Sagawa Express, one of Japan’s biggest logistics companies, has introduced a large-scale surveillance system using cameras from Taiwanese company Vivotek.

The company’s logistics centre has more than 2000 branches across Japan. Building the security surveillance system in the warehouses enables centralised monitoring of all branches, ensuring smoother and smarter operations of the existing logistics system.

With ecommerce sites thriving in recent years, the logistics industry has also seen increased quantity of cargoes; however, the industry also faces issue of insufficient manpower due to the country’s low birth rate. Introducing IT to the logistics system can enhance the efficiency of the overall process as an important element of streamlined and smooth services.

The first objective of introducing the video surveillance system is to achieve centralised monitoring from the head office in Kyoto and unified management of warehouses at various locations for greater efficiency; also, the company hopes to reduce the number of surveillance cameras while ensuring comprehensive monitoring of a 36,363m² site.

Moreover, Sagawa hopes to use the cameras to capture videos with zero blind spots when transporting and stacking pallets.

Vivotek joined forces with local company Takebishi to establish a large-scale security surveillance system integrated using Vivotek’s Vast 2 video management system (VMS). Inside the warehouses, 105 FE9380-HV cameras are being installed for 360-degree surveillance of pallet-stacking operations with no blind spots, and 14 IB9368-HT bullet network cameras are being installed on the perimeter, where the focus and focal length can be adjusted even after installation. There are two NVR ND 9425P in the warehouse office that record videos captured by these cameras.

Moreover, three NVR NS9521s are equipped with Vast 2 that can coordinate all the surveillance devices for centralised recording, management and access.

From the perspective of system establishment, the benefit of 360-degree surveillance camera is that Sagawa needs just one camera to capture the panoramic view, and it is easy to select the installation spots.

Sagawa can monitor all sites from the Kyoto head office and overcome limitations during the installation period.

“Most of other companies proposed systems featuring mainly bullet cameras or dome surveillance cameras, but these required larger quantities of cameras and would be more expensive, exceeding the client’s budget,” said a Vivotek statement. “By using Vivotek’s 360-degree surveillance cameras, the number of cameras is reduced by half. The warehouses have large surface areas, and there were spots difficult to monitor in the past. With the introduction of this system, all corners on the sites are covered. Thus, operators are aware that they are being watched, raising their safety awareness.”

Founded in Taiwan in 2000, Vivotek has offices in the USA, Netherlands, India, Mexico and Japan.