HOW USCANN ENABLED A MANUFACTURER TO INCREASE EFFICIENCY BY 90% WITH AUTOMATED COVID-19 SCREENINGS
A Return-to-Work Case Study
Original post: https://customers.microsoft.com/en-us/story/847564-healthper-chill-passion-azure-us
Customer
This customer of ours is a state-of-the-art manufacturer and distributor of high quality dispensing products for the beverage industry in Chicago. When this manufacturer and their wellness consultant, Healthper, turned to uScann, they wanted a faster, more accurate thermal screening process and ways to ensure the highest quality process for their employees for their return-to-work program.
Problem Statement
- Their processes were manual and contained many inefficiencies
- Cost per entry point per administrator through outsourcing was at minimum $375 per day
- Time taken during manual screening was at least 45 seconds per worker
- The screenings were done manually, and took 45 seconds or longer, and made employees uncomfortable and exposed them to others in a crowded entrance
- Safety depended on employee-invasive, time consuming, and expensive safety measures for every shift
Needed an easy to install and affordable temperature monitoring and testing solution to keep employees safe & improve attendance
Solution
uScann is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Driven Smart Temperature Scanner, designed for autonomy. It doesn’t need human contact or supervision to work. The state-of-the-art AI monitoring system looks optimal situations each microsecond to ensure the highest quality temperature results.
- Installed D-I-Y auto scanner device by security personal on two entry doors for measuring the temperatures of the employees/visitors
- Provided Return TO Work (RTW) by Healthper app for iOS, Android and Desktop Devices
- Employees uploaded their front face pictures with and without mask using the app or the desktop site
- Employees completed COVID19 questionnaire everyday in the RTW app before coming for their work shift
- Allowed the denial entry letter to be downloaded from the app
- Steps provided to be followed in the app in case entry was denied at the gate or due to the COVID19 questionnaire response
- Automatic alert email notification to the main security administrator for any out of range temperatures recorded
- Enabled alert on the device when temperature was out of range for a person
- Reports provided for the denial entry personal for those who triggered exception due to the COVID19 questionnaire responses and for those who were denied entry at the gate
- Initiated phase 2 to link the gate security system to the live temperature feed for opening the door when no exception of temperature
Business Drivers
- Safely reopen workplace and ensure that employees are comfortable and safe
- Reduce the high costs of ensuring safety without compromising any standards
- Need for easy to use, cost-effective temperature monitoring and testing solution
Project:
uScann is the smart thermal monitoring platform which uses complex algorithms based on a variety of environmental factors like ambient temperature, facial recognition, obstructions, distance etc. on top of thermal scanner reading. Other products in the market simply rely on thermal scanner reading which may not be reliable as environmental conditions change. For example, body temperature of a healthy person varies during the day by about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F) with lower temperatures in the morning and higher temperatures in the late afternoon and evening.
uScann is the new normal and can screen everyone in a short time.
- Offers an advanced facial recognition, even when wearing a mask, and helps to track each individual across the premises
- Flags anyone with irregular, high temperature from within a distance of 60 to 90 centimeters
- Performs a headcount and collates all the information from other connected uScann devises, placed at other entry points
We customized uScann AI scanners and quickly personalized the system to this customer’s needs. We deployed the scanners and integrated the automation to Healthper’s mobile app questionnaire to screen for COVID-19 with temperature scanning at the beginning of each work shift. The scanners were integrated with every security door and gate on premises in coordination with their wellness program partner Healthper.
Business Outcomes
Employees returning to work were not asked get screened by a person holding an infrared thermometer, as everyone queued up in a line, not knowing which of them may get flagged and petrified by the thought of being close to someone who may be carrying the virus without their own knowledge. Instead, they walked in to find themselves facing a no-contact scanner, which sent them through in a span of around two seconds and didn’t need them to stand close to another human being.
THE RESULTS
An immediate, almost 90% increase in efficiency and elimination of daily screening expenses, surpassing all expectations! the customer has completely eliminated the need for screening administrators reducing their daily screening costs to virtually $0.
- Enhanced workplace experience and offered safety and security
- Increased employee attendance by 19% almost immediately
- Time taken for temperature screening per individual reduced from about 45 seconds to just around 2 seconds
- No additional staff were needed to supervise overall process with uScann’s automated screening and secure data collection on the cloud
- Unlike before, customer’s management team now has complete oversight and tons of information to continue improving their safety processes
uScann pays for itself within a few days, while offering a number of additional benefits.
Qualitative
- Smart Temperature Monitoring Platform to screen employees and visitors
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven Temperature Scanner, Enterprise Ready and scalable
- Lightweight, Portable with DIY installation in minutes
- Easy to use management portal with customizable uScann APIs
- User and location-based security
- Multi-device configuration push
- Customized HR workflows with company specific content, company branding
- More than just a simple temperature reading device
- Open, cloud native and extensible architecture with uScann add-ons
- Automatic alarm for subjects with high temperature
- A variety of alerts including on-screen notification, voice alert, alarm, and email alerts
- Integrate with our webhooks technology to perform custom post event activities
- Offers advanced reporting and analytics from a corporate perspective
- Provides granular data by a specific location or group of locations
- Access to historical data for future contact tracing or compliance needs
- Deploy one Device or Multiple Devices to keep up with the Employee or Visitor Volume
- Add-on features such as People Counting, Protective Wear Checks, Restricted Area Checks, Visitor Management, Employee Attendance Management and more
Enables easy integration with existing systems and provides custom workflows. One of our partners implemented a “Denial Entry Letter” workflow in just about 3 days.
Benefits
- Contactless scans eliminate health risks with our contact-free, non-invasive, automated temperature checks unlike handheld manual temperature screenings
- No more stress and discomfort as screenings are ultrafast and take around 2 seconds unlike the time taken for manual screening where people wait around at a crowded entry point, with each screening taking up to 45 seconds
- Provides a great entry experience to employees and guests without any human intervention
while making them feel safe.
- Scalable and connected devices make it easy to scan thousands of shift-based employees
- Saved on costs of $375 per day or more for temperature screening to administer the entry on a single gate through an outsourced resource
- Measure temperatures with accuracy of around 0.5 degrees