When Saunders and other Reliable management can use video to illustrate problem areas or new processes to boost efficiency, the video can be displayed on a large screen in a conference or training room. Reliable also often burns video of component machine mechanical breakdowns onto a CD and dispatches it to equipment manufacturers for advice or as a courtesy FYI.
Indeed, the cost-saving applications for the technology are seemingly endless: Reliable is even using video to find lost inventory. According to Pina, after a routine lumber transfer from National to Reliable went missing, video playback of the delivery allowed staff to pinpoint the exact location of the delivered sticks. Another possibility for the technology is virtual plant tours—secure Web access could allow management and senior sales staff to share live video feed with customers who might otherwise be unable to visit Reliable in person.
Saunders does have a word or two of caution for dealers eager to implement their own video monitoring systems. To keep everyone on the same page in terms of privacy issues, Reliable’s grounds have posted warning signs alerting the unaware that they are being captured on videotape. There’s also the cost issue: Cameras alone can range from thousands of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars as you add advanced features like programmability, mobility, zoom functions, and even infrared.
Tripped alarms aside, Saunders doesn’t think the company is going to spring for any see-in-the-dark cameras just yet. For Reliable, the real payoff has been in honing down the efficiency of the plant and discovering more functional uses of the technology. The next camera, for example, will be a motionless unit just above the end of the production line that will scan completed panels and components and maintain a quality control record of Reliable’s product. The best part of that process, and for the myriad uses that the camera system enables, is that virtually no manpower is required.
“From computers to cameras to machinery, we try to use anything that can cut down the number of people that you need. It adds to the bottom line, it cuts out expenses,” says Pina. “Anything we can do to increase productivity we are all for it.”
