Practical guide for multi-site operators.
In this guide
- What camera AI is, in plain terms
- What it can do well
- What it can't do
- Process, not people
- What runs on site and what is stored
- Questions to ask a provider
- How to start
What camera AI is, in plain terms
Camera AI uses the video from cameras you already have to recognise specific, agreed events: a product placed on a station, a container closed, a door left open, a step of a procedure done. It does not watch for anything and everything. It is set up to answer a short list of questions about your process, and it records the answer with a time and, when useful, a snapshot.
What it can do well
- Confirm that a process step happened at a station, at the time it should.
- Notice equipment states, such as a fridge door left open or a lid not closed.
- Recognise which product is being prepared or packed, to match it with the order.
- Turn routine checks into records with a time stamp, ready for an inspection.
- Alert the manager when something agreed in advance does not happen.
What it can't do
Camera AI is not a food safety system on its own. It cannot measure the temperature inside food, smell or taste, or judge whether a product is safe. It does not replace the HACCP plan, the responsible person or the training of the team. It sees only what the camera sees, so a bad angle, poor light or a blocked view means no answer.
It also makes mistakes. A good setup treats its results as signals to check, keeps a person in the loop for decisions, and is tuned on your own process before anyone relies on it.
Process, not people
The purpose is to confirm that the process is followed, not to rate employees. In practice this means checks are defined per station and per step, results are reported per site and per process, and the system is not used to recognise faces or track individuals. Tell the team clearly what the cameras check and why, and involve them in choosing the checks.
What runs on site and what is stored
In SiteQuilt, Vision runs on a small computer at your site, next to the cameras. The video is processed there and is not sent to the cloud. Only the results of the checks and a few selected snapshots are stored, so the record shows what happened without keeping hours of footage. Before you start, review the setup with whoever handles data protection in your company.
Questions to ask a provider
Before you choose a camera AI solution, ask where the video is processed and whether it ever leaves the site, what exactly is stored and for how long, who can see the snapshots, how a check is tuned when it gets things wrong, and how results reach your existing checklists and audit records. Clear answers to these questions matter more than a long list of detections.
How to start
- Pick one site and a short list of checks that matter most for food safety.
- Check camera angles and light for each of those checks.
- Run the checks next to your current paper or digital records and compare.
- Adjust, then decide which checks become part of the daily routine.