3 November 2008
New Telephone Numbers

Please update your address book with our new telephone numbers:

Sales & General Enquiries = 01473 745 375
Service = 01473 747 415
Fax = 01473 747 252

October 2008
Full Time Sales & Marketing Administrator required

Looking for a new job?  Check out the job description below and if you are interested give Sam a call on 0870 224 5922.

Following a rigorous tender process, Plescon has been accepted in to the ESPO framework for the supply of RFID systems.
The Eastern Shires Purchasing Organisation (ESPO) acts as a central purchasing agent for its member authorities and has a combined procurement spend of £400 million per annum.
“This was an important framework to become a part of” explains Nick Hunt, Plescon's company director “we have been rubber stamped; potential customers can approach us safe in the knowledge that we are a bona fide UK RFID supplier”.

Customers who choose Plescon Security Products as their supplier in 2008 will be pleased to learn they are using a supplier who not only follows ISO 9001:2000 procedures but is also WEEE registered and CHAS accredited. 

Nick Hunt, Plescon's company director explains "We take our responsibility towards health & safety and environmental issues seriously.  We want to assure customers that sufficient policies and procedures are being followed, which not only enhance our quality of service and products but are also ethically sound".

Launched today - www.orfid.co.uk - a dedicated site for the ORFID solution.

November 2007
Plescon Supports RFID Conference as Gold Sponsor

Tuesday 13th November is the date of this years 'RFID in Libraries' conference and Plescon will be there sponsoring the event and demonstrating their RFID system - ORFID.  Book your space now by visiting the CILIP website.

11 & 12th September 2007
BottleLox on show in New York

BottleLox - Plescon's innovative security hard tag for the protection wines and spirits - will be on display at the International Security Conference and Exposition in New York.  For more information and details of how to register please click on the link below:

Ipswich based Security Company; Plescon Security Products is celebrating following its success at winning the top award for Innovation and Technology at the East Anglian Daily Times, Anglian Business Awards.

The award celebrates businesses which are prepared to conceive, test and practice new ideas.   Entries were invited from technology based businesses and traditional businesses able to demonstrate the creative use of technology and or innovation in the areas of product, service or technique.   In each of the 15 categories, 3 finalists were short listed from over 100 entries; the highest number received in the awards 9 year history.

Plescon Security Products was established in Suffolk in 1978 to provide EAS/book detection equipment to the library market.   With only 3 employees in the beginning and working out of a small office in Hadleigh, the company now provides a range of security products to the library and retail markets, employs 25 members of staff and occupies premises in Ipswich.  

Plescon is constantly striving to improve and expand its product range.   Initially the business sold only EAS equipment to libraries for the protection of printed materials but when customers identified the need to protect their audiovisual resources, Plescon produced KWIK Case™.   Primarily, this was for CDs and cassettes but as technology advanced, the company invested in tooling to produce cases to accommodate videos and computer games.  

Due to the security nature of the business, all products are constantly under scrutiny and changes are made to the design to either improve the product or accommodate the latest market demand.   A good example of this is KWIK Issue – a self-service point for library users, enabling them to borrow an item without the need for library staff intervention.   With a number of new design features included, this product was re-launched as Q-jump.   The latest version of self-service system is called ORFID and incorporates RFID technology.

When the company was first established, the only technology available was radio frequency (RF).   In 1990 Plescon added Electromagnetic (EM) technology to its range of systems which opened up the potential for innovative products as well as increasing the competition in this field.   To maintain its position as a top supplier in the security market, Plescon had to, and continues to, think creatively and design original products that not only integrate with the technology Plescon sells but also with that of its competitors.

Plescon Security Products is proud to state that the vast majority of its products have all been designed, developed, tooled and manufactured in East Anglia.   To support the local engineering industry has always been and continues to be very important to the company, this in turn does mean that the product range, although superior in quality, can be more expensive than that of its competitors, however Plescon still maintain its position as one of the top suppliers in their field and pride themselves on their professional and exceptional service they offer to their customers.

Sponsored by Bank of Scotland Corporate, the event was held at the newly constructed, Trinity Park Conference Centre in Ipswich where Gwen Broadhead, Managing Director of Plescon Security Products spoke of her delight at winning the prestigious award  “It was a tremendous bonus to be awarded the title of winner in the innovation and technology category.   It has been through the endless enthusiasm, commitment, determination and skills of the Plescon staff that enabled my company to reach such a goal”.

The new state of the art Feltham Library opened within The Longford Centre on the 14th July 2006.   The new open-plan design is almost twice the size of its predecessor and facilities are all on one floor, with airy rooms and modern furniture surrounded by a soft, mellow décor, creating a relaxed environment.

In addition to thousands of books, DVDs and CDs, the library also features:

• 20 people’s network computers offering free access to the internet and email
• A dedicated Skills Suite providing online learning and programmed training
• A local history corner, study areas and magazine and newspaper area with comfortable chairs
• A children’s area, including a wet bay designed for preparation of arts and crafts sessions
• A teenage zone
• A “quick pick” area at the front of the library for people who only have a few minutes to pop in
• Two spacious meeting rooms than can seat 50 and 150 people at the same time

Over the next four years Hounslow Council aim to develop their library services as lifelong learning centres to ensure they are the amongst the best available in London.   By working closely with Plescon Security Products and Optical Solutions, CIP (the agency managing Hounslow’s leisure and libraries) are confident that the added services they can provide will move them ever closer towards their goal.

Feltham Library has been an established customer of Plescon Security Products since 1986 following the introduction of a radio frequency security system so were extremely pleased at being given the opportunity to once again provide a solution for their new library.   The brief was simple – to introduce the most effective and up to date technology to secure the stock and provide a solution that will enable library users to issue and return their own items quickly and efficiently with minimal disruption to library staff.   That solution is ORFID.

In April of this year a five aisle security system was installed to cover the large open plan entrance and a single staff station loaned to allow library staff to start on the conversion of their stock.  3 additional staff stations and 3 self-service “pods” are scheduled to be installed in early November.  ORFID’s portable stock control unit is a lightweight scanner-style wand with hand held PDA.  It can be used for a number of tasks and will enable the library staff at Feltham to analyse circulation counts for particular items, locate stock on the shelf by searching for bar code, class mark or author as well as allowing a full stock check to be carried out quickly and easily simply by passing the wand along the bookshelves.   40,000 RFID labels have been delivered to the library and an additional stand alone statistics server will complete the solution.

Nicholas Hunt, Company Director for Plescon has managed the project from the start of negotiations and is “Very satisfied that the solution we have provided will meet the requirements and expectations of CIP and prove to be a great asset and addition to the impressive new Longford Centre”

Whilst it is true that Plescon have only installed three RFID solutions to date they have all been tailor made to specific requirements to ensure wherever possible that they compliment the library design.   Plescon along with their partner company, software specialist, Optical Solutions have a range of standard self-service solutions and staffing stations that can customised to individual requirements purely for cosmetic reasons or for functionality.

Mike Fahey, ICT Manager for Hounslow’s library service provider, CIP, is clearly enthusiastic about the project. “We’re delighted to be working with Plescon again after our positive experience in the past. The partnership scheme is really helping us to develop a service that suits our needs and the staff are looking forward to the benefits of self-issue, stock management and the kind of profiling data that will help us both to improve our service and to save money.”