King Soopers is a supermarket chain owned by The Kroger Company with a significant presence across the state of Colorado. To keep their stores’ shelves stocked for daily business, King Soopers operates a massive distribution centre that occupies approximately 550,000-square-feet.

The King Soopers Distribution Centre is required to have a functioning video system in order to pass an annual audit. When the previous analogue video system started to fail, replacing it became urgent. Higher resolution video was needed to identify what products were being delivered to and shipped from the facility. The facility has high (approximately 40-foot) ceilings, and cameras had to be mounted just below the ceiling height to ensure they would not be damaged by forklifts. Megapixel cameras were to provide improved image quality from that distance.

United Systems the integrator for the project seleced Arecont Vision cameras due to their excellent image quality and wide variety of cameras according to Chris Keith, Director of Sales and Technology at the company.

An Arecont Vision AV20185DN-HB panoramic camera was installed outdoors on the side of the building to watch the guard shack, trucking lanes, parking area and shipping and receiving. The 20 megapixel, 180-degree day/night panoramic camera provides a complete view of the property, replacing a PTZ camera that provided only a limited view. Also, recording the previous PTZ camera view had captured only the image in the direction the PTZ was pointed. In contrast, the Arecont Vision AV20185DN-HB panoramic camera captures the entire scene in high resolution with a much larger field of view. A heater-blower enables the camera to operate despite temperature extremes.

King Soopers has future plans to add three Arecont Vision D4S-AV5115-3312 cameras in the warehouse focusing on the shipping and receiving doors. The 5-megapixel all-in-one indoor dome camera includes a 3.3-12mm IR-corrected lens which provides extremely clear images from its mount high above the warehouse floor. They will also be adding multiple 3 megapixel cameras throughout the warehouse replacing their current analog cameras. King Soopers is very pleased with the quality of the Arecont Vision cameras and having the ability to pan/tilt/ zoom digitally without the loss of the current view. This allows them to put a focus on walkway paths and still view wider scenes.

The new NVR/storage system is built around an Exacqvision Z Series 24-terabyte server. Video signals are transmitted using fibre and Cat-6 cabling. The system is being monitored both locally by onsite managers viewing day-to-day operations and centrally by the corporate office. United Systems designed the system, performed the installation and provides on-going service.

The new system now allows the customer to get more detailed video of how product is being handled and what is actually being delivered and shipped. The Arecont Vision megapixel cameras provide superior image quality, and a digital zoom makes the image even more useful, according to Robert Urbanek, Information Technology Manager, Advantage Logistics (King Soopers), Aurora, Colorado.

Arecont Vision cameras now provide the customer clear images they can use for tracking product movement and to view on-the-job accidents and injuries, according to the integrator. “We like the excellent image quality,” said Mr. Keith. “We also like the digital zoom we get through the NVR.”

Although King Soopers has not calculated the return on investment (ROI) of the system, the ability to pass the audit was a critical element of business operations, and the higher-resolution images of Arecont Vision megapixel cameras provided the desired level of video coverage.