Amsterdam, Netherlands, 5^th February 2019 — Bondalti is the biggest Portuguese producer in the chemical sector, and one of the main sellers of numerous industrial chemicals throughout the European market. Established over 150 years ago, Bondalti today manufactures essential chemicals, which play a fundamental part in a range of industries - from the production of pharmaceuticals and the purification of water to the manufacture of paper. Bondalti has a strong reputation for innovation, competence and human development and is widely considered to be an employer of excellence, employing over 400 people across 3 sites in Estarreja, Coimbra, and Porto Salvo in Portugal.

The company’s production, handling and distribution of industrial chemicals and hazardous substances, however, requires thorough and diligent safety measures. With a commitment to utilising the best technologies and practices to systematically improve its operations, Bondalti partnered with Sony to integrate a new visual alarm system to its Estarreja manufacturing facility. Its goal was to introduce an innovative and integrated technology solution that would ensure flawless communication in the unlikely event of a chemical emergency.

BACKGROUND & CHALLENGES

Safety is paramount in Bondalti’s chemical production factories, and in the case of a chemical accident, it is essential that workers have as much information about the issue as possible in order to respond both quickly and appropriately.

The alarm system in place at Bondalti’s production factory had three tiers of importance, each colour coded. Employees would be informed of an alarm only through this high-level buzzer and light system, with no detailed contextual information on the issue taking place. As part of the company’s ongoing commitment to reinventing itself through innovation, Bondalti identified the need to rethink and upgrade its alarm system to optimise effectiveness and future-proof its operation.

“Chemical accidents are complex and unpredictable situations, with many variables which will each require a different and unique response,’ explained Automation and Control Manager, Carlos Moura. “While our alarm system is functional in alerting employees to an issue, it could not adequately communicate all the complexities and details of a chemical situation to them, and we needed a more holistic system. In the future we intend to evolve the alarm system further, allowing it to share even more contextual information on an incident.”

Recognising the need for change, Bondalti defined a set of core requirements for its new alarm system:

In parallel, Bondalti recognised the need to create an internal communication channel to display information to visitors. Bondalti needed a solution that would fulfil both the needs of the alarm system and which would provide a useful communication tool, all through just one visual display system.

THE SONY SOLUTION

Over the course of three months in early 2018 Sony and Bondalti closely collaborated to build a custom AV alarm solution and a professional display system, that would meet the factory’s evolving needs, without requiring the overhaul of Bondalti’s existing IT system. Together, the two organisations designed and implemented a customised new visual alarm system using TEOS Manage, Sony’s solution for complete device and room management for corporate environments, along with 13 BRAVIA Professional Displays.

Sony’s TEOS Manage simplifies the management and distribution of the company’s signage across all the professional displays, which now serve a dual purpose. In everyday use, they can display a range of important corporate information for workers and visitors alike. However, in the event of a chemical accident, the new alarm system will automatically override all the displays, providing clear information, advice and next steps on how to respond to an individual spill to the people who need it most. The flexibility and customisation of Sony’s TEOS solution stood out from the competition, providing peace of mind that in a rapidly changing organisation, the essential safety system can always be kept up to date.

“The visual alarm solution we’ve built with Sony is leaps ahead of our previous setup. Sony understood the limitations of our previous system perfectly while also recognising the bottlenecks in our IT system that needed to be worked around. Where before we had only buzzers, now, in the event of an incident we can share rich, detailed, dynamic and engaging information to keep our employees across the facility both safe and up to date.” Moura concluded.

Not only can the new system display rich and informative content, it is also much more flexible and straightforward than the solution that was previously in place. As such, as Bondalti’s operation changes, the alarm system can simply be reprogrammed to provide the latest best practices when responding to any issue.

Beyond the Estarreja facility, Bondalti uses Sony’s TEOS Manage solution and BRAVIA Professional Displays for digital signage to display general company information in its corporate office locations.

With a range of possible use cases, Bondalti and Sony expect to continue their close collaboration, iterating and innovating with the alarm system’s features in the coming months. In the short time since installation, Bondalti has been pleasantly impressed by the rich detail inherent to the new Sony system and eager to explore the future possibilities it presents as a safety feature and broader communication tool.