Magnetic Autocontrol launches MHTM™ MicroDrive series in India

The Indian market for access automation is growing. We will be investing more in the country and building up our presence here. We have three sourcing hubs around the world apart from the manufacturing facility to cater to the market – one is of course in Germany, the second in the US and the third is located in Malaysia. Once our numbers increase in India, we will turn it also into a sourcing hub”, said Thomas Braunwalder, CEO, Magnetic Auto Control Group.

Braunwalder was talking to TrafficInfraTech at the launch of the company’s MHTM MicroDrive barrier series in India. He emphasised on the point that to regulate the growing pedestrian and vehicular traffic in India, especially on the highways, barriers with advance technology are needed. Apart from the subsidiary in India, the company headquartered in Germany has subsidiaries in the US, Australia, Brazil, Malaysia and China. Since May 2012, Magnetic Autocontrol is part of the €290 million FAAC group.

The MHTM MicroDrive barrier offers users a saving of 75% in power consumption. It is made of 99% recyclable materials, consumes negligible power in comparison to what is available in the market today and meets all international safety standards. The drive mechanism with its integrated servo control and compact gearing provides low maintenance, a variety of operational modes & speeds, and safe & reliable operations over a long life. The housing of aluminium and the base of stainless steel offers the best available protection against corrosion. The design can easily be customised as well.

The drive solution is complimented by the newly designed MGC control with integrated detectors. It has an easy configuration and set-up which is supported by a large LCD display and simple user interface aided by simple Graphic User Interface (GUI). The barrier is used in many applications ranging from car parking and access control to tolling. It features a wide variety of connectivity options in the form of I/O, TCP/IP, USB and CAN. The barriers have lane closing width from 1.5 to 10m, operating speed from 0.3s up to 7s and full connectivity for almost any application.

“The kind of people movements we have in our country, we are concentrating more on the pedestrian access control in India. We have a lot of software technology parks and shared facilities resources and the number of people going in and out is very high. Security & pedestrian safety is very important here,” said Ravi Shankar, General Manager, Magnetic Autocontrol India. In India, the company markets products in four main areas – Entrance Automation; Access control; Authentication & Automatic fare collection and Security rated barrier solutions.

Magnetic Auto Control is the largest supplier of Flap gates in India with over 3000 gates already in operation.

“I look forward to some changes in government policies on automating immigration controls. We have installed in countries like Malaysia, Dubai, Singapore, Australia and airports in UAE & Germany open aided processes to control people with the process of checking passports, fingerprints, face recognition, etc. In Singapore, it has been a logical development that happened as a result of economical development. India is catching up, so you need better technology, especially when it comes to mass transport solutions. How do we control thousands of people boarding the train every morning? Certain mechanical obstacles are needed to control the movement. We see the biggest growth in pedestrian control products and systems here. There is also going to be massive growth in the parking business,” added Braunwalder.

“I would also like to stress on one more point, which is caring for the environment. All countries are now taking care to save power. Our products are also designed to consume less power. And it is not futuristic to have a barrier working on solar power. We do have the technology and in places where there is no means of power and there is only the Sun, why not use it? I am also seeing that our barriers are integrated with our LAN just like the PCs are. We are the first company to go for it. Today I can operate the barrier with a Bluetooth or by using my i-phone. We do not want to be just the supplier of barriers but also want to give our customers all the possible advantages to be successful.”