Bells In A Box – Work Shift Bell System

Description

Bells In A Box Work Shift Timer and Audible Signaling System

Bells In A Box is a complete work shift timer and audible signaling system designed to automate shift changes, employee breaks, lunch periods, and other scheduled alerts. The system uses a programmable master timer and industrial signaling devices to provide consistent audible notifications throughout a facility. Programming is performed directly through the controller, allowing the system to operate as a stand-alone solution without requiring a computer or network connection.

The system includes a programmable timer/controller, industrial signaling devices, wiring, and installation components required for standard applications. Once programmed, the controller automatically activates the connected bells or signaling devices according to the scheduled events. Multiple daily events can be programmed, providing reliable and consistent timing for shift and break notifications.

A centralized timer helps keep signaling synchronized across production areas, departments, warehouses, and other work spaces. Additional signaling devices can be added when coverage requirements increase, making the system adaptable for facilities of different sizes.

Typical Applications

Bells In A Box is commonly used in manufacturing facilities, machine shops, warehouses, distribution centers, service facilities, and other workplaces where employees may not always be near a clock.

The system can be used for:

• Employee shift changes
• Break and lunch periods
• Production start and stop times
• Scheduled work intervals
• School or facility announcements
• Other recurring timed alerts

Using one central timer eliminates the timing differences that can occur when individual timers are used in different areas. All connected signaling devices activate according to the same programmed schedule.

Compatibility and Usage

• Programmable master timer and work shift signaling system
• Industrial audible signaling devices
• Multiple scheduled events throughout the day
• Expandable with additional bells or signaling devices
• Stand-alone operation with no software required
• Designed for manufacturing, warehouse, commercial, and service applications
• Suitable for shift changes, breaks, lunches, and scheduled alerts

FAQ

Can additional signaling devices be added later?

Yes. The system can be expanded with additional compatible signaling devices when a facility requires greater coverage or additional work areas.

Is this a replacement for mechanical bell timers?

Yes. A programmable electronic timer provides flexible scheduling and consistent timing while eliminating the need to manually activate bells or rely on older mechanical timers.

Why use audible signaling devices?

Audible signals allow employees to hear scheduled notifications even when they are working away from a clock or inside a noisy production environment. Different signaling devices can be selected based on the size and sound requirements of the facility.

Related Items

• Programmable work shift timer
• Industrial audible signaling devices

This has been going on for years:  People keep asking "How loud are your bells?" 

Unfortunately, it's like describing a dinner at a restaurant. It depends on the environment.  Is it an empty room like a gymnasium?  Does it have lots of rooms, or lots of background noise like a woodworking shop?  Is this a warehouse with lots of rows of shelving and boxes of fabric?

Bells and buzzers all seem to max out at 102db.  102db is very loud.
110db is extremely loud.  Painfully loud.  Ear-ringing loud.

In our experience, installing 2 to 3 bells or buzzers is much more effective than just one.   Put one by the timer, then run wire out the another, half-way across the building, or 100'.  It won't be louder, it will just be more likely to be heard above all the background noise.

So, yours truly did some research recently (2016), this is interesting:
Using an Android phone decibel app, this is what we found:
**A bedroom at night in the country, windows closed:  28 - 32 db
**A bedroom at night in the city with the windows closed:  42- 46 db
**Office environment, people chattering:  62db

**American Airlines 737 inside just behind the wing,
    where you can see the engine: during takeoff  86db
**Same jet, landing with the reverse thrusters on:  88db  That ROAR you hear..
**Same jet, cruising for 3 hours, it's 82 to 86db.  That's partially why flying is tiring.
Shop buzzer's:  102db (Edwards, the ones we sell)  Other brands "hum" at 82 to 86.
Our bells test out at 98 to 103db depending on voltage   When you fly, put napkins in your ears, you will arrive much less "buzzed."

It seems that no one offers anything louder than 102db, unless it goes on a train, ocean liner, or fog horn.  In some cases loudspeakers are used on farms; we don't have them, but our equipment will ring them.  This is 110db, a train horn on an obnoxious person's pickup truck.  In a working environment, this would clearly cause accidents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiWNw0A1Ijg&feature=related

More bells or horns does not make it louder, it just makes it more pervasive - easier to hear through the machinery, across the rooms, over the land.

July 5, 2018 more to know: 
A Fire Station Siren is 106 decibals. Our bells and buzzers are typically 98 to 102.

Pays for itself IN JUST ONE WEEK:
Example:

You are in manufacturing, you have 10 or more employees at $25 per hour

They drag out break and lunch time by 2 to 3 minutes, every day, two breaks, one lunch a day.  Worse yet, you have "smokers.
When the lunch ends, someone has to shout "Back to work!"  Yes, this sucks.
Stop the drama, the bell becomes "the bad guy."  Not Mike, the shop foreman.

Install a simple - or advanced - bell or buzzer system, the bell becomes that "bad guy." 
They won't miss a break, they will take lunch on time, they will start when they should, they will come back, like trained people, when they are supposed to.

You will collect back, using very conservative numbers, a minimum of 4 minutes per day per person.
If it doesn't sound like much, you would be wrong.

Using conservative numbers, the math won't lie:
1 employee, $25 per hour WITH taxes and benefits. (You're really paying about $30 up front, you can't avoid the taxes, PTO, insurances):
That's 42 to 50 cents labor cost, one employee, per minute.  We will work with 42 cents/minute.
Recover 1 minute of break time.  2 minutes of lunch time. 1 more minute of second break.
Remember, they then work until the END OF DAY with the bell system, not relaxing 15 minutes ahead of time.  That's additional labor expenses you will recover.

We can count on 4 minutes absolute minimum time recovered, per man, per day.  4x.34=$1.68 per day. 5 days: $8.40 per week per worker. 10 employees = 84.00/weekly
52 weeks: $4,368 per year per employee in recovered labor time.  Every year.

$4,368 x 10 employees.  $ 43,638 recovered work time. Every year. 
And the shop becomes more organized.

Add a digital clock so that they all know exactly what time it is, and it gets even better.