With a strong focus on healthcare, industrial, municipality and educational K-12 electrical work, Engel Electric Co. has achieved success by offering customers the highest standards in safety and quality control. The company has offices in Sterling and Rockford, Ill., with a professional team of field personnel ready to help customers. 

In the spring of 2019, Engel Electric Co. was looking to implement an access control system to help secure their new 8,000-square-foot facility in Rockford. 

“After working with ISONAS on another access control project in Illinois, Engel Electric Co. was convinced that out of all the access control systems available in the market, ISONAS was the best choice of them all,” said Craig Thompson, technology project manager at Engel Electric Co.  

Engel Electric Co. quickly became a certified independent ISONAS security integrator and started selling and installing the ISONAS hardware and software for its customers.  ISONAS, a Colorado-based access control manufacturer of IP-based solutions and part of the Allegion family, works closely with its customers and offers best-in-class support and training. Engel Electric Co. was excited to be one of those customers and believed in the power of the ISONAS Pure IP solution, not only for their own customers, but for themselves. The time had come to implement this powerful solution at their very own facility. 

Safety has always been Engel Electric Company’s top concern, as well as protecting their inventory of expensive equipment. When a second office location opened in Rockford, they knew the timing was perfect to implement a new access control system that could be integrated at both buildings. Not having the ability to change access on a per-job basis was a huge challenge. Typically, there would be different crews working on various projects off hours, and Engel Electric Co. did not have a way to control the levels of accessibility at different times of the day.   

In addition, employees could not be accounted for and had clear access to the building any time during the day and night. With over 50 employees on staff and various work crews coming in and out daily, there was no way to control unauthorized access at either location. 

Engel Electric Co. was also looking for an access control system that was able to integrate with their existing iPhone video door entry system. They also wanted to manage employees’ access to the building on a controlled basis, rather than simply issuing keys, so they could remotely change access credentials and quickly deny access to employees that were discharged.  The company wanted a system that allowed field personnel to enter a customized code to access the building, giving them knowledge of who entered the building and at what times. 

In any relationship, there must be trust and loyalty, and being a valued ISONAS certified independent integrator allowed Engel Electric Co. to see first-hand the ease of installation, which ultimately drove their decision to use ISONAS at their own facility. 

The project consisted of two ISONAS RC-04 Pure IP reader-controllers which were installed at the facility in Rockford within a week’s timeframe in May 2019. The deployment included one mullion reader on the front door and one keypad reader on the employee entrance. The RC-04 reader-controllers from ISONAS deliver advanced technical functionality with an easy installation process. In addition to the ISONAS hardware, the ISONAS Pure Access software was used to give the management team the ability to control access remotely. 

“Partnering with ISONAS was one of the first and best decisions we made when opening our Rockford office and our low voltage division,” Thompson said. “We are proud to use and test the system at our own facilities, and confident that when we use ISONAS on any of our access control design projects, the quality will always be there for our customers.”

The ISONAS sales and technical support teams worked closely with Engel Electric Co. to ensure that the implementation went smoothly. With 10-15 users at the new Rockford facility, it was important for Engel Electric to get everyone trained and up to speed quickly. 

“The ISONAS Pure Access software was very user-friendly, which made us able to almost plug and play,” Thompson said. 

Recently, two ISONAS RC-04 keypads were installed at the Sterling location to allow for seamless access between both facilities. With so many customization options available, the ISONAS solution will continue to grow and expand alongside Engel Electric Co. in the years to come, just like the relationship. ISONAS will continue to deliver true value to its customers now and well into the future. 

ISONAS and ISONAS Pure Access are registered trademarks. Learn more at www.isonas.com.