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Claire Kirby

Claire Kirby - Hygiene Consultant

Industry Insights From a Leading Hygiene Consultant

Partner of Choice

As part of her twenty-plus years’ experience in the food industry, Claire’s expertise is regularly enlisted to streamline the cleanliness procedures, safety standards, and culture of compliance at some of the country’s largest companies, including Muller Yogurts & Desserts, Kraft Heinz, and Ecolab, among others.

Below are seven clips taken from an exclusive interview Claire carried out with Alex Carlyon, one of Klipspringer’s directors. In these, Claire shares some of her fascinating industry insights, her thoughts on the pressures of audits, and her experiences partnering with Klipspringer.

Claire Kirby, Director at Innovation Hygiene Consultancy

Claire’s background and initial dealings with Klipspringer

“When I walk into a factory, I look for certain things, one of them is the shadow boards from Klipspringer – and then I know I’m going to be okay!”

Listen as Claire details her extensive history of work in the food industry, her take on audits being “battles”, and a couple of entertaining anecdotes which illustrate the importance of seamless services and support by food safety and compliance companies.

The impact of strong vs sub-par food safety support

In the below clip, Claire emphasises the crucial importance of food compliance for keeping manufacturers afloat. She tells Alex about the catastrophic consequences of losing large customers for two of her clients – an unpleasant outcome which Klipspringer helped to prevent.

Claire’s experience partnering with Klipspringer

Compliance with confidence isn’t just a saying for us at Klipspringer – it underpins everything we do. Listen to the clip below to find out how we’ve delivered that confidence for Claire and her clients over the years, why it matters … and what a hygiene hug is!

Claire’s previous experiences with other partners

In this section of the interview, Claire tells Alex about her challenges when dealing with other food safety partners.

Adding value moving forward

Always eager to discover new ways to innovate and provide top-tier service, Alex asks Claire how Klipspringer can continue to provide value in future. In this clip, Claire offers various shrewd suggestions, based on her own time working closely with Senior Leadership Teams (SLTs) at some of the largest manufacturers around the UK.

The inside scoop on audits

“You can stage it as much as you want, but it never works that way!”

Penultimately, Claire reveals the exact process, step-by-step, of a typical audit, specifying the need for both preparation and flexibility. To provide a concrete example, she draws on her recent experience with a particularly thorough Tesco auditor!

Final words

In this final clip, Claire and Alex exchange words on what constitutes impeccable customer service, and why Klipspringer have been her dependable partner of choice for several years.

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Queensland Bakery

Simplifying colour coding and ensuring audit compliance for a rapidly-growing family bakery.

Background

In his role as Operations Director at Queensland Bakery, Bryan Fowler has ultimate responsibility for food safety compliance at their new factory in Hampshire.

With a growing customer base and increasingly high audit demands, Queensland moved to a new bakery in 2022 to provide much larger production capacity.

As well as a complete fit-out of new equipment, Bryan knew he must make compliance simple to achieve and maintain, while also ensuring production remains as lean as possible!

Queensland Bakery is family-owned company in Hampshire, focused on innovating and manufacturing great quality impulse food products for the catering sector.

With over 900 retail, out of home and food service customers, they have recently moved to a new BRCGS-certified site and looked to Klipspringer to support with their compliance and equipment requirements.

Colour-coded shadow boards and utensils for a new BRCGS-certified bakery facility.

Why did Queensland Bakery choose Klipspringer?

Compliance advice and technical know-how

With over 20 years’ experience serving the food industry, the Klipspringer team have the necessary expertise for every stage – from first-time accreditation through to new factory fit-out projects.

For Bryan, with so many audit pressures, customer demands and production deadlines, it was this level of knowledge and dedicated hand-holding that set Klipspringer apart as a supply partner.

Colour-coding support

Previously, Queensland’s colour coding policy involved the use of multiple colours for segregation (e.g. allergen, tasks, areas). Not only was this proving difficult for the team to remember, it was also difficult for management to keep on top of day by day.

