The origins of A.F. Blakemore & Son Ltd date back to 1917, when Arthur Blakemore opened a 350sq ft counter service store in Wolverhampton. A.F. Blakemore has grown considerably over the past century and now employs around 5,500 people with a turnover in excess of £700 million per year. Following the acquisition of Tates Ltd in 1994, A.F. Blakemore also has a strong "own-stores" division encompassing more than 200 SPAR shops.
The challenge
A.F. Blakemore & Son's distribution centre in Great Bridge, holds many hundreds of thousands of pounds of stock scheduled to be delivered to one of its many clients across the country. The company has an enviable reputation for being reliable and an essential part of this is always delivering on time. Any threat to this continuity of supply is therefore totally unacceptable. Security in and around the company's premises has to be of the highest level to deter and, if necessary, detect would be vandals and thieves.
The existing CCTV system at the Great Bridge 84,000 sq ft distribution centre was well past its ‘use by date'. It no longer met the client's changing requirements in terms of coverage and the old generation cameras were unable to produce the quality of images needed by the CCTV system operators to react quickly and effectively to any incident. The operators also did not find the existing equipment easy to use and were therefore unable to get the maximum benefit from the system.
The solution
A.F. Blakemore & Son entrusted CCTV specialists, ID Security Systems Ltd to design, supply and install a CCTV system which could take advantage of the very latest advances in technology. Ian Harris, Sales Manager for Aston, Birmingham based ID Security Systems Ltd said: "We decided to source all the equipment from the professional security division of Samsung following extensive research involving the evaluation of CCTV equipment from a number of different manufacturers. Each of the Samsung products selected has some truly impressive features and with each product being competitively priced, the decision was made very easy for us."
ID Security Systems Ltd installed a total of 43 Samsung cameras, the majority of which are a combination of fixed and zoom cameras but also included were two SPD-3750T PTZ dome cameras. In addition to incorporating a 37 x optical zoom lens, the SPD-3750T also has an automatic tracking function. These two powerful features equip the SPD-3750T to track subjects and zoom in on them for evidence gathering purposes without any operator intervention.
| The Samsung dome cameras can track subjects and zoom in on them without any operator intervention |
Panning at up to 500 degrees per second, the SPD-3750T offers the option of automatic scene tours or can be programmed to move to 256 preset positions.
Live or recorded images from all 43 cameras can be viewed on Samsung STM-17LA monitors via one of four Samsung SVR-1660C DVRs installed in the onsite control room whilst there is the option for A.F. Blakemore & Son's security management to remotely monitor activity using Samsung Centralised Management Software which is supplied licence-free with every DVR.
The results
"Having acquired the site at Great Bridge to support our existing and anticipated wholesale sales growth for the next decade, it is paramount that we provide a continual supply chain to our valued customers," said Barry Davies, Managing Director of A. F. Blakemore & Son's Logistics Division.
"In accordance with our business continuity programme, the protection of our warehouses, vehicles, products and staff is paramount. ID Security Solutions (IDSS) team, provided an effective flexible security solution with an ‘on time' professional installation. Being a local, competitive business that shared our company values with a mutual long term relationship in mind, they fulfilled all our criteria and objectives".