Meat + Poultry - January 2006 - 59

TECHNOLOGY

Network
links

Web-based
user access from
multiple locations

ADT's Internet-based
system integrates
video footage, Webaccessible monitoring
and management
goals.

Multiple locations,
multiple DVRs brands and
multiple cameras

ADT Select Vision
central management
system

"Most of the time, cameras are viewed as a
security device to keep bad guys out or to
catch bad guys trying to get in," Venable
says. But that is only part of the story. "It
can also be a production tool," he adds.
"People do what you inspect, not what you
expect." Employees who know their work
is being monitored and continually audited
have incentive to perform at a high level.

Managing the footage
One of the biggest problems associated
with video technology is in knowing how
to use the footage once the cameras have
done their job. "You put cameras out, they
film all this, dump it into a computer hard
drive for viewing, and suddenly you have so
much information that you're left asking,
'How do you deal with it?'" Venable says.
Managing the footage is as important as
collecting the images. "The most valuable
thing we bring to the table is not a camera,
a piece of hardware or software, but rather
our ability to integrate our customers' concerns for their customers." Companies that
invest in video equipment and just begin
filming everything are missing the boat,
according to Venable. "It's more than just a
bunch of hardware taking a bunch of
pictures," he says. "You can buy cameras at
Wal-Mart to do that."
All Systems works with customers, increasingly with those in the food-processing

6 FSI

FOOD SYSTEMS

ınsıder

JANUARY 2006

industry, to be efficient in managing the
footage once it has been recorded. Systems
are set up based on individual needs.
"There are motion-based programs, alarmbased programs and time-based programs
that allow you to extract the specific information you're looking for," he says.
Cameras used on the farm protecting
livestock from bioterrorism, he says, have
limited benefits. "You could put cameras
on farms and hook them to the Internet,
but I'm not sure what kind of usable information you would get there," Venable says.
Industrial plants can be secured by
using a system of cameras that respond to
alarms activated when someone touches a
fence or there is motion near a fence.
Alarms and subsequent footage can be fed
to central guarding stations where the
threats can be addressed. Once inside
plants, controlled-access entrances that
only admit people with proper clearance
can protect vulnerable processing areas.
Securing areas is easier and more
affordable using technology such as biometrics, which can read employee fingerprints or handprints and grant or deny access based on clearance levels. "Fingerprint
readers that used to cost thousands of
dollars now cost hundreds," Venable says.

Integrating intelligence
Providing farm-to-fork security and making
the food chain more efficient is the focus
of ADT's Security Services' ADT Select Vision
technology. One of the company's first
customers in the meat-processing business,
Plumrose USA, based in East Brunswick,
N.J., installed a system of video cameras at
its processed-meats plant in Council Bluffs,
Iowa, in 2004. By utilizing an Internetlinked system of cameras designed to capture footage of processes and employee
movement within the plant, Senior Vice
President Mike Rozzano has been able to
better manage employee performance and
control access to critical areas of the plant.
Using Remote Video Auditing reports
developed for ADT by New York-based
Arrowsight Inc., Rozzano says his company
is realizing improved product yields while
being assured food-safety processes are

Meat + Poultry - January 2006

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