By Heather McLean, 1 July 2002 15:00
NEWS Pie giant Ginsters is installing webcams inside its ovens to prevent misshapen pasties costing the business time and money. The technology will enable staff outside the sealed oven rooms to spot any pasties which do not conform to Ginsters' shape and quality standards. The IP-enabled cameras, from software company Sirrus, contain a built-in Ethernet card and can be plugged into the company's network. Data can be viewed and manipulated via a web browser on any authorised computer. Jon Wight, head of IT at Ginsters, said: "I hope we will save around £60,000 each year by installing these cameras, just on the difference between the quantity of misshapes and good products. Currently it takes a good 15 minutes for a person to get from the plant to the ovens because of the distance and the hand washing and boot-changing hygiene precautions in place." Wight came up with the idea two months ago and expects the £15,000 project to be completed by the end of July. If the project is a success Ginsters may roll the cameras out to other areas of the business. Wight commented: "If a manager's got 10 minutes to spare he can't go into the plant to see how things are doing if he's not already inside - there isn't time to get changed. This is about being able to see what's going on." Ginsters has three pastie ovens with each producing between 12,000 and 15,000 pasties every hour.
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