SCA Hygiene Products Factory Traffic Management System

Automate Systems Ltd has now completed the install of a factory traffic management system at the SCA Hygiene factory in Skelmersdale, UK.  The system was designed to incorporate a puffin crossing, complete with pedestrian gates, as well as vehicle control signals for forklift trucks within the factory, all interfaced with the existing high speed factory doors.

SCA came to Automate looking for a solution to increase safety at a location where workers were crossing the factory floor in and in which fork lifts trucks were travelling back and forth through high speed factory doors.

Automate installed a puffin demand crossing, complete with auto locking, self-closing gates, designed to enforce proper use of the red/green man signals, with the gates only opening when the green man on the puffin demand box was showing. As well as the puffin crossing, Automate installed induction loops and twin aspect red/green vehicle control signals on either side of the factory doors.

The system was designed so that when the induction loops detected a forklift, a trigger signal was sent to both the vehicle control signals (twin aspect red/green traffic lights placed either side of the factory doors) and the high speed factory doors. If the pedestrian crossing was not in use (i.e showing a red man on the puffin demand box) the high speed doors would raise, and when fully open, the control signal would change from red to green, allowing the forklift truck to pass through. If the puffin crossing was in use (green man showing on the puffin demand boxes), the control signals would remain red and the factory doors would remain closed until a signal was received from the pedestrian gates indicating the pedestrians had safely crossed.