Society realized by Network camera Business
Safer and more efficient delivery of steel products in Japan

Nippon Steel, one of the world’s leading steelmakers, produces approximately 20 million tons of steel products annually for the Japanese market. The product shapes vary from plates to H-beams. Due to their heavy weight and bulk, the products are transported from the plants to relay points near the delivery destinations via coastal vessels that are used exclusively for steel products.

The fleet comprises around 200 vessels. To ensure safe and efficient transportation, Nippon Steel installed Canon’s network camera system. Axis cameras, which produce clear images even at sea where the network data rate is limited to 3G, are installed on the bridges of most vessels and on cranes at the distribution relay points. Canon’s technology is enabling critical video to be viewed in real time.

Confirming a vessel’s status previously required a phone call or a fax. Now it can be done at a single glance. The control center, which once spent the evening hours confirming the arrival of shipments, now uses this time for allocation planning of future shipments, significantly boosting work efficiency. Since Canon’s network camera system also serves as a drive recorder, video of dangerous work situations can be shared and used to encourage adoption of safer work practices. Another major benefit is that since the video can be accessed from anywhere, control operations can be performed by remote workers.

Expectations are high for further improvements in transportation efficiency, especially when transportation time, which is greatly affected by weather and port conditions, can be automatically predicted by video analytics.