“The cameras employ progressive scan technology and the pictures on our plasma displays are incredibly sharp. It’s almost like high definition.” – Winn Jenkins

In the last quarter of the 20th century, manufacturing processes at facilities nationwide and around the globe were revolutionized by the use of factory automation, robotics and the implementation of video process monitoring. Effective manufacturing however is more than just technology or equipment, parts and software – it’s knowing how to best utilize these assets to drive increased productivity and to improve efficiencies on the assembly line as well as within other areas of the operation.

In an example that could be used as a case study in any major business school in the country, NITTA Gelatin USA, Inc. has taken advantage of the newest camera and control technology from Panasonic to improve their processing and quality control procedures.

The video control system, which resides on dedicated HP workstations, allows remote monitoring of manufacturing processes and viewing of alarm activated live video, as well as providing video coverage of the facility’s periphery. Additionally, the networked system can be controlled and monitored from a central command center, from anywhere on the network and from the company’s regional headquarters in Canada. In traditional video process monitoring applications, camera images are provided to an image processing software program which compares the images to pre-defined parameters. If there is an aberration in the data or the tolerances are not within the prescribed specifications, the software program normally alerts an operator or supervisor or, depending on how the software is written, possibly shuts down the production line.

The procedure in place at the NITTA plant, which is located in Fayetteville, NC, goes beyond typical deployments in terms of its functionality. Most significantly, the Panasonic cameras deployed at the NITTA facility are not board-type cameras or typical industrial-type cameras commonly used in process monitoring applications. They are IP based Panasonic video surveillance cameras. The images from the Panasonic i-Pro video surveillance cameras can be viewed by management in real time while simultaneously being routed to the process automation software application. When an alarm mode on the camera is activated due to any aberrations in the process, the camera control software automatically “pushes” video to the control room over the network.

The system was designed and installed by Cross Automation of Belmont, NC, a Panasonic Security Systems’ i-Pro Certified Reseller with support from CBX Electronics, Panasonic Security Systems’ manufacturers’ sales representatives headquartered in Altamonte Springs, FL. The design was based on the customer’s request to be able to view and monitor live images both locally and from the company’s North American headquarters in Toronto, Canada. Mike Godsey, Technology Manager, eData Solutions at Cross Automation, explains that the general parameters of their initial request were not so unusual but finding the right camera and control package was more of a challenge. “NITTA headquarters asked us to install a few different cameras that they had been evaluating for the project, but none of them proved to be adequate for the job,” said Mr. Godsey. “Either the picture quality was not there or the feature set was not sufficient or the price was just too prohibitive. We proposed testing Panasonic i-Pro video surveillance cameras, and they turned out to be just what the customer needed.”