What protection rating do factory cameras need?

IP66 is the lowest acceptable rating in an open industrial environment, and higher in wash-down or vapour areas. Watch the operating temperature too: an office specification does not survive an Eastern Province summer.

Why does the image degrade after a few months?

Dust builds up on the lens gradually, and the failure is slow, so nobody notices until footage is requested and cannot be read. The answer is to put periodic cleaning into the maintenance contract.

Is plate recognition genuinely useful in a factory?

Yes — and it is the highest-return point. It records the number and timing of every vehicle automatically, letting you match actual entries against the shipping note and the purchase orders.

How are long distances between buildings covered?

The useful distance of copper cable is about 100 metres. Beyond it, intermediate cabinets or fibre are used, with protected metal routes rather than exposed plastic.

Does the system help with workplace incidents?

Yes. The recording proves what happened and which protective equipment was in use, which is what the insurer and the authorities ask about. Covering pedestrian routes also reveals recurring hazards before an incident occurs.

Surveillance and Access Control for Factories

Surveillance systems for factories.

A factory is an environment that defeats office-grade systems within months: dust, heat, vibration and long distances. Alongside protection there is safety and the documentation of movement — and both are asked about after any incident or insurance claim.

Core system areas

Six positions — and the first settles the rest

The truck gate

Plate recognition (LPR)

The production line

Safety and documentation

The warehouse

Stock count and loading

Hazardous areas

Access control

Wall and perimeter

Early warning

The electrical room

Heat and alarm

The truck gate — the first thing built

Everything entering and leaving the factory passes through here. A plate recognition (LPR) camera at the gate records the number of every vehicle and the time it entered and left, automatically.

The benefit goes beyond protection: matching actual entry times against the shipping note and the purchase orders reveals discrepancies that do not show up in paperwork alone.

The environment — why do ordinary systems fail here?

Dust coats the lens within weeks and the image degrades gradually without anyone noticing — because the failure is slow rather than sudden. That is why periodic cleaning inside the maintenance contract is required, not cleaning on complaint.

Heat shortens equipment life and stops recording in summer. Cameras and cabinets are chosen with an operating temperature suited to the Eastern Province, not to an office.

Vibration loosens mountings over time, so fixing is to a rigid structure rather than to light cladding.

Safety — the side that gets forgotten

After any workplace incident, the recording proves what happened: was the protective equipment in use? Was the employee in an area they were authorised to be in? This protects the factory before the insurer and before the authorities.

And covering the pedestrian routes where they cross forklift paths reveals recurring hazards before they turn into an incident.

The warehouse and loading

Loading doors need coverage that shows the shipment and the vehicle together — a camera that sees only the door does not prove what was loaded.

Synchronising the camera clocks with the inventory system makes it possible to return to any loading operation by order number rather than by scrolling through hours.

Network and infrastructure — distance is the challenge

The useful distance of copper cable is about 100 metres, and a factory is usually longer than that. So intermediate cabinets or fibre are used between buildings.

Routes are protected metal rather than exposed plastic — because exposed cable in an industrial environment is liable to cutting and heat.

The practical summary

Start with the truck gate and plate recognition (LPR) — the highest documentary return
IP66 as a minimum, fixed to a rigid structure that resists vibration
Put lens cleaning into the maintenance visits rather than on complaint
Access control for hazardous areas with permissions by shift
Fibre between buildings where copper distance runs out
Synchronise the camera clocks with the inventory system