Manufacturing Unwrapped: Orange Business's AI CCTV
Earlier this year Manufacturing Digital visited Orange Business's offices in Slough, London for a demo of the company's smart manufacturing solutions.
One solution that truly stood out to us was an AI-enhanced CCTV solution that dramatically improves the long-term safety of the factory floor.
Orange Business and Surveily had partnered to introduce this solution, which transforms existing security cameras into 24/7 monitoring systems, offering advanced visibility and proactive safety measures in factories.
Here's a recap of the solution, and why we feel the piece covering it deserves a spot on Manufacturing Unwrapped.
Enhancing safety monitoring & visibility
This solution leverages existing CCTV cameras and edge computing servers (from partners like Dell and Cisco) to monitor safety risks such as forklift speeding, handrail detection, PPE compliance, and unauthorised access.
The AI system processes data locally to avoid excessive cloud dependency, utilising on-site computational power for rapid analysis and alerts.
The article explains why manufacturing traditional safety metrics like accident rates are insufficient, as they overlook near-misses, daily violations, and subjective interpretations of safety.
Manufacturing environments involve heavy machinery, hazardous materials, and fast-moving vehicles, making even minor lapses potentially catastrophic.
We also discuss how the industry's culture is incentivised to prioritise productivity over safety, leading to risks being overlooked.
The power of AI
The piece also expands on why AI is a superior tool to detect and mitigate risks.
AI-powered CCTV can monitor multiple cameras simultaneously, far exceeding human capabilities.
It operates 24/7 without fatigue, ensuring constant vigilance and adherence to safety standards.
There's also the fact that unlike humans AI is unbiased. It will consistently flag even minor violations that might be brushed off or overlooked by human operators.
The system generates actionable data, enabling manufacturers to compare safety across facilities and tailor interventions.
We heard from Orange Business how implementing the AI solution has already revealed hidden risks in specific use cases.
In one factory, incident reports surged from 900 to 11,000 monthly, highlighting previously undetected safety violations.
Changing the industry's culture around safety
In the article we also highlighted how the solution helps foster a safety-first culture in manufacturing.
Workers are incentivised to follow safety protocols due to continuous monitoring and the "Hawthorne effect," which suggests people behave better when they know they are being observed.
Companies also demonstrate a serious commitment to safety by investing in such a tool.
AI-generated insights will help inform training programs, helping manufacturers address specific risks and evaluate the effectiveness of interventions.
Orange Business envisions a widespread adoption of AI-enhanced surveillance systems in manufacturing happening within three to five years.
We can definitely see a future where this is the case.
Why is this a favourite article?
Manufacturing ranks as one of the most hazardous industries globally. It was powerful therefore to explore a solution that seeks to challenge this on a granular level, mitigating the human biases that often surround the concept of safety itself.
This is an area of manufacturing frequently overlooked by people both inside and outside the industry.
This must change, and it will only change through creating a safety-first culture within the sector.
Solutions like AI CCTV could massively help drive this change.
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