Allen & Heath's iDR Solves Emergency and Safety Audio Distribution Needs at Leading Fire Extinguisher Manufacturing Facility

May 25, 2006 8:00 AM

Amerex of Trussville, Ala., has installed an Allen & Heath iDR system to manage audio matrixing and distribution of important operational and safety functions including fire and tornado alarms, telephone paging, and the shift-break alarm. Designed and installed by Larry Bounds and Barry Henry of the EBS group, from Odenville, Ala., in conjunction with Amerex's inhouse system technicians, the iDR-4 system also includes the optional PL-8, a four input/output logic contact closure unit.

"We chose the iDR because the programming of the box is very simple and the processor is very solid. We were able to install the system very quickly without any of the employees knowing," states Bounds. "We have also used the iDR in many other installations and we have found it to be a flexible and reliable solution."

Amerex is the leading manufacturer of fire extinguishers in the world. Founded in 1970, its 500-employee facility includes various alarm systems for fire, tornado, and shift-break. The iDR-4 handles the matrixing of the various alarms with the company's telephone paging system, and the PL-8 is used to patch the signal from the alarms through to the iDR system. When one of the alarms is tripped, a spike signal is routed through the PL-8 to the iDR-4, which unmutes and prioritizes the appropriate channel and distributes onboard tone generator signals, matched to the alarm's sonic signature, throughout the company.

Amerex also required that the install was quick and easy and that it take place seamlessly, without causing alarm to Amerex's employees. The inhouse technicians were very impressed by how easily the system installed and configured.

After the initial programming of the input and output matrix, the ESB group used the iDR's internal server capabilities to connect to the company's existing network. This enables Amerex's inhouse technician, Stan Vining, to not only make changes to the system as needed, but he can also now use the reporting features to send out emails to the entire company when an alarm has been tripped or when there is a scheduled tornado or fire drill. Stan also has the ability to sync the iDR with his network time server, which will keep the iDR event scheduler in time with the rest of the facility.