Having a master clock that distributes synchronized time to all the clocks in your facility can provide enhancements in work flows and operations that you never would have thought. Whether your industry is healthcare and you manage a busy hospital campus, or you’re in manufacturing and run a small factory, a master clock can work wonders for your facility. In order to cater to more than just one facility type, this article will outline four of the main industries where using a master clock for synchronized time is very advantageous.

1. Schools

Not only do schools K through 12th require an extremely accurate time display to organize the flow of students through the halls each day, but they also need the sound of the bells to match that time display. If bells are ringing five minutes slow or fast of the accurate time display, students are deprived of a reliable direction to leave for their next class. However, with a master clock installed in the school, bell systems can be scheduled and controlled by the master clock, making sure that when the noon lunch bell rings, the clocks at that moment will be displaying 12:00 on the dot.

2. Manufacturing

Similar to a school setting, many of the functions throughout the day in a manufacturing plant rely on a bell system as well. Break times are as well as the close of business for the day are sounded through the bell system. When these bells do sound, it must be at the accurate time in order for the plant to work efficiently. This is why the implementation of a master clock can be pivotal to the organization of the plant. When the bell system is synchronized with the master clock’s accurate time, employee break and leave times are kept on track—allowing the plant to be more efficient.

3. Transportation

No industry relies as heavily on a constant time display as the transportation industry. Think, if the clocks were to go down for even an hour during the morning rush within a train station, airport, or bus terminal, there would be complete havoc. Travelers would miss their trains, departures and arrivals would be too early or too late. Luckily, when a transportation facility has implemented a master clock, their device usually features a back-up time source. For instance, while most master clocks provide a GPS module for GPS time synchronization, many of those master clocks will also have a back-up time source, such as a real-time clock or NTP server. That means if the GPS loses its signal, the master clock will have something in place so the time display throughout the transportation facility does not become inaccurate.

4. Corporate

Business offices and complexes always seem to be anticipating an event that happens twice a year: Daylight Saving Time. This time of year can be very cumbersome for business complexes due to the fact that changing every single clock the night before the time change is usually not feasible. Typically, employees will come in the day of or after the time change and gradually change every single clock in the building over the course of time. This is entirely inefficient, considering the time employees lose from having to find and change each and every clock that has not been adjusted for the time change. However, when a master clock is used in the complex, all the wall clocks in each building will adjust automatically for Daylight Saving Time, allowing employees to report to work the following day without having to manually adjust any clocks.