Working with Klipspringer, Queensland were able to reduce the number of colours used. Implementing bespoke shadow boards made it easy to ensure all equipment is stored cleanly and correctly. It also helped reinforce the colour coding policy and which utensils should be used with the team.

Shadow boards, with magnetic mounting

An additional bonus for Bryan was Klipspringer’s new magnetic shadow board system. As well as a rapid install time, this meant shadow boards can be easily relocated as their processes and factory floorplan evolves – all without causing any material damage to factory walling.

Happier staff and greater compliance...

“We achieved a Grade A at our new site this week which is a massive achievement with so many changes to personnel, systems and processes in 8 weeks, and really appreciate the Klipspringer team’s support in ensuring we are fully compliant in the areas of utensils and storage, and also our hygiene requirements. Our staff are now happier and finding it much easier to comply. We no longer have items go ‘missing’, as everything has to be returned at the end of each shift. The team also comment regularly how much easier it is to use the right utensil for the right job.”

Bryan Fowler, Operations Director

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Bespoke Shadow Boards & Cleaning Stations

Colour Coded Cleaning & Production Tools

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A G Barr

A smarter approach to segregation for production and storage areas.

Background

As Continuous Improvement Leader at A G Barr, Alex Wilson had identified a problem with segregation within the recycling area of the facility. The previous method in use was cumbersome and difficult for the team to manage, as well as being time-consuming to clean and maintain on a regular basis.

Following extensive discussions with several companies, Klipspringer suggested their unique SegriScreen solution – a mobile and modular screening system that are easy to install, easy to clean and make cleaning the floor area a doddle.

Established in Scotland over 140 years ago, A G Barr is a soft drinks business at its core. The company offers a diverse and differentiated portfolio of great tasting brands such as the iconic IRN-BRU, market-leading RUBICON exotic fruit juice drinks, and the Scottish spring water STRATHMORE.

Versatile screening solutions for versatile and easy-to-manage factory segregation.

Why did A G Barr choose Klipspringer?

Easy to clean

With a simple bolt-together design, the SegriScreen from Klipspringer is both easy to put together and easy to take apart – while still remaining safe for use in food production environments. This means that the screens are also very easy to clean regularly or as required, simply by reducing the frame tension and removing the screen material. Given the importance of hygiene to any food processing facility, this was a key win for the team at A G Barr.

Reduced hygiene hassle

The mobile design of the segregation screens also means that the screens can simply be moved around as required. In contrast to cumbersome and heavy non-mobile alternatives, this means that hygiene teams can simply reposition the screens in order to access the area or when conducting hygiene operations. When finished, the screens’ castor brakes are applied to keep them safely in position.

Customised design for strong branding

Thanks to the in-house production process for SegriScreens, A G Barr were able to prominently showcase their branding on each of the screens. Not only is this visually striking, it also gives the opportunity to add further custom messaging as required, for warnings, instructions or area names.

A professional and compliant solution

“We have worked with Klipspringer for some time. They are professional, listen to our needs and offer appropriate and compliant solutions, always. We are especially impressed with their bespoke products and in addition to these SegriScreen we have previously purchased shadow boards. We source much of our production equipment including colour coded equipment from them and we are always happy with the quality of the goods and the service they provide.”

Alex Wilson, Continuous Improvement Leader

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SegriScreen - Mobile Segregation Solutions

Colour Coded Cleaning & Production Tools

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Garth Dempster

Garth Dempster - Hygiene Consultant

Hygiene Consultant Garth Dempster Shares How to Protect Equipment During Washdowns

Partner of Choice

When Garth first approached Klipspringer, he had two main areas of concern he wanted addressing:

Firstly, the damage inflicted on factory equipment (particularly touchscreen control panels, which cost thousands of pounds) due to insufficient protection during routine hygiene washdowns.

Secondly, washdown contamination causing machinery that had already been cleaned having to be recleaned at the expense of production downtime, wasted water, and considerable cost.

Read on to find out how Klipspringer collaborated with Garth to innovatively overcome these concerns.

With more than ten years’ experience as a Hygiene Manager across multiple food and beverage manufacturers, Garth Dempster is now a well-respected Hygiene Consultant. His expertise covers both high and low-risk environments across a wide range of premium food production brands with BRCGS-certified factories.

