Delhaize Group

The Delhaize Group was founded in Belgium in 1867. It is now active in six countries on three continents, operating a sales network of close to 3,000 stores and employing approximately 141,000 people. Delhaize stores function primarily as supermarkets, representing 85 percent of the Delhaize Group's sales network, but also include neighbourhood, convenience and specialty stores. In addition to food retailing, which accounts for close to 95 percent of its sales, the group engages in food wholesaling and in non-food retailing of pet products to stores in its sales network.

Delhaize Belgium

Belgium is the historical home market of the Delhaize Group. Over the years Delhaize Belgium has built a strong market position (second in terms of sales), providing its customers with quality products and excellent service at competitive prices. At the end of September 2009 Delhaize Belgium's sales network consisted of 786 stores in Belgium and Luxembourg, and it employed 17,000 people.

Pre-existing situation & UTCFS’s role

Previously, Delhaize Belgium had a variety of security systems installed by different providers. However, these lacked the capabilities the company was looking for, so the search for a new and improved security system began. More specifically Delhaize sought intrusion detection and access control. It was vitally important that whatever system selected needed to be scalable, allowing Delhaize to standardise its security nation-wide across more than 125 supermarkets. Having outlined its requirements, Delhaize turned to UTCFS to make it all happen.

UTCFS’s solution

All of the Delhaize supermarkets protected by UTCFS in Belgium are equipped with between 20 and 50 intrusion and access control detectors, depending on the store size. All detectors are connected to the ATS Master platform, a single, integrated solution for both access control and intrusion detection. Delhaize Belgium's central security station operates UTCFS's Alliance management software, a powerful tool capable of integrating different security systems such as fire detection, video surveillance, access control and intrusion detection. The system enables full remote control of each individual store’s security system, maximising the efficiency of security personnel. As specified, UTCFS's solution for Delhaize is flexible and highly scalable, and whenever the company opens a new store, it is equipped with UTCFS’s solution and integrated into the central security network.