Challenge

Fabri-Kal is a major national thermoformed plastic manufacturer of standard and custom plastic packaging, primarily for the food industry. Operating an approximately 200,000 square foot manufacturing facility located in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Fabri-Kal keeps up to 16 thermoforming lines running every day for customers such as Dannon Yogurt, Campbell's Soup, McDonald's, Dairy Queen, and other major food service distributors such as Sysco. With almost 400 employees to keep things humming along in a noisy bustling environment, it can be tough to contact someone with a page. 

When Fabri-Kal opened its Hazleton facility about 40 years ago it had only four production lines running, so paging required just a handful of horn loudspeakers running off a single 100-watt Bogen amplifier. Now almost four times bigger than when they first started, the Hazleton operation struggled with a paging system they had outgrown. With manufacturing floor noise levels up to 105 dB and under-powered pages that were beginning to clip, distort and become inaudible, Fabri-Kal needed a paging system that could handle everything from a relatively quiet front office to a loud, dynamic shop floor environment and enable future expansion as well. 

• Massive 200,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility 
• Varying ambient noise levels (50 dB-105 dB) 
• Flexible zone paging required