Garth’s day-to-day responsibilities include staff transfers, audits and team training, hygiene management, consultations, and searching for adaptive methods to improve compliance and enhance operational efficiency.

Maximising hygiene and minimising downtime for one of the food industry's leading hygiene consultants.

Why did Garth Dempster choose Klipspringer?

Reduced Equipment Repair Costs

Washdowns are an unavoidable part of compliant manufacturing practice, but equipment damage is not. In Garth’s words: “My advice to anyone in a similar situation would be to look at how much time it costs to repair equipment and to speak to Klipspringer about the SegriCovers as they are a great help. They can easily be cleaned down and put away to dry in a safe place and be reused again and again.”

Adaptability

We adapted one of the most popular models in our Segri ‘Family’, the SegriScreen, specifically for this application, Gareth needed a screen large enough to cover a 7-foot Sancassiano mixer while avoiding bug traps and moisture harborage points. After multiple prototypes, the SegriCover was born – a bespoke, waterproof, and hygienic cover to protect machines and production items from both water ingress and contamination.

Reusable, Robust, Multi-Use Materials

Traditional washdown methods typically involve single-use covers or plastic binliners (see the first image above). Not only are these materials far less durable, but they are also environmentally damaging. According to Garth, SegriCovers “…also allowed us to reduce the amount of single-use plastic covers that we use on a clean down; we have to be a lot more mindful of the environment now and by using the SegriCover this has reduced our consumption of plastic bin liners massively.”

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SegriScreen

SegriCover

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Tesco

Tesco Maintenance

Improving cleaning and safety standards for all stores nationwide.

Background

As Group Maintenance Manager for Tesco Maintenance, Jason Cross had a dilemma. Each week, on-site engineers at each Tesco site were supposed to complete a roof check. However, standards across the UK were inconsistent (not least because there was a lack of uniformity in the tools used by each store), and there was no guarantee the check was being completed.

Implementing a nationwide standard through more than 750 stores was never going to be an easy challenge. Having shortlisted the tools required, Jason then had to find a way of ensuring they were where they needed to be, when they needed to be – small handheld equipment has a reputation for disappearing unaccounted for!

With more than 750 stores, Tesco are one of the leading supermarket chains and a familiar brand the world over.

As a division of Tesco, Tesco Maintenance are responsible for all planned and reactive maintenance within Tesco and OneStop stores throughout the UK and Ireland.

Bespoke cleaning station shadow boards for UK-wide standardisation.

Why did Tesco choose Klipspringer?

Trusted partnership

Having previously completed a shadow board project for Tesco’s in-store bakeries, Klipspringer were familiar with Tesco protocol and requirements. It was absolutely essential to make sure the tools selected were fit for purpose, and perfectly suited to each application. The ongoing effects of getting this wrong would likely include the task not being completed to a satisfactory standard, the cleaning taking too long to complete or utensils requiring replacement too frequently.

Klipspringer’s inhouse studio created a corporate design including the Tesco branding, relevant safety signage and procedural messaging. Careful consideration was given to the layout of the shadow board to ensure maximum space efficiency and to keep costs to a minimum, whilst fully meeting the required specifications.

Shadow board & equipment quality

A full size, real-to-life prototype was then manufactured to allow store trials to commence. Tesco chose Klipspringer’s hard-wearing ACM (Aluminium Composite Material) for robustness, weather-protection and longevity-of-life – cheaper materials were not going to be up to the job. UV-stable print also ensured that colour would remain within the shadow boards without fading, while the anti-scuff laminate provided that extra level of protection to keep the shadow boards looking pristine for an indefinite period of time.

Fast production & implementation

Following successful completion of the trial, Jason’s business plan was approved and the budget secured. Thanks to Klipspringer’s inhouse, state-of-the-art shadow board production facilities, more than 750 shadow boards were printed, laminated, assembled and despatched in less than 50 days!

Bringing the vision to life...

