Subscribeioimage intelligent-video system installed to upgrade existing indoor and outdoor security at the Merkavim Cesarea Plant
The theft and removal of items from outdoor sites that store materials and equipment for manufacturing and building construction is becoming more widespread.
Worldwide equipment and scrap metal theft is costing billions of dollars and there are few ways to prevent these crimes or catch these criminals.
The common reasons for the outbreak is an inability to watch over expansive areas, absence of security, or patchy traditional security that is too labor intensive and cost prohibitive to be implemented.
Stolen items taken from outdoor areas often are easily sold and hard to trace. This "easy-money" has attracted more and more opportunistic thieves.
What would seem like oddball crimes are now run-of-the-mill incidents such as swiping street signs, chopping-up bridges, heisting statues, running-off with drainage grates, stealing construction cranes, stripping power stations, gutting copper pipes, snatching forklifts and looting metal construction materials.
Most often the damage far exceeded the street or scrap value of the items stolen
Merkavim found that thieves were taking parts from busses and doing considerable damage in the process. Most often the damage far exceeded the street or scrap value of the items stolen. On several occasions component steel used for manufacturing was stolen by scrap metal thieves from the outdoor storage areas. In addition, tires, TVs, audio systems, CBs and other luxury accessories were ripped out of the high-end coach busses.
Not only intruders were finding holes in the security, but also authorized personnel from within the facility were stashing items outside the fences for late-night pickup.
 | Merkavim Metal Works Ltd Description: Transport & Bus Manufacturer founded in 1946 Employees: Approx. 300 Produces: Entire range of mini-buses, low-floor and articulated low-floor city buses, inter-city buses, tourist coaches, armored and prisoner buses and other specialized passenger transport solutions. Central Distribution Center: Production facility, covering over 100,000 sqm, is located in Central Israel |
Merkavim's Site
The 100,000 square-meters (25 acres) assembly plant posed a number of significant security challenges.
The assembly plant is located in an area that is surrounded by farmland and open field areas.
Thieves can easily scale landscape walls and commercial wrought iron fences that protect the site. Just beyond the semi-decorative fences are access roads, main streets and rail lines that provide thieves access to the property as well as offer a means for a quick get-a-way.
A large variety of tools and valuable equipment used in the assembly process are being stored on site, all of which called for a higher level of loss prevention measures to guard against construction-plant theft.
The facility has 24/7 security making scheduled and unscheduled patrols about the property. Even with a full-time security staff operating by the book, security breaches and thefts continued to occur.
Additional Considerations
Merkavim's security budget was a key limitation in making any decision of whether or not to add loss prevention or security measures. The solution Merkavim sought needed to expand security, seal-up security holes, not inflate personnel expenses nor increase the workload of the staffed security personnel.
Merkavim understood that simply adding cameras was insufficient, as security guards could not continuously watch monitors and the likelihood that they would spot an intruder on any given display with an expanded array of cameras was not good.
Merkavim considered fence detectors and ground sensors but found them too rudimentary in their detection capabilities because they could not differentiate among legitimate activities, such as ground tremors caused by passing vehicles and trains, wildlife and weather.
Any alarm from the system that didn't provide a visual confirmation would likely require a response that would consume valuable security-staff resources chasing down false alarms.
The ability to deploy unmanned surveillance capabilities for the wide-area inside and outside the perimeter made ioimage intelligent video the best-fit solution for Merkavim's assembly plant.
The fact that this system has been selected and used worldwide at various installations, such as nuclear sites and international airports showed the system provided high caliber security. Because the system is simple to setup and conforms to industrial site security meant they could apply high-level cost-effective security for their parking, factory, yard and warehouses.
An invisible fence for perimeter security
The ioimage intelligent video system created an invisible fence for rapid intervention to security threats and breaches. Suspicious late-night behavior on the adjoining roads and railroad tracks is now brought to the attention of security guards. The system is also configured to limit detection to movements approaching or leaving the perimeter while ignoring vehicles or persons passing in normal directions parallel to the fence (i.e. configured scenario detection).
Items taken from their location are detected by ioimage intelligent video analysis appliance and recorded to provide instant on-screen notification to security guards who can see and respond to what is happening. This provides accountability, real-time video monitoring and a date stamped video record of events that can be used for evidence.
The ioimage no parking feature allows security guards to receive notification when suspicious vehicles stop near the property. The ability to schedule different detection allows the security personnel to be notified when suspicious behavior occurs in the small hours of the night.
Dozens of cameras including stationary and Pan Tilt Zoom (PTZ) cameras define a security net that watches the property. On the event the alarm is set off, the PTZ cameras accept detection-handoff from stationary cameras. Once received, the PTZ camera autonomously tracks the intruder throughout the property so that security guards know where the intruder is at any given moment, rather responding blindly.
The ioimage system also helps stop employee theft for objects placed outside the fence, the unattended baggage feature issues a real-time alert tipping-off loss prevention personnel with close-up surveillance of the culprit.
Entire arrays of cameras are being watched 24/7 behind the scenes by intelligent video units connected to the cameras. Only when an alarm occurs, is the video displayed on screen.
Merkavim's deployment of ioimage easy-to-use unmanned intelligent-video detection greatly expands surveillance coverage and helps free security guards from watching video screens so they can to do other tasks.
Instant Savings & Results
After going live with the ioimage system, Merkavim was able to reduce their security payroll expenses by more than 30% and saw detection results within the first month when a nighttime break-in was detected. ioimage video alarms of the intruder's approach spurred security into action and allowed the guards to chase away the intruders before they had time to steal anything.