Manufacturing facilities often have very different access-control requirements from offices or smaller commercial buildings.
Employees may work multiple shifts. Contractors and maintenance personnel may require temporary access. Production areas, tool rooms, inventory spaces, utility rooms, IT rooms, and warehouse-connected areas may need different permission levels.
For manufacturing facilities in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, access control planning should begin with understanding how people move through the property and which areas actually require controlled entry.
This guide explains several factors manufacturing and industrial facilities should consider when evaluating electronic access control.
Identify the Most Important Controlled Doors
Not every door in a manufacturing facility needs a card reader.
Start by identifying openings where limiting or documenting entry provides a meaningful operational or security benefit.
Common manufacturing applications include:
- Employee entrances
- Office-to-production doors
- Production-area entrances
- Maintenance rooms
- Tool rooms
- Inventory areas
- Server and network rooms
- Utility and electrical rooms
- Shipping and receiving offices
- Warehouse entrances
- Restricted storage areas
- Contractor entrances
The objective is not to electronically control every opening.
It is to identify the doors where individual permissions, schedules, and credential management provide useful control.
Plan Around Multiple Work Shifts
Manufacturing operations may run beyond ordinary business hours.
Facilities may have:
- First-shift employees
- Second-shift employees
- Third-shift employees
- Weekend production
- Maintenance crews
- Cleaning personnel
- Temporary workers
- Contractors
- Supervisors with extended access
Electronic access control can allow credentials to operate according to approved schedules.
For example, a first-shift employee may only need access during normal production hours, while maintenance supervisors may require broader access.
Permissions should match actual operating schedules without unnecessarily providing 24-hour access to every credential holder.
Separate Employee Access From Restricted Areas
Entering the building should not automatically give an employee access to every part of the facility.
Manufacturing properties often contain areas that should be limited according to job responsibility.
Examples include:
- Tool rooms
- Maintenance shops
- Electrical rooms
- Network rooms
- Inventory storage
- Sensitive production areas
- Management offices
- Records rooms
- Utility spaces
- Secured cages
Access permissions can often be organized according to employee, department, job function, door, or schedule.
This allows employees to reach the areas required for their work without providing unnecessary access throughout the facility.
Pay Close Attention to Employee Entrances
Employee entrances can become high-activity points during shift changes.
A manufacturing employee entrance may connect directly to:
- Production areas
- Locker rooms
- Break rooms
- Time-clock areas
- Warehouses
- Offices
- Employee parking areas
Useful planning considerations may include:
- Individually assigned credentials
- Shift-based permissions
- Door-position monitoring
- Door-held-open alerts
- Forced-door alerts
- Nearby camera coverage
- Reliable door closing and latching
- Backup power
A card reader alone does not secure an employee entrance if the physical door routinely remains open or fails to latch.
Manage Contractors and Maintenance Personnel
Manufacturing plants frequently rely on outside personnel.
These may include:
- Equipment technicians
- HVAC contractors
- Electricians
- Cleaning companies
- Machinery service providers
- Delivery personnel
- Temporary workers
- Construction contractors
Providing permanent mechanical keys to temporary personnel can become difficult to manage.
Electronic credentials may allow contractor access to be limited according to:
- Specific doors
- Approved dates
- Time of day
- Project duration
- Required work areas
When the assignment ends, the credential can generally be disabled or allowed to expire.
Evaluate Production-to-Office Transitions
Manufacturing facilities often combine administrative and industrial environments in the same building.
Doors may separate:
- Offices from production areas
- Production from warehouse areas
- Warehouses from shipping offices
- Employee spaces from restricted rooms
- Public areas from operational areas
These transition points can be useful locations for electronic access control because they allow businesses to separate different functional areas without restricting normal movement unnecessarily.
Consider Door Hardware
Access control is more than the reader mounted beside the opening.
A controlled manufacturing door may involve:
- Credential reader
- Access controller
- Electric strike
- Electrified lock
- Electrified exit hardware
- Door-position contact
- Request-to-exit device
- Door closer
- Power supply
- Backup battery
- Wiring
The physical condition of the door and frame matters as much as the electronics.
A valid credential may be accepted while a door still fails to unlock because of damaged hardware, poor alignment, insufficient power, or other mechanical problems.
Likewise, an electronically released door that does not close and latch afterward may remain unsecured.
Consider the Manufacturing Environment
Industrial environments can create conditions that should be considered when selecting equipment and installation locations.
These may include:
- Dust
- Moisture
- Temperature changes
- Vibration
- Heavy equipment traffic
- Forklift movement
- High employee traffic
- Outdoor exposure
- Physical impact risk
Readers, wiring, locking hardware, and related equipment should be appropriate for the area where they will operate.
Coordinate Access Control With Video Surveillance
Access control and video surveillance provide different information.
The access-control system may record:
- Credential presented
- Door used
- Time of entry
- Access granted
- Access denied
Video can provide visual context around the same entrance.
When compatible technologies are used together, facilities may be able to investigate events involving:
- After-hours entry
- Forced doors
- Doors held open
- Restricted-area access
- Rejected credentials
- Employee entrance activity
This can be especially useful at entrances serving production areas, warehouses, tool rooms, and other restricted locations.
Review Existing Equipment Before Replacing It
Manufacturing facilities with older access control should evaluate existing infrastructure before assuming the entire system must be replaced.
Potentially reusable components may include:
- Existing cabling
- Door contacts
- Electrified hardware
- Power supplies
- Readers
- Controllers
Compatibility, condition, manufacturer support, security, and future expansion should all be considered.
In some situations, a phased upgrade may be more practical than replacing every component at once.
Plan for Future Expansion
Manufacturing operations can change significantly over time.
Businesses may add:
- Employees
- Production shifts
- Additional controlled doors
- New production areas
- Warehouse space
- Contractors
- Additional buildings
- Vehicle entrances
Access-control planning should consider reasonable future growth so the original platform does not immediately become a limitation.
Access Control Planning for Bethlehem Manufacturing Facilities
Manufacturing access control should be designed around how the facility actually operates.
Important considerations include employee entrances, work shifts, production-area transitions, contractors, restricted rooms, existing door hardware, credentials, schedules, and future expansion.
This introductory guide is intended to help Bethlehem manufacturing facilities identify those requirements before making system decisions.
For detailed commercial and industrial security planning for Bethlehem manufacturing facilities, including professional access-control design and integration, visit:
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is access control useful in manufacturing facilities?
Manufacturing properties frequently have multiple shifts, employee entrances, contractors, restricted rooms, inventory areas, and production spaces that require different levels of access.
Should every production-area door have a card reader?
Not necessarily. Electronic access control should generally be concentrated on openings where individual credential management provides a meaningful security or operational benefit.
Can employees have different permissions?
Yes. Compatible systems may assign access according to employee, department, job function, door, area, or work schedule.
Can contractors receive temporary access?
Yes. Compatible systems may provide contractor credentials that are limited to selected doors, schedules, or expiration dates.
Can access control help protect tool rooms?
Yes. Tool rooms, inventory areas, maintenance spaces, and other restricted rooms are common applications where businesses may want individual credential control.
Can access control work with surveillance cameras?
Compatible systems may allow selected access events to be reviewed with nearby surveillance video, providing additional context around controlled entrances.
Can an existing manufacturing access-control system be upgraded?
Possibly. Existing readers, controllers, wiring, power supplies, door hardware, and software should be evaluated before determining what can remain.