Essilor is the worlds largest manufacturer of spectacle lenses. Essilor has had a presence in Britain since 1881 when Société des Lunetiers opened it's British operation in Hatton Garden, London. It maintained a presence in the city until 1975 when the company moved its offices and production facilities to Thornbury, near Bristol. The group employs 23,000 personnel world-wide, with around 400 people employed at Thornbury.

Essilor first started looking for a new Time & Attendance and Access Control system in 2001. The project leader was Kenny Kent, their Facilities Manager. Kenny explained that the main aims and objectives of the new system were to improve the efficiency and speed of time recording and to find a cost effective way of reducing the need for their manned guards.

Kenny and his team set about reviewing the Time and Attendance and security products available on the market and considered systems from Kronos, OCS and Tensor. “We chose Tensor because it was a good and comprehensive system, well demonstrated, with helpful staff. Tensor also had a seamless interface to our existing Wealden package,” explained Kenny. “Tensor are a one-stop-shop for Time & Attendance, Access Control, Security and Cashless Vending,” he added.

A Smart Card based WinTA Enterprise Time & Attendance and Access Control system was installed in December 2004. A few teething problems were encountered during the hardware and software installation but these were rectified during commissioning.

Tensor used their Dual Format Smart Cards so that the same card could be used for Time & Attendance, Access Control, as well as the G2 Cashless Vending system. This integrated system is now installed at all three of Essilor's main UK sites.

Three people from Essilor Facilities were trained on-site by Tensor, and they described it as “first class!”.

When asked what he liked most about Tensor, Kenny replied “A simple to understand and very effective and efficient system” - and what did he think of the Tensor Smart Cards? “they are wonderful, a very easy to use, multi-function card”.

Essilor have since had the Tensor Fire Roll Call system installed at their sites and are looking to extend their Tensor security system into other areas in the coming year.

Asked if he would recommend Tensor to other companies, Kenny said “Definitely!” and summing up Tensor in a few words he said “a proactive company with a very flexible approach”.

Customer Information

Essilor is the world's largest manufacturer of ophthalmic lenses. The company's roots go back well into the last century, although Essilor International was formed in 1972 with the amalgamation of two French companies Essel and Silor. Essilor has had a presence in Britain since 1881 when Société des Lunetiers opened it's British operation in Hatton Garden, London. It maintained a presence in the city until 1975 when the company moved its offices and production facilities to Thornbury, near Bristol. The group employs 23,000 personnel world-wide with over 400 people employed at Thornbury. Essilor is well known for inventing Varifocal lenses and today is the World leader in Varifocals with Varilux, which you can view by logging on to http://www.varilux.co.uk

Essilor Limted
Cooper Road,
Thornbury,
Bristol
BS35 3UW
Tel: 01454 417100
Fax: 01454 281255
Website: http://www.essilor.co.uk