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| Chubb was chosen to protect employees, machinery and stock at Panelco’s facility in Stoke |
Chubb Fire & Security UK, a leading provider of security and safety solutions for businesses and industry nationwide, has won a contract to upgrade the fire detection systems at Panelco Limited, one of the country’s largest wood panel manufacturing businesses. Chubb is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp.
Panelco, a distributor for wood based products, which include MDF and chip board panels used for work tops and flooring, has chosen Chubb to upgrade the control and monitoring of its fire detection and alarm device network that protects employees, machinery and stock at its massive one million sq ft facility in Stoke. The tender was issued when Panelco moved to new premises that include a 650,000 sq ft warehouse and eight offices.
Chubb was chosen both because of the solution it proposed, and the skills of its engineering team says Phil Ellis, Group Operations Director at Panelco: “It is very unusual to have such a close working relationship with the design engineer,” he explains. “The commitment from Chubb’s design engineer to this project and the time spent ironing out all requirements are major factors in Chubb’s success.”
In anticipation of further site growth, Chubb has updated unused parts of the site with an addressable network that can be accessed and applied to the current fire D&A system when additional buildings are utilised.
“The consistency of Chubb’s service is something that sets them apart,” Phil added. “The same engineers are on site every day and are familiar with the site and do not need tours or explanations. It’s a very busy, demanding site and so the fact that Chubb engineers conduct their business whilst you hardly know they are there is extremely useful.”
Both the installation and the service contracts were managed through Ian Watkins, Chubb’s Regional Business Development Manager: “Whilst it is the norm to work with different personnel for installation and service contracts, having Ian as one port-of-call was a big benefit to us,” Phil adds.
“Ian developed a valuable relationship that meant that the installation was completed on time and when problems arose, we were kept in the loop and mutually beneficial outcomes were agreed.”
