Smartcameras protect the biggest Hungarian turkey company

Sága Foods Plc. the Hungarian division of Bernard Matthews Ltd. has inaugurated a new video surveillance and dispatch center at its headquarters in Sárvár, Hungary. The formal opening ceremony was held to celebrate a new milestone in the meat plant's endeavor to provide excellence with strengthened security, labor safety and food safety standards. The installer, Future Security Plc., has chosen the innovative smartcamera video surveillance system of Intellio Technologies Plc. to implement a remarkably complex project.

Generating HUF 25 billion in revenues, Sága is the leading company of the Hungarian turkey meat market and one of the largest poultry exporters in Hungary. 1.8 million turkeys are processed at the plant annually, two thirds of which are raised at the company's own turkey farms. Opened in 2006, the 5000 square meter plant was implemented with a HUF 2.5 billion investment and boasts highly automated production lines making it one of the most up-to-date plants in Europe. Last year, with a committment to continuous development, the outdated analog video surveillance system was replaced with the newest technology to cut back on theft and labor safety violations.

49 smartcameras of Intellio were installed at the headquarters of the company and its fodder mixer plant. The 121 cameras already operational at the 14 turkey farms have been integrated with the new dispatch center, where the images of altogether 170 cameras can be monitored. At the Sárvár processing plant, prime surveillance targets include the warehouses where the key task is to protect the stock. The unprocessed materials and the stock flow are kept under surveillance also at the truck docking stations, truckstoppers and gates using high resolution, day & night vision cameras.

The staff gates and baggage screening room are also observed by cameras. In addition, turnstile gate for the entry of personnel have been integrated with the video surveillance, which sends an alarm to the newly opened dispatch center upon the entry of unauthorized persons so that the security staff can take immediate action.

Outdoor premises have been equipped with security cameras to counteract negative tendencies seen in recent years. The key role was given to Intellio's perimeter protection solution with intelligence on board the camera: individuals approaching the fence trigger an automatic alarm. In one case, some employees had caused considerable damage by stealing meat products by tossing them over the fence into the adjoining real estate. Such cases will be prevented in the future since potential thiefs are deterred by the surveillance cameras installed. Any wrongdoers risk prosecution, since the high quality images recorded by the day & night cameras are admissible in court.

Gyula Pór, the security director of Future Security Plc. has noted that both the cameras installed and the IVS 2 management software were developed by Intellio in 2012, and represent the most advanced technology currently available at the market.

Besides labor and stock safety video surveillance provides significant support for quality control, as well. Sága manufactures the 100% antibiotics-free turkey fodder in its own fodder mixing plant in Szeleste, Hungary. The raw material undergoes rigorous checking both upon entry and exit with examiners taking samples each time, while both incoming shipments from suppliers and outgoing products have to meet strict quality standards.

The fodder mixing plant generating billions of forints in revenues has a very busy truck scale, therefore, preventing abuses is a prime task of asset protection. The special Smart Playback function of the video surveillance system allows for nearly instant playback of events on suspicion of wrongdoing. For example, let us suppose that 8 semi trucks entered the site last Saturday, but the security personnel have registered only 7 of them. Instead of the tedious scanning of the recorded video from that day, with Intellio's system it takes only a few clicks to find the images of each incoming vehicle in the given period.

Zsolt Keleti, CEO of SÁGA Foods Plc. and security chief Zoltán Zsigmond agree that a high-tech video surveillance system has a positive impact on the operation of the plant. Millions of forints worth of damage from theft, negligence or policy violations have been investigated successfully so far. While also reducing the occurences of damages, they have also managed to provide a safe and secure work environment for the employees.