C-TPAT is a voluntary government-business initiative to build cooperative relationships that strengthen and improve overall international supply chain and U.S. border security.

Melter is major manufacturer and exporter of water cooled components for the steel industry and over 60% of it's production is exported to the Americas. Along with many other companies with business operations within the United States, Melter viewed Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT) certification as critical to their continuing success.

With an infrastructure adding to a total of over 635,000 square feet of office space, covered bays, warehouses and open yards, Melter required a sophisticated video surveillance solution for areas in and around their three facilities in order to obtain C-TPAT certification. Novalan Computadoras y Redes, a Vivotek integration partner in Monterrey, México, worked closely with Melter to come up with a comprehensive solution to install a total of 50 Vivotek network surveillance cameras.

Prior to the installation, there were only a few analogue cameras set up on one of the many floors in the building to monitor the facility. The corporation was then seeking a better, more effective security structure. The main access to each of the factories and shipping zones were the priorities, along with other areas such as main entrances and so on.

A number of Vivotek IP7142 were installed in three separate buildings covering areas where high contrast lighting conditions were the most demanding. The wide dynamic range (WDR) CMOS sensor enables the device to easily adapt to challenging lighting conditions. The IP7142 also comes with an IP66-rated weather-resistant housing, a vari-focal lens of 3.3 to 12 mm, with a built-in removable IR-cut filter and IR illuminators with coverage for up to 15 metres.

They also incorporated the IP7361, a high-performance bullet camera which carries several innovative technologies in a single package. It features high resolution and a combination of outdoor-specific characteristics, such as concealed wiring, an IP67-rated weather-resistant housing, a removable IR-cut filter, IR illuminators and a 2 megapixel sensor. The device was chosen for its high image quality and excellent outdoor performance —features ideally suited to cover Melter’s open yards and building entrances (areas considered of highest importance in gaining C-TPAT certification).

The Vivotek IP8362, a bullet camera designed for outdoor applications, was installed in areas where the customer expected the solution to provide both functionality of high definition resolution and WDR enhancement technology to ensure exceptional image quality and details in extremely bright and dark environments.

Speed domes are a vital solution to many outdoor projects and there was no exception in this case. For the Melter project, a number of units of the high performance SD7313 with integrated 35x zoom lenses were placed around the building perimeters to ensure complete coverage of over 635,000 square feet. With its zoom capability, the SD7313 offers close-up images of distant objects in sharp detail and is designed for areas where high reliability and weatherproofing are required.

Vivotek‘s own in-house VS7100, a professional single channel video server, and ST7501, a recording software designed for diverse surveillance applications, were installed to convert the analogue signal of existing preinstalled camera systems, integrating them into the new network surveillance solution.

To the end-user, the ability for them to receive and access high-definition video footage was an absolute must. With the installation of Vivotek‘s solution, Melter successfully fulfilled the C-TPAT certification requirements. Gerardo Espinoza, Product Manager of Novalan, was happy with the cameras and their performances, "Fortunately, the camera system fulfilled the C-TPAT requirements, it even exceeded expectations in terms of image quality, real-time monitoring and easy operation from different devices."