Many manufacturers are overlooking a valuable source of visual intelligence: security cameras. Here, Abraham Alvarez, Vice President of Product Management, Cameras at Verkada, examines how manufacturers are using video security cameras to supercharge factory operations.
Video security cameras today do far more than monitor entry points to a facility or find footage of a slip-and-fall event. Operational leaders are now leveraging video security cameras for visual intelligence to help them streamline and boost productivity – from optimising floor layouts for efficiency to improving quality control on an assembly line.
Optimising floor layouts
The layout of a manufacturing facility can significantly impact operational efficiency. Small delays and inefficiencies compound over time – and in turn, small time savings and efficiencies can also compound.
Carolina Ingredients, an industrial seasoning manufacturer and supplier, turned to its video security system to re-evaluate and optimise its 23,000 square foot warehouse. Heatmaps generated from those security cameras gave Carolina Ingredients critical visibility into forklift movement and traffic patterns across its narrow aisles and 1,200 pallets.
After running several experiments with these heatmaps, Frank McKinney, COO and Plant Manager at Carolina Ingredients, discovered that his team was running about 17% of wasted time on three forklifts. The culprit? Low-usage items stored in high-volume aisles restricted traffic and caused delays because only one forklift could access an aisle at a time. This suboptimal layout didn’t just waste operational hours, it also cost the business thousands of dollars each week.
After redesigning and relocating materials based on the heatmap data, Carolina Ingredients has seen a drastic improvement in efficiency, making up well beyond the 17% it was losing before – and even netting 5% gains in the pounds per hour that its team moves via forklift each day.
Improving quality control
Chips, dents and dings have long plagued manufacturers. Video security cameras have opened up a new avenue to address the root causes and ultimately decrease spending on time- and cost-intensive reprocessing.
Operations teams can quickly investigate and identify exactly when a defect occurred on the line by integrating production machinery with video security systems. For example, one global auto manufacturer links its video security footage with its assembly line data to pinpoint issues like chips or dents quickly by using a vehicle’s VIN to source relevant video security footage. This enables teams to trace defects, verify the problem with visual evidence, and quickly take corrective action – all within a matter of hours, not days or weeks.
This kind of precision in quality control also extends to routine reporting and compliance investigations. One industrial manufacturer was able to leverage License Plate Recognition (LPR) on video security cameras that overlook a weighbridge to verify the contents of an outbound delivery and run reports based on the aggregate information – time, weight, contents, vehicle, destination, and more.
Video security as a strategic advantage
As manufacturers work to stay competitive in the face of rising costs and tightening margins, the visual intelligence that they can leverage from video security cameras – which, in most cases, are already in operation – is emerging as a strategic asset for leading manufacturers. Increased visibility and interconnected data is ultimately the foundation for safer and smarter, data-driven operating environments.
