Iris ID, a provider of iris biometric technology, announced its iCAM7100 time and attendance solution has been installed at the Ingenio Azucarero Injiboa sugar mill, in San Vicente, El Salvador. The privately owned company is one of the Central American country’s largest sugar mills.
All permanent and temporary employees are registered by the system during harvest time. The mill’s administrative, technical and security personnel also use the system. During the peak sugar production season, employees work in multiple shifts, often 24 hours a day. Mill officials selected the iCAM7100, which identifies employees based on the unique characteristics of the iris, after comparing other biometric technologies including face and fingerprint recognition and hand geometry, said Faucy Brand, chief executive officer for El Salvador-based ScreenCheck, the security systems integrator completing the installation.
“The mill needed a system offering speed, high accuracy, reliable performance and secure operations in very demanding environment,” Brand said. “Mill officials are very satisfied with the Iris ID iCAM7100 as it has been the only technology proven to work with the entire company employee population.”
Joel Moran, Head of Information Systems Development for Ingenio Azucarero Injiboa, said the Iris ID solution was installed and the employees registered quickly without problems.
“Now we’re able to manage employees to avoid congestion as they punch in or out for the day,” he said. “That wasn’t the case with a previous biometric system since been removed from the mill.”
The Iris ID technology also inhibits the transfer of virus or bacteria, as there is no direct employee contact with the biometric reader, Moran said.
Authentication of an employee at one of the mill’s several iCAM7100 units takes less than a second. And it does so without timecards or badges capable of being lost or altered. During the identification process, the iCAM7100’s communication panel displays time/date and ID number of employees, promoting communication with management.
According to Mohammed Murad, global business development and sales for Iris ID, the iCAM7100 eliminates potential errors associated with manually calculating employee hours, while eliminating costly “buddy punching” as the system identifies workers on their unique iris biometric characteristics. “The iCAM7100 is a practical and precise time and attendance solution for operations ranging from sugar mills to clean rooms,” he said. “The system reduces payroll and administrative costs and eliminates time fraud. It also provides a high return on investment by eliminating the cost associated with administering and managing access cards.”