Volex Wiring is a leading European producer of electrical systems for automotive and industrial applications ranging from electrical control units and fuse boxes through to total customer support programs of initial design concept through to prototype and manufacturing.

When Volex wanted a new Time & Attendance system to replace their manual clock card setup they reviewed the systems available and decided on Tensor because of the speed and easy-of-use of Tensor's Smart Cards and because Tensor was the only system available that would handle Time & Attendance and Access Control on the same card.

Said Alan Stubbs, Information Systems Manager, "although I wasn't involved with the original purchase, the reason for buying Tensor was to replace a manual clocking system which took too long to process the time cards for the 450 strong workforce."

Alan said that Volex looked at many systems and chose Tensor for three main reasons,

• Value for money
• Speed of Tensor Smart Cards
• The ability of WinTA to maintain training records.

Alan reckons that Volex has a good working relationship with Tensor. "Anytime we have had to phone the Tensor Help Desk they have been knowledgeable and have resolved the issue quickly", explained Alan.

The WinTA system at Volex comprises Time and Attendance and Access Control which manages access to all external doors, the front door, back door and Reception. It also controls the two turnstiles used by employees. The system also has a Tensor Hooter Controller.

"The Tensor Access Control system has been working well here for 5 years" said Alan as he showed the Tensor reporter around the site. "Employees are happy with the system and there are very few complaints" explained Alan, "they find the system easy to use and women generally hold their bags up to the readers; they think it's better than any barcode or swipe card system!"

Volex now have two sites using Tensor, each within 2 miles of each other. The additional site did originally have a Time and Attendance system of it's own, but it wasn't very good and was replaced with a system from Tensor.

Summing up, Alan Stubbs, said the key benefits of Tensor are

• we can process the Time & Attendance information with less people,
• the WinTA reporting functions enable us to quickly find exceptions,
• automatic links to the Centre File payroll system means 95% of the information is processed automatically; the remaining 5% are simple exceptions or manual overrides that are easy to do

Volex is one of the world's largest producers of electrical and electronic cable assemblies. With over thirty facilities located strategically in the major geographic markets of Europe, North and South America and Asia, the Volex Group provides global support to the world's leading producers of computers, telecommunications systems and networking devices.

In addition, the Group builds products for consumer electronics and appliances, for transportation and for defence, aerospace and industrial applications.

Volex specializes in data/telecommunication cable assemblies, including radio frequency (RF) and fibre optics, power cords and wiring harnesses. It is a leader in the development of state of the art equipment and processes to support custom designed products for a variety of industry applications. Volex facilities are closely co-ordinated to provide services and solutions that are globally efficient and locally sensitive to the needs of its customers.

For more deatils about Volex Wiring and their products please visit their website at
www.volex.com