Tenneco (Federal Mogul)

A Switch from Competitor Visitor Management Solution Leads to Time-Savings & Increased Staff Security

A Savance Workplace Case Study

Organization: Tenneco (formerly Federal Mogul)

Industry: Automotive

Headquarters: Detroit, MI

Access Control Integration: Avigilon

Angela Davis

Administrative Receptionist

Our old solution, EasyLobby, made it hard to coordinate visitor traffic while at the same time holding down a busy receptionist desk and keeping tabs on all of our employees. It was just too much for one person to handle. We also needed better visibility and control of who was in the building at any given time.

The support process is very satisfactory, with support access only a phone call or an online ticket away. We usually get a response to a ticket before the end of day.

Visitors are happier and really like the Savance system. It's one of the easiest Visitor Management systems that they have used, and return visitors and people from other Federal-Mogul locations like the fact that it remembers them. Their name and information is all in there, and the system just prints a badge.

A Switch from Competitor Visitor Management Solution Leads to Time-Savings & Increased Staff Security

A Savance Workplace Case Study

We needed a more flexible solution for managing both visitors and staff.

Angela Davis, Administrative Receptionist

Background:

Founded in Detroit, MI, in 1899, Federal-Mogul Powertrain, now the Global Powertrain division of Tenneco, has long been a leading global supplier of products and solutions to vehicle manufacturers in the automotive, light commercial, heavy-duty, and off-highway industries.

Problem:

Federal-Mogul needed a better way to manage visitors. They were using an electronic visitor management solution from a Savance competitor; however, it was not meeting their needs. “Our old solution, EasyLobby, made it hard to coordinate visitor traffic while at the same time holding down a busy receptionist desk and keeping tabs on all of our employees,” says Angela Davis, Administrative Receptionist at Federal-Mogul Powertrain. “It was just too much for one person to handle. We also needed better visibility and control of who was in the building at any given time.”

Custom-Designed Visitor Management for Federal Mogul & Tenneco Re-Branding

Following an aquisition, Federal-Mogul’s custom visitor management screen was redesigned for Tenneco

In addition, Federal-Mogul needed to improve its employee management. This included getting a better handle on what was going on with off-site employees and staff visiting from other Federal-Mogul locations. “We needed a more flexible solution for managing both visitors and staff,” says Davis. “We also wanted to be able to improve data collection and reporting.”

Search:

Federal-Mogul turned to its access control provider, Security 101, to try to find a solution that seamlessly integrated with the company’s Avigilon access control system. Security 101 partnered with Savance to evaluate if a Savance solution would meet Federal-Mogul’s needs. The idea of a self-service kiosk was immediately well-received with Federal-Mogul since they knew it could really cut down on the time devoted to each visitor. It would also reduce many of the day-to-day interruptions that were often unnecessary when repeat visitors or remote location visitors would come onsite. The fact that Savance is local to Michigan was considered a nice bonus.

Federal-Mogul was also excited to learn that Savance had a comprehensive tablet-based Emergency Mustering solution that would allow the company to quickly account for staff simply by scanning their badge. Facilities Manager Laurie Conn loved how this would finally give the company an electronic method for not only accounting for staff, visitors, and contractors, but would also give them a super fast way to account for people during a drill or a real emergency.

Solution & Implementation

Since Security 101 endorsed the Savance system, the decision was easy for Federal-Mogul. The Savance solution met all of their primary needs while providing additional value with respect to safety and staff accountability procedures and processes. They really liked the kiosk-based Visitor Management part, but further appreciated the Emergency Mustering aspect and staff visibility portal. It was easy to justify the small investment. They were also happy with the Savance team and the software as a whole. “Savance is a very professional company with user-friendly systems,” says Angela Davis. “The support process is very satisfactory, with support access only a phone call or an online ticket away. We usually get a response to a ticket before the end of day.”

Implementation was smooth. Pre-configured devices were brought onsite and connected to the on-premise hosted server. The server was configured to seamlessly integrate with Avigilon’s ACM software through their API to get real-time updates on door events. Their staff were trained to manage and report from the system. As part of the implementation process, the Visitor Management system was also custom-designed to reflect Federal-Mogul’s branding.

Results & Benefits:

Since the implementation of the Savance system in January of 2017, Federal-Mogul has seen improvements in multiple areas of its operations. One specific example is the ease-of-use of the Visitor Management system. “Visitors are happier and really like the Savance system,” says Administrative Receptionist Angela Davis. “It’s one of the easiest Visitor Management systems that they have used, and return visitors and people from other Federal-Mogul locations like the fact that it remembers them. Their name and information is all in there, and the system just prints a badge.

The Savance system’s ability to remember returning visitors is part of another benefit that Federal-Mogul has experienced, and that is time-savings. “The Savance system saves us time when it comes to signing in and managing visitors and visiting staff,” says Angela Davis. “I love that I’m able to pre-register people. It’s a big time-saver.”

Since the Savance system was first implemented at Federal-Mogul Powertrain in early 2017, the company has gone through major changes. After an acquisition in October of 2018, Federal-Mogul Powertrain is now part of Tenneco, worldwide designers, manufacturers and marketers of Ride Performance and Clean Air products and technology solutions. The company’s custom-branded Visitor Management designs and other parts of the Savance solution have been updated to reflect this change.

Savance’s Steve Bardocz recalls a conversation with Roddy Millard, Global Security Manager at the Federal-Mogul/Tenneco Plymouth location, and the ultimate decision-maker for the project:

“I remember doing a demo with Roddy from his office at their Plymouth location where he shared his concerns with EasyLobby and how he watched it go from a good product with good support to an outdated product with bad support after HID took over,” Bardocz says. “He wanted me to personally assure him that wasn’t going to happen to Savance. I’m proud to say after several years, Tenneco continues to expand our solution to other locations and trust us with their visitor and emergency evacuation procedures.”

Note: After an acquisition in October of 2018, Federal-Mogul Powertrain is the Global Powertrain division of Tenneco.