“Klipspringer are an industry leader in this type of product. We were dealing with real people who have a wealth of experience, and who were able to adapt their ideas to suit our precise requirements. A big factor in our decision to go with Klipspringer was the quality of their production facilities and the resulting quality product. Klipspringer were easy to talk to and second-to-none as an operating partner: their great suggestions helped shape a great product.

Klipspringer brought my vision of a roof shadow board with tools to life. This allowed me to trial the concept and write the business plan to complete a UK-wide launch.”

Jason Cross, Group Maintenance Manager

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Bespoke Shadow Boards & Cleaning Stations

Colour Coded Cleaning & Production Tools

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Compass Group

“A Solution to an Age-Old Issue”: How Klipspringer’s Thermometer Calibrator Remodelled Food Service at The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Partner of choice

From a lack of accuracy and traceability to uncontrollable drifts in the displayed temperature, the issues with traditional thermometer checking methods are well-known. For Compass Group, their biggest problem was the needlessly time-consuming calibration process which – according to Mark Reynolds, Executive Head Chef – meant it would take “three or four hours to check the probes throughout the stadium”.

No longer. Since partnering with Klipspringer, Compass Group has remodelled their thermometer checks, using our digital, UKAS-accredited solution to cut costs, improve compliance, and save staff hours of time each month.

Read on to find out how.

With over 500,000 employees, Compass Group are the largest contract catering organisation in the world. For over 75 years, their companies have provided hospitality across schools, offices, factories, universities, hospitals, and, of course, major sporting venues.

The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium recently became one of these venues. When the club moved to their new 62,000-seater stadium in 2019, their hospitality team – the Levy division of Compass Group – were on the lookout for leading improvements in food service to better equip the stadium’s 64 kitchens.

Removing all subjectivity from thermometer checks in kitchens across the UK's third largest football stadium.

Why did Compass Group choose Klipspringer?

Time and money saved

Rather than wasting hours checking that kitchen thermometers are working, Compass Group staff now use the LazaPort to verify accuracy in a matter of seconds. The LazaPort also reduces the amount of equipment discarded – as staff can recalibrate their thermometers, rather than unnecessarily replacing them – which also results in copious cost savings.

Award-winning solutions

In 2021, the Lazaport Mono was a Gold Winner at Commercial Kitchen’s Innovation Challenge, a showcase of the most promising newly launched products in the kitchen and food equipment sector. Judges described the Mono as: “…a great concept, ideal for consistency and great connectivity. A solution to an age-old issue.”

Unprecedented accuracy

With an accuracy of ±0.3°C, the UKAS-accredited LazaPort Mono is the most compact, versatile, and advanced model yet. It is a culmination of years of research and testing designed to benefit commercial kitchens, hospitality, restaurants, fine dining, and contract caterers.

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Kitchen Thermometers

LazaPort Mono

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NHS

The NHS

Ensuring food safety and reducing hassle for NHS kitchens

Partner of Choice

Foodborne illnesses pose a massive risk in hospitals. Young children, the elderly, chemotherapy patients, and pregnant women are susceptible to such illnesses due to already weakened immune systems – making food safety a crucial consideration in healthcare environments.

That’s why the NHS made Klipspringer their partner of choice. From hospitals in London and Gloucestershire to Halton and Warrington, our temperature probes and thermometer calibrators prevent bacteria-caused food contamination. We ensure that patients’ meals are safe, consistent, and high-quality, delivering peace of mind for NHS staff.

The National Health Service, or NHS, leads the world in providing equity of healthcare access, and ensuring that citizens don’t suffer financial hardship or bankruptcy when they are ill, injured, or incapacitated.

With more than 1,250 hospitals throughout the UK, the NHS treat an estimated 1.5 million patients each day, indiscriminately caring for the UK population with skill, compassion, and dedication.

Catering Manager Frank Fiore discusses his experience using Klipspringer at Milton Keynes Hospital.

Why did the NHS choose Klipspringer?

No bias or subjectivity

Unlike the traditional thermometer checking methods, the UKAS-accredited LazaPorts provided the NHS with guaranteed proof of competence. By checking thermometers at the critical safety point for food safety (75°C), LazaPorts remove all guesswork from the process.

