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Minimising fire risks in automotive logistics

Many OEMs and logistics companies in the automotive industries deal with assets and products worth millions of dollars. Not only that, but some of the components used to build cars are highly flammable, creating fire risks that need to be monitored and mitigated to protect staff and facilities.

This is the case at Preymesser, a major player in the automotive supply chain, located in Mlada Boleslav in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. The company, which is a core logistics partner to an automotive brand, stores and transports lithium batteries for electric cars. These are extremely high-value items that can, on rare occasions, also create fire risks due to overheating.

Preymesser needed a way to monitor the car batteries and other goods around the clock in a challenging warehouse environment, where moving people and vehicles often obstruct the view of security cameras and other sensors.

Not only was traditional video security a key requirement to achieve this, but thermal imaging technology was also needed to detect fire risks immediately. The company also wanted automated alarms in the event of an overheating component or other incident to minimise manual fire-monitoring processes.

Intelligent bi-spectrum imaging cameras

To ensure that any fire risk can be detected before damage or losses are incurred, Preymesser chose Hikvision’s Thermographic Thermal & Optical Bi-spectrum network turret cameras to use with their fire detectors. These were delivered by local Hikvision partner EFG. The bi-spectrum thermal cameras and fire detectors immediately identify objects that are emitting excessive heat and trigger alarms to managers or members of security teams.

The Hikvision cameras were chosen because of their price-to-quality ratio, their sensitivity to even very small changes in temperature, and their ability to trigger alarms to teams automatically on detection of a fire risk.

In addition to these important features, the cameras use an onboard AI algorithm to distinguish between genuine fire risks and innocent moving objects, such as forklift trucks or people moving in front of stacked car batteries, thus helping to minimise false alarms.

Effective fire prevention, with fewer false alarms

With the Hikvision solution, Preymesser has peace of mind that its assets, people, and facilities will be protected against fire risks, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Jan Nečas, executive director of Preymesser, says, “The Hikvision solution is meeting and exceeding our expectations in terms of protecting our operations. We now know that any component that overheats, with even small variations in temperature, will be detected automatically, allowing our teams to act fast to minimise the risk of a full-blown fire, and prevent any losses or damage. It’s all about protecting our business and our people – and Hikvision is helping us achieve it.”

With the ability to minimise false alarms, the Hikvision solution allows security teams to focus 100% on genuine fire threats, supporting faster, more effective responses. It will also save time, and reduce the resources required for fire-risk monitoring. “By minimising false alarms, the Hikvision solution delivers significant time and cost savings for the business, helping us to increase our operating efficiency overall.”

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