As we arrive at our offices or onto site each day, we require certain belongings to stay where we put them. Be it lunches and snacks, car keys and wallets or the tools of the trade, it's rare that anyone enters the workplace without something they'll need during the day.
One solution making a come-back in recent years is staff lockers. Technology has made workforces more mobile, so hot-desking or activity-based working is being put into practise with more frequency. Staff no longer have such consistent workplace real estate, so many companies have returned to providing lockers for short and long-term storage.
Vidak are one such company delivering smart locker solutions to businesses throughout New Zealand. Known for designing innovative commercial office furniture for the last 30 years, Vidak launched its range of Vecos Smart Lockers nearly four years ago and demand has been significant says Jamie Wiggins, Vidak’s R & D Manager.
“We’ve enjoyed huge success with the Vecos locker solution, which is now installed onsite for many of New Zealand’s largest companies such as Fonterra, Vodafone and BNZ. The system has removed the need for padlocks, or bolt cutters being on hand for when keys are mislaid.
“The Vecos locker system introduces fully centralised control for administrators and can be linked to our clients’ existing security fobs and cards or mobile devices of staff and visitors. We can also setup user groups for teams using a particular bank of lockers, time-based locker use and dynamic locker control tailored to the specific content such as medical equipment, safety gear or tools and equipment as well as fully customised, artistic or branded appearance,” he says.
Locked for good?
But what happens when the power fails? The automated smart locker systems rely on electronic controls so locking and unlocking would become unavailable in the event of a power outage.
“We contacted UPS Power Solutions to discuss the best solution for back-up power to the lockers so that staff could access their belongings in the event of a power outage or disruption,” says Wiggins.
UPS Power Solutions specified the Eaton 5E 850 VA UPS that can provide backup power to around 100 lockers for a good couple of hours of heavy use, or longer. This means that if the power fails, the lockers won’t, and users can access keys and wallets in order to go home.
Wiggins says that the majority of locker system installations now specify a UPS and its inclusion in a system has become part of the warranty requirement.
“The 5E 850 VA is a very easy to deal with product and really performs to the thresholds we required. We had one bank of lockers where the mains feed was disconnected and the lockers continued to operate perfectly on only UPS power for days before we received the call about how to turn the beeping off! The client’s system is now plugged in and operates as designed but it was good to know that the UPS was performing well beyond expectations.”
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