Appraisal of requirements

Following the tragic death of seven NHS patients after eating listeria-contaminated sandwiches, we provided a targeted, strategy-led plan. For the full story, click here.

Time saved

Rather than wasting hours checking that kitchen thermometers are working, NHS staff now use the LazaPort to verify accuracy in a matter of seconds. This frees up their time to prioritise other, more vital tasks.

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Ebro Thermometer Probes

The LazaPort Family

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Whitbread

Improving food quality and reducing cooking oil consumption by 30% with the Food Oil Monitor

Oil management innovations

While continuing to operate efficiently, Whitbread realised that the quality of their fries wasn’t what it could be. Operationally, consistency between batches was often hard to maintain, and even when their kitchen teams produced top-quality fries, the formula behind it was hard to pinpoint and replicate.

In line with their ongoing commitment to sustainability, Whitbread deemed the waste of perfectly usable oil as unacceptable. They saw how they could cut their company-wide carbon footprint, while simultaneously making extensive oil savings.

As the largest hotel chain in the UK – and the name behind brands including Premier Inn, Beefeater, and Table Table – Whitbread are one of the most established and respected hospitality companies in the UK.

With over 1,200 venues and 35,000 employees, safety, compliance, and sustainability are all essential values behind Whitbread’s success. This is especially true when it comes to serving their 5 million customers every month!

The Solution

During our initial consultation with Whitbread, we identified a few key areas to target:

an objective, arbitrary, digital measurement of cooking oil quality
rapid daily oil quality checks (without being a time-consuming burden)
an unequivocal decision-making process of when cooking oil should be changed

Klipspringer’s team of experts delivered a coordinated training programme for Whitbread’s staff, who mastered the Food Oil Monitor’s self-explanatory display and light-up system with ease. The Food Oil Monitor is now approved for use in all Whitbread outlets.

Specially calibrated to Whitbread’s oil formula, a daily oil quality check with the FOM330 gives store, regional and national management peace of mind as well as an audit trail. This enables them to:

prove compliance with relevant legislation (particularly the recent Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2158)
ensure product consistency globally from restaurant to restaurant
analyse cooking oil usage to identify where oil is being changed prematurely (facilitating a reduction in operating costs)

Driving compliance and cutting carbon footprints through food oil quality management.

Why did Whitbread choose Klipspringer?

Objectivity

The FOM provides a fast and accurate reading of the Total Polar Compounds (TPC) within the oil – an objective indication of oil quality in fryers. This is crucial for consumer safety, given that an increased amount of TPC is associated with the build up of acrylamide, a cancer-causing, customer-harming chemical.

Significant reductions in oil usage and costs

Whitbread saw a return on investment from their upfront costs within just 6 months. Due to no more ongoing cost of (far less accurate) colour test strips, every saving made past this initial period was pure surplus – an average reduction in oil usage of 30%, with some Whitbread sites reporting savings of up to 52%!

Sustainability

Rather than following in the footsteps of other businesses’ vague greenwashing promises, Whitbread decided to take tangible action. Oil is one of the largest consumables across the entire food and hospitality sector – but no longer for Whitbread, following the rollout of the FOM across multiple locations nationwide.

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Digital Food Oil Monitor

Bespoke Equipment Stations

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Five Guys

FIVE GUYS

Global compliance support for leading burger and fries restaurant chain.

Leading-edge food safety solutions

Five Guys were looking for a partner to support them globally with a broad spectrum of food safety solutions. Not only was effective and efficient vendor management important in this decision, global standardisation was also a key driver.

In particular, Five Guys needed a method of systemising and measuring the quality of their cooking oil. Besides legal requirements, Five Guys’ internal quality standards were a key driver in instigating this project.

Already well established in the USA, Five Guys’ presence in the UK and Europe is growing rapidly, with over 1,600 restaurants internationally.

Food safety legislation varies from country to country and this makes compliance a potentially complex process for Jeremy Lockley, Five Guys’ Senior Director of Food Safety and Quality Assurance.

