The hidden benefits of CCTV

Closed circuit cameras (CCTV) are most commonly associated with plant security, but the technology has proved it can also provide a range of highly effective management tools.

One long-established British company specialising in the processing of animal carcases says it has not only managed to use cameras to increase production and improve the quality of its products, but has also slashed its energy bills by a fifth.

Formed back in 1882, P Waddington & Co now has a large 5.2 acre animal by-product processing plant in Bradford and a transfer station at Rugeley in the West Midlands. It is one of only a handful of companies in the UK which still collects and processes animal carcasses.

Waddington disposes of all kinds of carcasses and has processed everything from a hedgehog to a whale washed up on the Humber coast. It also deals with food waste and, with increasingly stringent regulations from both Europe and the UK government, provides consultancy services to firms in the food sector about waste disposal.

Ours is a tricky and demanding business with many potential issues as well as tough health and safety regulations and environmental legislation

Mark Waddington

The company produces hundreds of tonnes of bone meal and tallow a week which is supplied to power stations where it is used as a bio-fuel. The production process involves three stages.

First the carcasses are crushed to break down the material to the required particle size of 30mm. Both carcasses and food waste are then “cooked up” at 135 degrees Celsius to remove the large amounts of water with the resulting odour-free water vapour reaching 870 degrees Celcius.

The materials are then pressed to render the tallow – animal fats and oils.

Waddington’s first incorporated CCTV cameras into its 24/7 multi-million processing facility in 1999.

In 2013 it called in fire and security specialists Keybury to extend and upgrade the whole system, adding six new cameras and two monitoring suites.

It now operates sixteen Vista pan zoom tilt cameras throughout the site both inside and outside.

Every corner of the plant is monitored not only from the managing director’s and operations manager’s offices but also remotely from laptops, ipads and smart phones.

This flexibility ensures Waddington’s management team can closely manage operations at anytime and from anywhere.

It says it chose Keybury because of its extensive manufacturing sector experience and its engineers’ same day response capability.

Working at heights, using cherry pickers, the installation team selected highly water proof IP66 and 67 rated cabling throughout because of the facilities’ environmental challenges.

The installation work took a month and involved adapting the engineers’ schedules to fit flexibly around production shifts.

Keybury only uses its own engineering staff, which proved vital to meeting onerous waste processing regulations.

“For all this to work it was very important that Keybury’s engineers took the time to get to know us and really understand what we needed rather than what they might want to sell us,” says managing director Mark Waddington.

“They made every possible effort to partner up with us.

“Ours is a tricky and demanding business with many potential issues as well as tough health and safety regulations and environmental legislation. Keybury was very knowledgeable, responsive and adaptable in ensuring that this was at the top of the agenda and more importantly that we could continue production during the installation.”

Waddington’s says it has derived a variety of benefits from the new system – and not just site security.

The firm has been able to ramp up the quality of the throughput of waste materials by carefully monitoring the mix of loads going into each of the crushers.

The monitoring process starts when the wagons arrive on site and continues throughout the whole production process.

With the aid of the CCTV, vehicle loads are segregated and graded before the waste material is fed into the crushing machines.

The mix and flow of the waste materials can be timed precisely to ensure that the cookers can be kept at even temperatures which enhances energy efficiency.

This has a large cost reduction implication because the cooking process is now considerably quicker.

Waddington’s has realised a 20% saving on the company’s annual £1.5 million bill for gas, electricity and water.

The company’s management team is also pleased with the 15% reduction in downtime and significant savings on maintenance budgets because there is less wear and tear on the plant and machinery.

Managers monitoring the loading process can also immediately identify and retrieve foreign objects that might otherwise damage the crushers.

Given the inherent dangers of working in a waste refinery environment, Waddington’s management says it is acutely aware of the health and safety of its issues for staff and utilises the CCTV system to carefully monitor staff procedures.

Not only does this ensure that staff are kept free from hazards, it also assists with training and re-training were necessary.

Waste processing of this kind is very frequently inspected by local authorities’ environmental departments and Waddington’s says it helps to maintain its unblemished ‘no complaints’ track record.