Meat processor Bell AG Basel
Securiton protects "Food Town"
The Bell AG is by far the largest meat processor in Switzerland. Headquartered in Basel, the company is currently expanding is location in Oensingen to meet today’s needs. Securiton's task was to protect the building complex so that the meat stored there would not be smoked before it was intended. Bell AG can look back over a long and successful corporate history. Founded at the end of the 19th century in Basel, by 1912 the company had grown to become the biggest meat processor in Switzerland. At that time it was even the biggest company of its kind in continental Europe and was second only to large British and American companies. In the mid 1900s new Bell retail shops were opened throughout Switzerland, creating an extensive network of 172 points of sale by 1962. With the rise of large-scale distributors, however, this number declined until two years ago when the last retail shop was sold. But in the early 1990s Bell had already changed over to another company strategy. Production facilities were successively expanded and others built, and instead of selling its products in its own shops it supplied the large-scale distributors. This is how the once small butcher shop became the biggest meat product processor in Switzerland.
Expanding for hamburgers
One of Bell AG’s key clients is the McDonald’s fast-food chain. Bell has been producing the minced meat patties for different kinds of hamburgers sold by the American fast-food company for 30 years. In order to concentrate the production and distribution of this company area in one location, several years ago Bell began expanding its plant in Oensingen. Close cooperation with McDonald’s has prompted the responsible executives to name the project “Food Town" To be able to house specific areas of activity, new buildings have been added to the original company building stage by stage. Based on the project definition, the slaughter and portioning of cattle as well as production of self-service and frozen food products will begin in Oensingen in 2006. >>Monitored storehouse An important component of the Bell location in Oensingen is the high-rack storage building where the products are kept until they are delivered. In addition to quality warehousing, a key issue for Bell was guaranteeing a sufficient level of protection. Securiton was able to convince those responsible at Bell to go one step further than simply meeting statutory requirements. A decisive factor in this was that, thanks to the SecuriPro fire detection system used throughout the entire building complex, a versatile security system was offered. This is key to ensuring that the stored meat products are cooked at their intended final destinations – namely, in the frying pan or on the grill – and not earlier!
Überwachtes Lager
Ein wichtiger Bestandteil des Bell-Standortes Oensingen ist das Hochregallager, wo die Produkte bis zu ihrer Auslieferung aufbewahrt werden. Für Bell war es wichtig, dass neben der Qualität auch der Sicherheit ausreichend Gewicht beigemessen wird. Securiton konnte die Verantwortlichen davon überzeugen, sich nicht nur auf das behördlich Geforderte zu beschränken, sondern einen Schritt weiter zu gehen. Wichtiger Faktor war dabei, dass dank der SecuriPro Brandmeldeanlage, die im gesamten Gebäudekomplex zum Einsatz kommt, ein vielseitiges Sicherheitssystem angeboten wird. Dieses leistet einen entscheidenden Beitrag, damit die eingelagerten Fleischspezialitäten erst an ihrem finalen Bestimmungsort, nämlich in der Bratpfanne oder auf dem Grill, an- oder durchgebrannt werden.
Only the best for the best
Protecting the other areas of the building complex is also a challenging task. Some areas can be sprayed quickly and efficiently with water hoses while maintaining the high standards of hygiene. Other areas have to remain quite dry, and still others have to be cold. Securiton's guiding principle was therefore to provide a specific protection system for every area. The SecuriRAS ASD 516 smoke extraction systems play a crucial role. Due to outstanding detection properties, this equipment can be optimally integrated into the SecuriPro system. In Bell’s case, air samples are constantly sent to the ASD devices, whose sensors are allergic to specially defined smoke particles. Also installed are evaluation and control units, easy-to-use operating panels, linear infrared fire detectors, scattered-light smoke detectors and last but not least classical, manually-actuated fire alarm points. For Securiton this contract represents yet another showcase project. Mission accomplished: the future of a 130-year old company is protected through the latest in security technology and reliable know how. And lastly, the Bell brand is one of the most well-known companies in Switzerland – this tradition-rich Basel company is known to about 80% of the population. That’s something to be proud of.
