Integrating Cameras to Radar to
Improve Operator Vision
The equipment and loads at the yard are different than
at the mill because the facility deals mainly with green lumber in eight-foot
lengths instead of full-length trees. As such, the site has many more forklifts
and fewer front-end loaders but the work is much the same. At the yard, they use a lot of forklifts to move
bundles of studs around. They also use some front-end loaders to unload what
amount to the leftovers from the plywood-manufacturing process that takes place
in a different part of the plant. These loads usually consist of 8-foot-long
round logs that can be anywhere from 4-6 inches in diameter. Because of the distance equipment operators at the
site must travel—in reverse—to move loads around the mill, they have also
equipped some of the large forklifts with PRECO’s PreView Plus systems, which
integrate a camera and monitor with PRECO’s radar sensors to provide equipment
operators with a single visual point they can use to monitor the space around
them. (PreView Plus supports up to 4 cameras and 24 sensors for 360° vehicle
coverage.) The large forklifts go from one side of the mill to
the other in reverse hauling these large packets of studs. Having the cameras
mounted on the back of the equipment gives the operators a 180-degree view of
what’s ahead as they back up. Giving operators just a little extra warning
gives them time to slow down, stop, or maneuver their way out of danger.
