AtlasIED improves work activity at Meubitrend with digital audio

The Atmosphere audio processing and control system of AtlasIED provides flexible music for workers and public address messages at this Dutch furniture company.

Work in a factory is, normally, noisy, if to this is added that many employees, either in an office, trade or in a production environment, use music in their work across numerous devices (Radios, individual speakers, helmets, Etc.) the environment of decibels and distortions increases.

The furniture manufacturer Meubitrend, based in the Netherlands, no exception and they turned to audio specialist AtlasIED, through your distributor Mennegat Trading, to optimize and simplify the sound in your installation, of 20.000 square meters.

"People arrive in the morning, takes off his jacket, grab a cup of coffee and turn on the radio," he explains. Ferdi van den Berg, marketing director of professional audio distributor Mennegat Trading-. Meubitrend workers used small, portable devices, which they placed on their own desk and there was music everywhere, with radios everywhere and different noises, what was a disaster".

In an open space, like a factory floor, such distractions can be frustrating for workers. Meubitrend needed a centralized digital audio system that would give their staff a clear sound environment and customization opportunities, while eliminating distortions of different noises.

The audio processing and control system Atmosphere AtlasIED offered a complete solution. For configuration, "First we perform the background music; then a gentle alarm for rest times and, At last, we installed a public address microphone", recalls Anton Verhoeven, integrator account manager Backline Audiovisual Projects.

The challenge was to find a solution "that would allow us to create different areas," he adds., in which the volume, messages and other sounds may be controlled individually. When we found out that the Atmosphere system had this capability, we knew we had the right solution. Our engineers were excited about how simple it was to install and use.".

Using the eight-zone audio processor Atmosphere AZM8, professional audio specialists Mennegat Trading and Backline Audiovisual Projects designed a system with five unique zones that met specific sound requirements throughout the facility.

Three of these areas are located on the factory floor, where workers usually listened to the same music, but they needed to control the volume separately, according to the noise level generated by the equipment and other conditions in each area.

The other two areas involved the dining room and office spaces.. Just like in the factory, the canteen was a noisy and lively place, while the office area was quieter and required a different musical selection, at a lower volume.

While music selections usually came from pre-selected Internet radio stations, the entries of A-BT Remote Bluetooth Audio permitieron a los trabajadores conectar fácilmente sus propios teléfonos móviles u otros dispositivos para reproducir sus listas personales u otra música, un regalo reservado para las tardes de los viernes o las fiestas.

Atmosphere se integró a la perfección en el sistema de altavoces existente de la empresa, y esa facilidad de interoperabilidad se combinó con el sencillo uso del sistema, lo que ofrecía a los empleados un control flexible sobre los sonidos de su día a día.

“Lo más importante fue que era fácil de usar para los empleados -subraya Verhoeven-. Cuando quieres cambiar el volumen, es muy sencillo hacerlo desde cada zona. At the same time, era igualmente importante limitar quién podía hacer qué con el sistema. Atmosphere tiene parámetros incorporados para asegurarse de eso”.

To achieve this, se han instalado múltiples controladores de pared de volumen y fuentes de zona C-ZSV, con limitaciones para definir las funciones que los empleados podían usar y cuáles debían dejarse en manos de profesionales.

“Entrenamos a las personas responsables sobre cómo podían elegir estaciones de radio o cómo usar la entrada de Bluetooth para reproducir música desde sus teléfonos o desde sus dispositivos, lo cual es muy fácil con los controles de fuente y los de volumen. The rest, lo sabemos hacer y lo apoyamos en remoto”, puntualiza Verhoeven.

In addition, la gerencia de Meubitrend necesitaba conectar su micrófono de megafonía para enviar mensajes importantes e inteligibles a los empleados, así como tener la opción de programar anuncios, perfectamente sincronizados, que interrumpan la música para señalar el comienzo y el final de los descansos del mediodía.

El programador incorporado en AZM8 cumple con este último requisito, asegurándose de que todos los trabajadores tomen sus descansos en el mismo horario.

Other articles on AtlasIED, Backline Audiovisual Projects, Mennegat Trading, Meubitrend