Cadbury is the second largest confectioner worldwide and Australia's leading chocolate and confectionary supplier. Cadbury holds a 53% market share in Australia giving them the number one position in chocolate with a strong presence in other confectionary.
Cadbury Australia has a major manufacturing base in Melbourne, Victoria, which mainly produces chocolate bars and Easter products. The company exports products to a number of countries in the Asia Pacific region; including New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and Brunei.
As a division of the world's second largest confectioner, Cadbury Australia has to be extra vigilant of its processes and procedures. The company recognises it is representing a brand with a heritage tracing back almost 200 years; with Cadbury products now being enjoyed in almost every country around the world.
It is essential for Cadbury Australia to have the processes and procedures in place to uphold the integrity of the global Cadbury brand. To achieve this and fulfil the company's commitment to providing quality product to customers, it is critical that all areas of the business are fully secure and not exposed to potential contamination.
The challenge
With stringent world-class manufacturing standards, Cadbury Australia's challenge is to ensure a controlled environment is emulated across all processes. All products are packaged and labelled as required by Australian and Federal Food regulations; and it is crucial as per these regulations that there is no risk of contamination.
Cadbury's maintenance planner Gordon Menzies elaborates: "We have an extremely high Duty of Care. When you are selling confectionary to the public you have to make sure that what is written on the packet is in the bag and nothing extra."
Cadbury Australia's Melbourne site is responsible for a significant amount of warehousing and distribution, and covers an area greater than the Melbourne Cricket Ground (which has a crowd capacity of over 100,000). This considerable operation requires a high level security system that can cater for the large amount of activity and movement that comes from such a substantial distribution centre.
Before Cadbury Australia's review of their perimeter security, they had a number of different technologies securing the premises, including microwave beams, cameras and a chainmesh fence. The chainmesh fence was installed for many years and the company experienced numerous incidents of people cutting holes in the fence to forcibly gain entry. Because of this and the other technology deteriorating with age, the Cadbury team had to find a perimeter solution that would detect and deter people and ensure that no unauthorised personnel entered the site.
