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Getting It In Gear
Enterprising security director shapes a program to protect the Montgomery Hyundai manufacturing plantThe Latest from SIW
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By Liz Martinez
Security Technology & Design
As Larry Pugh has discovered, there’s no substitute for experience. Pugh, who retired from a 20-year career with the Montgomery (AL) Police Department, was hired by Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama as the Montgomery plant security manager in January 2004. The move to Hyundai followed a stint as the security director of Jackson Hospital, also in Montgomery. Pugh brought to the fledgling Hyundai plant the experience of recreating a security system for the hospital.
A Memorable Job
When Pugh took over the security department at Jackson Hospital, he found the equipment in bad shape. “The CCTV was antiquated, and there was no access control at all. There were two CCTV systems in place, but they were different, so they couldn’t talk to each other,” he said. “It’s like having a PC and a Mac—they’re both computers, but they don’t speak the same language.”
Plus, Pugh said, the hospital was still using time-lapse VHS recorders. “We had four recorders, but only one of them worked. Anytime I needed video, I couldn’t do anything with it. It was useless.”
In short, the system required a lot of improvements. Enter Larry Oliver, accounts manager for systems integrator Vision Southeast, based in Birmingham, AL. “Oliver came to see me,” Pugh reported. “He agreed to bring in his techs to do a complete survey of the hospital’s equipment and then give me a proposal. Basically, he spent a week doing free work.”
That week paid off. Vision Southeast arranged for a GE-built device called Probridge to be installed. “Probridge interfaces with the two camera systems and lets them talk to each other,” Pugh explained. Now the two systems could be controlled with one keypad, rather than the two sets of controls previously required.
Pugh then added delayed-egress access control to the hospital’s bag of security tricks. This system allowed a door to be held closed for 15 to 30 seconds to prevent someone from fleeing if necessary.
Learning from the Past
When Pugh made the move to Hyundai, he kept his successes at Jackson Hospital in the back of his mind. In early 2004, the vehicle manufacturing plant was just in the construction phase, the ideal time to start thinking about security.
