Yard Monitor

American Recycling operates scrap recycling facilities in Mays Landing and Millville, N.J.

American Recycling, as a family owned and operated metal recycling business, has been supplying the Atlantic City area of New Jersey with reliable scrap metal recycling services for more than 65 years. The company’s Mays Landing, N.J., facility is equipped to separate, sort and bale recyclable metals, such as copper, brass, aluminum and steel.

American Recycling recently expanded, purchasing an old steel fabrication facility in Millville, N.J., to house a new auto shredder. The company approached New Jersey-based SMS Building Systems for an IP (Internet protocol) video surveillance solution to secure its operations and to keep its employees safe.
 

The Situation
Because recycling is a commodity industry, and markets for many secondary commodities are quite high currently, the materials processed by the facility are in high demand—and expensive.

To complement its original facility in Mays Landing, American Recycling owners Joe and Ed Silipena expanded their operations recently with the additional recycling facility on a piece of property covering more than 14 acres in Millville. The immense indoor facility is equipped with an automobile shredder and light metal shredder.

Initially, the brothers expected from 400 to 500 transactions per day through this new facility alone, anticipating that the volume would continue to increase steadily over time.

That amount of traffic generates a large amount of cash—and worry. According to the brothers, the safety of their employees is more important than anything else.

“Since we’re always concerned about the cashier windows, we do all we can to make sure our cashiers are safe by installing bulletproof glass and steel barriers,” Joe says. “But for the bigger picture, we also need to protect the whole perimeter of the site and be able to see who’s coming and going at all times.”

He adds, “We put the Honeywell video system in so that we can see what’s happening, day or night.”
 

The Solution
According to Richard Nussey, executive vice president of SMS Building Systems, one of the biggest challenges presented by this installation was the daunting size of the facility.

“With more than 14 acres and such a tremendously large building—800,000 square feet—there was a long way to run cable,” Nussey says. “It was clear to us that an analog system wouldn’t be the most effective solution here.”

Another challenge to be overcome at American Recycling’s Millville location was the environment. Because there’s a tremendous amount of dust and debris flying through the air during scrap processing, Nussey and his team recommended rugged, durable products that were designed to stand up well in those surroundings without a lot of upkeep. The Acuix IP PTZ cameras Nussey and his team chose are heavy-duty vandal domes that are sealed at the factory to minimize problems caused by dust.

In addition to the Acuix domes and other Honeywell IP cameras, the project includes a Maxpro® VMS video management system, Maxpro® NVR XE recorders, Rapid Eye™ hybrid recorders and the Vista 250 intrusion system. All of these devices are designed to integrate not only with the NetAxs® access control system currently in place but also to work seamlessly with the recycling software program that runs the scales.

The resulting digital video surveillance and security solution is designed to provide a fully automated, end-to-end video management and monitoring solution that is designed to allow the Silipenas to retrieve and access their digital video footage from both their Millville and Mays Landing sites easily and instantaneously.

“SMS designed our control station so that when we’re in Millville we can still take a look at Mays Landing just as easily as if we were right there,” Joe says.

“My brother and I also anticipate installing a monitor in our homes,” he continues, “so that even when the yards are closed, we can still see what’s happening at both facilities.”
 

The Benefits
Even though the company’s Millville site alone covers almost 15 acres, the Silipena brothers say it is important for them to be able to see detailed views of many areas of the facility. Whether they’re watching the cashier window, the payroll office, the shredder operations, the downstream materials separation area or the front gate, the Honeywell solution has allowed Joe and Ed to feel connected with what’s going on with their business at all times, they say.

“At one time this industry was known as a ‘junkyard,’” Joe says of the scrap processing industry. “But recycling has evolved and grown into an important part of everyday life for all of us.

“Many years ago we used to load and separate things by hand, but now we use state-of-the-art equipment with things like magnets, grappels, excavators and shredders that can take a whole automobile and shred it into 6-inch pieces,” he continues. “My brother and I are pleased that we have a high-tech IP security system to go along with it.”
 

This feature was submitted on behalf of Honeywell Security, Melville, N.Y., and American Recycling, Mays Landing, N.J.