The Solution.

Working with Five Guys, Klipspringer identified three key requirements:

daily oil quality checks (without being a procedural or time-consuming burden)
an arbitrary, digital measurement of cooking oil quality
de-skill the decision-making process of when cooking oil should be changed.

Following a successful restaurant trial, the Klipspringer’s Food Oil Monitor was approved for use in all Five Guys outlets. A bespoke Compliance Instrument Station was also introduced to store the Oil Monitor along with other food safety management equipment (tablet and thermometers).

Using the Instrument Station ensures the Oil Monitor is always in the right location at the right time, as well as providing safe storage when not in use.

Specially calibrated to Five Guys’ oil formula, a daily oil quality check with the FOM330 gives store, regional and national management peace of mind as well as an audit trail. This enables them to:

prove compliance with relevant legislation (particularly the recent Commission Regulation (EU) 2017/2158)
ensure product consistency globally from restaurant to restaurant
analyse cooking oil usage to identify where oil is being changed prematurely (facilitating a reduction in operating costs).

Enhancing standards through food oil quality management and bespoke equipment stations.

Why did FIVE GUYS choose Klipspringer?

International standardisation

Klipspringer are able to supply Five Guys’ outlets internationally. This guarantees consistent processes, compliance and product quality in all restaurants across the globe.

Bespoke equipment package

Bespoke branded equipment stations improve visual standards and ensure that equipment is kept safe when not in use. In addition, Klipspringer calibrate the Food Oil Monitor to Five Guys’ unique oil formula for ultimate reading accuracy.

Simple yet robust

The Food Oil Monitor is thoughtfully designed for busy kitchen use, with an easy-to-use design, a clear traffic light result indicator and a stainless steel protective shield around the sensor stem.

Ongoing support

Klipspringer’s hospitality team continue to support Five Guys’ expansion globally. In addition, their unique calibration offering ensures minimum equipment downtime while keeping the Food Oil Monitor in tip-top condition.

In FIVE GUYS' words:

“Klipspringer are able to supply our stores internationally, which means we only have to deal with a single supplier as we expand globally.

The bespoke design of the instrument station provides not only a single place for our equipment, but its FIVE GUYS’ branding gives it a real quality feel. It’s a part of what we do, so being able to personalise it was vital.”

Jeremy Lockley, Senior Director of Food Safety & Quality Assurance

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Digital Food Oil Monitor

Bespoke Equipment Stations

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Great Bear

Great Bear Distribution

Peace of mind for one of the UK’s leading logistics networks.

Partner of Choice

For over 10 years, Klipspringer has been Great Bear’s partner of choice for monitoring their temperature and humidity sensitive warehousing and distribution facilities.

Using one of the latest and most advanced real-time monitoring systems available, Klipspringer have delivered complete peace of mind for products in storage, as well as seasonal temperature mapping exercises.

As a leading 3rd party logistics business, Great Bear provides nationwide dedicated and shared user warehousing and distribution solutions for international blue chip clients including PZ Cussons, Reckitt Benckiser, Unilever and Sainsbury’s.

Spanning the FMCG, healthcare, e commerce and bonded sectors, they operate over 9 million square feet of warehousing, with a large fleet of vehicles and an extensive added value service offering.

Periodic mapping and real-time monitoring for safe and reliable stock protection.

Why did Great Bear choose Klipspringer?

Trusted partnership

Klipspringer know and understand Great Bear’s requirements in detail. Once Great Bear have simply provided a site racking plan, the Klipspringer technical team are able to specify the type and location of sensors required, as well as providing the compliance documentation required.

Reliability and versatility

WatchmanOne is a robust, industrial grade system that is easy to understand and operate. Reports are easy to generate, and sensors can be layered for monitoring trends and extreme.

Ongoing support

By choosing to work with Klipspringer, Great Bear have access to 24/7 rapid response technical support, as well as ongoing calibration, service and consultancy for temperature monitoring and mapping.

What the customers says...

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John Jones, Group Operations Manager

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WatchmanOne Environmental Monitoring

WatchmanOne Environmental Monitoring

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