Scheidt & Bachmann have successfully mastered the entrance into the international market of cashier and access control systems for exhibitions, in the first run.
During the triple fair event aquanale, SOLARIA and FSB, that took place in the halls of Koelnmesse (Germany) in the last October week, S&B presented to the public its new development, both on the fair stand and as a live system.
In less than one year, the innovative company had made its way from declaring its intention to introducing an established cashier and access control system. However, one of the reasons for the overwhelming success is the close co-operation with T-Systems and Koelnmesse. 

Every visitor can see and feel the cashier system and the access control devices of Scheidt & Bachmann. Invisible in the background, the Scheidt & Bachmann fair management system is operating with a cashier server and an access control server, communicating with the SAP System of Koelnmesse in the exchange of fair master, visitor, financial and other data. Until the exhibition "imm cologne" in January 2006, the system will be extended to 120 cashiers and 48 tripods.
The powered tripods XTS35-K at the entries and exits have been designed, built and installed by Scheidt & Bachmann according to the requirements of Koelnmesse. It was an impressive experience to see how quickly and smoothly visitors were able to pass the access barriers. Brief holding the barcode tickets against the mirror scanner was sufficient to go on and pass the entrance without stopping, if the ticket was valid. The tickets are read and evaluated without being inserted anywhere. Clear light signals conduct the visitor and show him where to pass or not to pass, because his ticket is not tolerated for this entrance. Apart from galleries of stationary passage controls, Koelnmesse has mobile tripods of the same type, which can be installed on demand to pre-determined places. The temporary locations are equipped with power and network connections.
The scanner technology also permits the use of barcode tickets, which are printed on plain paper (e.g. A4 size) on a standard printer (e.g. on the home PC) and folded or trimmed to any random format. Such printouts may include any relevant information to the event and to the usage of such self-printed tickets.
The cashier terminals are operated via self-explanatory touch screens. Applications are based on Java and are adaptable to browsers. The average time for training the personnel in the operation of the cashiers took 15 minutes on average, including registration of internet bookings, voucher collections, automatic recording of visitor cards, manual data processing and verification, ticket issuing and any cash and cashless payment modes.
This comprehensive system was developed, tested and implemented in the S&B design departments for software, hardware and mechanics, under the control of a project manager. It has its origin in the cashier and access control systems for stadiums and other large-area parking facilities of international airports, all of which rely on rapid and reliable processing and on independent emergency treatment. With its variety of interfaces, the system is highly flexible and easily adaptable even to other background systems. The coupling with a car park management system and parking guidance system follows a conceptual standard of Scheidt & Bachmann.
Based on a long experience, continuous development of current marketing features, and utilisation of synergy effects with other sales divisions, Scheidt & Bachmann regards itself as well-prepared to other interesting projects of various sizes. An own design and manufacturing capacity making use of up-to-date technology, and an international hotline centre and an area-covering service guarantee long-lasting caretaking of our customers and steady modernisation of their investments.

(November 2005)