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This research considers the technical performance of modern webcams for the remote monitoring of the inventory balance of industrial wholesale items. In this case study suppliers were technical wholesalers and the customers were from machinery industry. Paper presents a study on the suitability of webcams for the remote monitoring. In order to establish a remote monitoring system, the images must meet certain quality criteria, thus enabling the assessment of inventory levels. Paper presents image quality tests performed on a webcams in varied conditions, and compares the results to the Finnish Illuminating Engineering Society’s lighting regulations for industrial work. The quality tests aimed to ascertain whether the image quality was sufficient in typical industrial conditions. The results indicate that the image quality of modern webcams is sufficient for remote monitoring within the limits set by the distance of the camera from the objects and by lighting conditions. However, according to the tests, the technical performance of surveillance cameras on the market five years ago, taking budget constraints into consideration, was not adequate for monitoring. 1 RESEARCH MOTIVATION The studied cases utilize the VMI (Vendor-Managed Inventory) model, which is inventory replenishment carried out by the wholesaler delivering items to customer in accordance with the agreed management models. For customer items could play a critical role because their absence may stop entire production lines. Shortages must be avoided and usually this is achieved by using large stock buffers and frequent visual assessment based inventory checks for customer’s replenishment needs. To reduce customer site visits a reachearch on camera based remote monitoring was started for at least visual inspections level of inventtory balance information. Wholesalers have recently promoted VMI research on the use of technology in remote monitoring of items (Happonen and Salmela, 2007). But still there are many items which cannot be monitored easily (cost and space efficiently). Typical reason for limited use of technology in inventory management services is that tehcnology is concidered to be too expencive compared to manual work. The objective of this research is to ascertain whether it is possible to produce images that reveal the inventory levels of items (order point data) in Finnish industrial facilities. As the research of VMI concentrates on collaboration and forecasting (Vigtil, 2006; Salmela and Happonen, 2007; Holweg et al. 2005) as a way to improce order-delivery process of the supply chain and as the information exchange is not as easily arranged between different supply chain parthners as it should be, this research study considered the capabilities of the modern day web cameras as a information source of the item balance information on the VMI relationship. 507 Happonen A., Salmela E. and Nousiainen J. (2008). IS WEBCAM PERFORMANCE SUFFICIENT FOR THE INVENTORY CONTROL OF INDUSTRIAL WHOLESALE ITEMS WITH NO CUSTOMER INVENTORY BALANCE RECORDS? Case: Technical Wholesale Items. In Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies, pages 507-511 DOI: 10.5220/0001530305070511 Copyright c © SciTePress 2 INDUSTRIAL CONDITIONS AND CAMERAS Industrial facilities do not offer optimal environment for the technical equipment. Dust, humidity and temperature in the facilities could cause problems, but usually these may be prevented by a casing etc. In the industrial facilities in this study, the storage facilities adjacent to the production area were quite clean. In addition, storage areas were mostly relatively clean too. The camera usability problems lie more on illumination and focal length areas. 2.1 Illumination in Storage Spaces With regard to the quality of the images, one of the most important factors is illumination. The Finnish legislation does not defined any minimum values for industrial illumination levels, but the adequacy of illumination in work spaces may be evaluated e.g. based on publication 9 of the Illuminating Engineering Society of Finland in 1986: Valaistussuositukset, sisävalaistus (Lighting recommendations, indoor lighting). The illumination levels recommended for storage conditions are presented in Table 1. Levels which exceed 50% of the recommendation are considered sufficient. Based on field research general lighting in modern production plants, exceeds the recommended limits. However, the lighting in warehouses varied more. 2.2 Technical Features of the Camera/ Camera Technology If the lighting conditions are poor, the picture is taken with a long exposure and/or increased exposure sensitivity. A long exposure and increased sensitivity create a random noise in the image. This noise may be technically removed to some extent, but due to such filtration, the sharpness of the image will suffer (McClelland and Eismann, 2003). If the image quality is not sufficient for assessment of inventory levels and the quality cannot be enhanced through post-processing an efficient monitoring system is not possible. The factors of the image quality are optics, the camera’s imaging sensors, and physical imaging conditions (e.g. illumination). Optics focal length may become a problem since webcams are typically designed for access monitoring, where as wide an angle as possible is needed (Hedgecoe, 1992). So the interrelationship of the camera angle and image quality may be unfavourable to remote monitoring. 2.3 Capturing an Image and the Importance of the Time of Day Capturing images during the day is usually difficult due to “disturbances” caused by people and machines. Therefore, images should be captured outside the customer’s regular working hours. For instance, if the image is captured at night, no disruptions are caused by people or machines except when people work in three shifts. On another hand, the amount of lighting may be insufficient to take the pictures at the night time. Fortunately at least some modern cameras enable the remote control of external equipment (such as light fixtures), which helps to avoid such problems. 2.4 Analysing the Image Classifying items inventory balance category level from images and placing orders compose an essential part of a camera monitoring system. The label or mark that indicates the item “count” and order point must be identified either manually or automatically. Analysing the image on a computer and marking the appropriate order point would allow the implementation of a system in which the computer places orders independently. Table 1: Illumination Recommendations for Storage Spaces by Finnish Illumination Engineering Society. Space and usage Illum. (for work) Illum. (general) Notes Small items on shelves 300 lux 200 lux Localised light sources are recommended

IS WEBCAM PERFORMANCE SUFFICIENT FOR THE INVENTORY CONTROL OF INDUSTRIAL WHOLESALE ITEMS WITH NO CUSTOMER INVENTORY BALANCE RECORDS? - Case: Technical Wholesale Items