartphones, and a real-time alarm system.

“The management of the Suprema access control system is a breeze,” said Matt Hearn, IT manager, TruFood. “The solution has given us more granular visibility into employee access rights and more control overall. The improved, more accurate fingerprint readers have reduced the number of card fobs needed and the modern hardware has been foolproof since our installation in April. We look forward to expanding BioStar 2 to our New York location soon.”

When complete, the new system will also allow for all TruFood’s facilities throughout Pittsburgh and New York to implement the same system, which was not possible before. Having one system will help cut down on training time for employees and visitors going to various sites as well as IT support both inside and outside the company.

Cybersecurity features were built-in throughout the solution. BioStar 2 is ISO 27001 certified, equipped with information security and privacy information management system that encrypts not only personal data used for authentication such as passwords, fingerprint and face templates, but all available data that may be linked to an individual.