Fully automated and with highly accurate counting, the FlowControl is being supplied and installed on customer entrance and exit doors at all store formats of Tesco stores including Express, Metro, Extra and Superstores. This will help Tesco comply with Covid-19 social distancing guidelines and ensure customers and staff feel safe during the pandemic.
The highly adaptable and configurable system enables Tesco to safely redeploy staff currently manning entrance doors and give managers the flexibility to control customer numbers in-store. Removing staff from doors not only saves time freeing them up to work elsewhere but, importantly, removes the potential abuse they face having to act as gatekeeper.
The FlowControl Traffic lights inform customers when it is safe to enter or when they need to wait because the store has reached its pre-set maximum safe capacity. When the store has reached capacity, the doors automatically deactivate and only re-open once someone leaves the store. This is an effective solution preventing customer exploitation and maximising well-being in-store.
To further help customers, especially those with specific needs as sight impairments, the FlowControl systems at the larger Extra and Superstores will play pre-recorded messages to advise whether it is safe to enter the store or not.
All stores will also have a staff alert system fitted at the Customer Service desk to notify staff when a store is nearing or has reached capacity. Staff will also be able to monitor the actual number of people in the store at any time on the FlowControl display. This display also allows Staff to make adjustments and changes to settings and counts, for example to adjust for staff that have entered or left the building.
The FlowControl system will be installed by record over the next eight weeks, mostly out of hours to minimise the impact on customers and disruption to the stores.
With a 30,000 square feet facility in Blantyre, near Glasgow, record is one of the largest manufacturer, installer, maintainer and service provider of automated pedestrian entrances and aluminium shopfronts in the UK.
