The company G.Rau is well known in the "gold town" of Pforzheim. Founded in 1877 as a manufacturer of pressed gold and silver alloys for the jewelry, watch and writing instrument industries, the family business quickly developed into a globally recognized manufacturer of metal-based special products for the automotive supply industry, electronics and electrical engineering companies and the medical technology sector. Today, G.Rau uses a range of 200 metals and alloys to manufacture a variety of semi-finished products and precision parts through to complex assemblies.

Efficient locking solution

The company mainly uses mechanical locking systems to protect its three production facilities to date. Only a few external doors are equipped with electronic offline knob cylinders. However, day-to-day operations have shown that this configuration is not an ideal solution, particularly in view of the associated administrative effort. If, for example, the battery needs to be changed, the relevant cylinder has to be visited individually and the energy cell replaced using special tools. In the case of authorization changes, all doors even have to be accessed individually in order to carry out the necessary reprogramming. For the new plant four in the north-east of the city of Pforzheim, the only option was therefore a locking solution that could be managed more efficiently and offered more flexible options for securing different areas.

Physical access control is becoming increasingly important

The aspect of physical protection in particular is becoming increasingly important for industrial companies - even if they are not directly classified as critical infrastructure. In addition to cyber security measures, production facilities, in-house prototypes and archives containing company and customer data also need to be protected against manipulation or research. Not least in the automotive industry, which is increasingly developing into a tech sector as digitalization progresses, the demands on suppliers are constantly increasing. Particularly when it comes to electrical and electronic components, OEMs are increasingly making the assessment of the information security management system (ISMS) in accordance with TISAX (Trusted Information Security Assessment Exchange) a prerequisite for cooperation in addition to the IATF 16949 quality standard.

High level of safety, easy handling

With E-Cliq, G.Rau has chosen a locking system at plant four that is suitable for industrial companies. The efficiently managed solution comprises a total of 55 wireless locking cylinders and 122 electronic keys and can be flexibly adapted to security requirements. Inconvenient trips to the cylinder for maintenance work are now a thing of the past, as battery changes are carried out on the key itself. Employees use easily accessible wall-mounted programming devices for the revalidation function and updates. All access authorizations can be quickly and easily assigned, deleted or changed online as required; this significantly reduces the risk of lost keys. Thanks to the integrated documentation, the system also offers full transparency for key user activities - including the option of two-person authentication for viewing if required. The option of integrating RFID transponders into the keys provides additional convenience - an important criterion for G.Rau, which already uses this identification technology for other systems.