How video intelligence is changing the way facilities work by Adam Wales, Key Account Manager, Axis Communications
Video has evolved from a passive recording tool into a powerful source of operational intelligence, helping factories and warehouses improve compliance, resilience and overall performance.
Factories, warehouses and materials-handling environments are under pressure. The pace of the market pushes them to operate at higher speeds with higher accuracy and fewer unplanned disruptions. At the same time, duty of care obligations and workplace safety standards are rising. Meeting these dual marks depends on the effective collection and analysis of operational data, meaning video intelligence has now emerged as one of the most important tools on the plant floor.
Every pixel of a video feed can be a sensor. A camera provides, in essence, a continuous stream of actionable data wherever it is needed most. Video adds benefits to obvious functions like security, but it also empowers innovations in countless other areas. With digitalisation now a day-to-day competitive requirement, network video’s transformative properties place it in the same category as robotics, automation and interconnected IT and OT systems.
A new data source for a new era
Materials-handling environments are complex by nature. Forklifts, automated vehicles, pallet trucks and pedestrians often share the same space. Vehicle interactions, loading dock activity, temporary staff and contractors all introduce risk outside of standard operating procedures. Despite mounting compliance requirements and increased scrutiny from the HSE, monitoring levels in factories can often be insufficient, or at least inconsistent.
This is where video analytics are beginning to deliver immediate value. Cameras equipped with edge-based intelligence can be put to work directly on safety improvement tasks. They can detect PPE non-compliance, identify when pedestrians stray into mechanical areas, or when forklifts deviate from their authorised routes.
Rather than relying solely on operator awareness or periodic manual checks, facilities can build automated, real-time safety enforcement into their processes using the same cameras they use for security. Through intelligent metadata, cameras can also be made to integrate with existing operational systems.
Integrating cameras into the control layer
If an unsafe event is detected, the appropriate response can be triggered, be that a closed barrier, a red-light signal, a visual or audible alert, or control over dynamic messaging and signage. Cameras can also join the supervisory role of other sensors within, for example, SCADA systems, interacting with PLCs to slow or disable potentially dangerous equipment if a hazard is detected. As long as the camera platform is open and flexible enough, it could run any applicable function on the network edge.
This proactive approach to safety shifts it from an arduous box-ticking exercise to a dynamic, data-driven system which quickly demonstrates ROI from digitalisation. Video analytics can lead to a reduction in the number of RIDDOR-reportable incidents, support compliance with PUWER requirements, help enforce the HSE’s workplace-transport separation guidelines, and much more.
Each compliance check generates data of its own, helping management to identify recurring issues or persistent problems, target training where it is most needed, and create a cycle and culture of improvement. And as can be implied from video data’s potential in safety improvements, it has similar power as an integrated tool directly within factory and handling processes.
Fresh efficiencies even for old technology
Analytics can drive improvements at fixed workstations, monitoring areas like picking lines and packing stations to detect missed process steps or incorrect material flow. This reduces the reliance on manual audits, allows for rapid intervention before mistakes make it through and, perhaps most importantly, enables any deviation to be accompanied by clear evidence for future investigation.
Video could, for instance, record the condition of palletised goods as they are unloaded from containers, and again as those goods are dispatched, creating a vital chain of evidence. This can prevent costly write-offs and, by documenting any pre-existing damage, provide the evidence needed to rebut fraudulent claims and demonstrate diligence to customers.
Digitalisation is an ongoing project; for OT which has not yet been replaced, or equipment which is difficult to formally integrate with digital environments, video analytics can form a bridge. Analogue gauges and readouts can be converted into live, actionable data streams. Machines without automated maintenance alerts can be virtually inspected, with machine learning automations trained to see or hear deviations from normal operation.
Compounding benefits from a video-driven future
There is little on the factory floor that would not benefit from the introduction of visual analytics. But we must be clear that video data is not a bolt-on, it’s a build-upon, something which can grow its influence over factory and handling operations. Starting small with visible wins like PPE compliance is a great way to build the momentum required to fuel larger digital transformation (DT) initiatives. A connected, intelligent infrastructure transforms risk management, boosts operational efficiency, and cements customer trust.
The benefits are clear, and they compound quickly. Safety analytics like smoke detection have direct financial benefits; they can help to drive down insurance costs for example. Video data used in logistics functions like packing can save fines or claims against incomplete orders. And when analytics scale up, providing live feedback, strong historical data, and an immutable audit trail, the efficiencies that are unlocked could be worth millions.
Whatever the need, and wherever DT projects begin, it is vital to build the next generation of logistics technology on a platform that is ready to support it. The sharper the footage, the stronger the edge processing and machine learning capabilities, the better the data. Those who see cameras as the intelligence platforms that they are will be the ones to create the smarter, safer factories of tomorrow.
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