Challenges
The key factors behind introduction of a video monitoring system included the desire to provide security of the personnel, to meet environmental protection standards, to monitor Health & Safety procedures, to extend control over (healthy) food manufacturing processes, to monitor potential property damage due to anti-social behavior, and to prevent theft.
Solution
The system has been built on the Milestone XProtect™ Professional video software platform, which controls AXIS network surveillance cameras. Mirare, an authorised Milestone and Axis partner, has both designed and implemented the solution for Nutricia.
Benefits
The video surveillance system has contributed to better site security. Risks of economic sabotage, negligence, theft or intentional damage to property have all been significantly reduced. Recordings of high-risk events captured by on video can be used as evidence whenever required. The surveillance system is centralized. Besides recorded video, it is possible to monitor any area live, which makes it possible to respond fast to any incident that may occur.
NUTRICIA is a market leader in baby and children's nutrition products. NUTRICIA Poland is a part of the Danone group, formed in 1993. Their mainstream solutions are baby and children's food products, as well as clinical nutrition products for people on special diets. The following goods come from the NUTRICIA factory: Bebiko milk, Bobovita, baby cereals, Babilon processed products, Nutridrink and Nutrison nutrition formulas.
The highest quality of both NUTRICIA products and manufacturing processes have been achieved through management support systems, such as ISO 9001 (Quality Management Standard) and ISO 22000 (Food Safety Management System, including HACCP - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points). Formulas for all products are prepared by nutrition experts, who take into account recommendations of the World Health Organisation and European Food Safety Authority. The Nutricia production site, which covers an area of 12 hectares, employs 680 people.
| The management can remotely observe employees across the whole site |
Reducing accidents in the workplace
The management of NUTRICIA decided that safety of the employees - primarily prevention of work-related accidents in the manufacturing areas - is a priority. "Zero tolerance for an accident culture" gained real meaning once the safety system was implemented.
The management can remotely observe employees across the whole site. They have shown recordings from the video cameras to demonstrate health and safety-related threats; this has made it possible to define accident-preventing procedures. It is also now possible to gather evidence when an accident occurs through a worker's fault. This has helped to increase employee responsibility and contributed towards lower accident rates.
Milestone IP video meets needs today and tomorrow
Waldemar Szylar, Vice-President of Mirare, says about implementing Milestone: "The system was installed to raise the safety levels for Nutricia employees. Security monitoring features were equally important to the management, but the human factor was decisive when system parameters were being established. They set forth stringent requirements as to the quality of work on system implementation, while keeping costs relatively low. They were also very exact about failure-free system operation and access to selected cameras through a corporate network."
NUTRICIA selected Milestone XProtect software on the strength of its open platform design, with advanced architecture and fully digital IP technology. The transparent licensing setup and regular upgrades were also an important, contributing factor. System scalability to enable future growth was another advantage. Equally beneficial is an intuitive user interface that makes it easy for operators, security personnel and authorised persons to monitor the system.
The Milestone software support of the network cameras by Axis guaranteed stable operation of the whole system. The result is high-quality imagery. Moreover, using megapixel cameras made it possible to read vehicle registration plates - a bonus considering the large fleet of vehicles run by NUTRICIA.
Remote monitoring, specific access rights, scalability
| NUTRICIA selected Milestone XProtect software on the strength of its open platform design |
System operators comment on the system's ability to help them react fast to various incidents. Another advantage is the super-fast, remote access to the system from anywhere on site, or even around the world. "This feature is very useful, particularly for management, who can remotely monitor work in progress at the plant. Security personnel and other users throughout the production facility have been given specific rights to access the video system, through self-contained, remote monitoring consoles (with Milestone Smart Clients), which have also improved the manufacturing process," explains Szylar.
The XProtect platform has unlimited scalable capabilities, also introduced in user-defined stages. This is particularly important in times of financial crisis, when investment money is spent very carefully. Modifications can be implemented without interruption to the system, which is another bonus. Compatibility towards integration with other security systems already on site, like a firewarning system is yet another solid strength.
Implementation of wireless technology reduced the cost of investment further, where a section of expensive wiring was replaced by much cheaper radio transmission. Camera mobility is particularly advantageous in the process of workplace re-organizations and site growth.
Theft eliminated, health & safety compliance improved
Installation of the remote video monitoring system eliminated theft on site. The number of cases of non-compliance with health and safety was also reduced. External incidents went down, as well; since they do not take a long time to solve, employees no longer waste time absorbed in trying to deal with these problems.
Technical configuration
| Mirare, an authorised Milestone and Axis partner, has both designed and implemented the solution for Nutricia |
The Nutricia surveillance implementation has Milestone XProtect™ XPP25 software, which controls AXIS network IPbased cameras.
"A wide range of cameras by AXIS gives us a choice of hardware solutions suitable for the demands of optimal surveillance, ranging from the fixed ones (day/night mode) to the fast-rotation (pan/tilt), dome models with WDR (Wide Dynamic Range) functionality. All the cameras benefit from the latest technologies such as progressive scan, two simultaneous compression standards and Power over Ethernet," explains Szylar.
"For patrolling purposes, cameras with large zoom (both optical and digital) have been implemented. Multi-level motion detection displayed in several windows, provides a significant support to system operators and superb sharpness of captured images makes it possible to recognize details even of a fast-moving object. Using mega-pixel cameras which offer a high-quality image, both live and recorded data (Motion JPEG and MPEG-4) has been an innovative step. Network-based IP cameras have been introduced into the LAN already in place, which is both cable (UTP) and wireless."