Meisterfrost

Strudel, dumplings in all variations, chocolate nut cakes, pancakes and much more – the family business Meisterfrost has been producing sweet and savoury frozen products for the catering industry, system catering, canteens, school and kindergarten catering and individual households for almost 40 years. Meisterfrost has been focussing more and more on its handcrafted qualities in traditional home cooking for years – in addition to state-of-the-art equipment and huge capacities for line production, strudel is still made by hand and dumplings are formed by hand, just like in grandmother’s day. The company employs around 260 people, produces its products in three different factories and supplies customers throughout Europe.

Meisterfrost attaches great importance to the use of regional raw materials, as well as sustainability and social commitment. For the owner family, stability and growth are based on environmental awareness, the continuing tradition of craftsmanship and innovative strength, as well as good co-operation between colleagues. Utilising past experience, planning for tomorrow and thinking for the day after tomorrow – Meisterfrost’s motto should apply for generations to come.

One of Meisterfrost's plants in Sinnersdorf, Austria — One of the three plants of Meisterfrost in Sinnersdorf (Styria, Austria)

The implementation of safeREACH has really resulted in numerous advantages for us at various levels. We are completely satisfied with it.
Bernd Plank, Technical Manager at Meisterfrost

The problem

Meisterfrost started looking for new alerting software after the solution they were using was too slow to alert and it also took too long to activate the intervention time for fire alarms. This resulted in numerous false alarms and alerts from the fire brigade, which were ultimately no longer taken seriously. Meisterfrost turned to safeREACH to find a better solution.

The solution

safeREACH offers Meisterfrost the option of quickly activating the intervention time on the fire alarm system and thus preventing any false alarms. In addition to being used for fire alarms, safeREACH also alarms in the event of technical faults and defects in machinery, cooling or ventilation systems, as well as for alerting first responders in the event of medical emergencies.

Bernd Plank von Meisterfrost über safeREACH — Bernd Plank

Six questions for Bernd Plank

Bernd Plank is Technical Manager at Meisterfrost. He joined the company in 2003 as a maintenance and repair technician. Today, as Technical Manager, he is responsible for all machines, systems, IT, fire protection and safety at Meisterfrost.

We spoke to Bernd Plank about his experience with safeREACH.

Why did you look for a tool for rapid alerting?

We were struggling with a lot of false alarms that we couldn’t resolve with our previous alerting system. That’s why we started looking for alternatives and came across safeREACH.

On the one hand, it was important for us to be able to raise the alarm quickly and, on the other, to prevent false alarms as much as possible. In order to be able to evaluate whether the alarm was a false alarm or not after it was triggered, it was necessary to have enough time to get an overview and not trigger a false alarm. The fire brigade should only be alerted if there is a recognisable fire and intervention by the emergency services is actually necessary.

Where do you see the advantages of safeREACH?

To stay on the subject mentioned before: since we have been using safeREACH, we have been able to minimise false alarms. If the fire alarm system is triggered, the intervention time is activated via the safeREACH app and we have the opportunity to check whether it is a false alarm or a serious situation. This means that the fire brigade is only alerted if there is a recognisable fire. And the fire brigade itself can once again reliably assume that the fire alarm is justified. This is a great advantage for us and creates safety.

For me, the alert app and the flexibility of safeREACH are also a plus point. We were able to create our scenarios exactly as we had imagined. The safeREACH app alerts the designated people quickly and provides them with all the information they need. Thanks to the well-organised and structured app, this works really smoothly and reliably.

We have also connected our machine management programme to safeREACH via the email interface. If a fault is created in the management programme, the responsible technician is automatically alerted via safeREACH.

The introduction of safeREACH has really resulted in numerous advantages for us at various levels. We are completely satisfied with it.

For which use cases do you use safeREACH?

safeREACH is used at Meisterfrost for various cases. As already mentioned, the fire alarm including the fire alarm system runs via safeREACH.

In addition, alarms are raised in the event of technical faults with machines and also with cooling or ventilation. These are very important areas for us as a frozen food producer. If there are restrictions or defects, we have to act and rectify the fault. In the event of a fault, our sensors on the appliances are triggered and the technical team is alerted. In addition, our machine management programme is connected to safeREACH via an e-mail interface.

We also use safeREACH to alert first responders. In the event of injuries or other health emergencies, the company first responders are alerted via the app and can provide feedback on how quickly they are there.

Which features do you find particularly helpful?

The shift plan is one of the best features for us. Our technicians are divided into early (5:00-11:00) and late (11:00-16:30) shifts. In the event of a fault, only the person who is currently on duty should be alerted. Outside of working hours, different people are on call. We can also store this in the shift plan and thus always alert the technician who is currently on call. As technical manager, I receive the alarms at all times so that I know what is happening.

Another feature with great added value for us is the e-mail interface. I have already mentioned that safeREACH is connected to our machinery management programme via an e-mail interface. This is so useful because it allows us to save time and automate processes. The way it works is that in the event of defects or faults on our machines, the production manager of the respective plant informs the technical team. We then create the fault in the management programme with an assignment of the affected machine and the current problem. This report is then sent fully automatically to safeREACH. The technician responsible for the affected machine is alerted there and receives all the information about the fault. So we only create the fault once and the rest is completely automatic. It works really well.

The ability to differentiate between alarms and info messages is also very useful for us. It helps us to prioritise. If the sensors in a cold room fail, for example, experience has shown that the urgency is usually not high. It is often because goods have been left in too warm or the refrigeration unit is being defrosted. We send information messages for these temperature alarms. Alarms themselves are sent in very urgent cases such as medical emergencies or fire alarms.

How do you feel about the collaboration with safeREACH?

The collaboration with safeREACH has been really good right from the start. Communication runs smoothly. When we have questions, we quickly get the answers we need.

And we also feel that we are in very good hands professionally. The safeREACH team understands what is important for our use cases and how they can support us.