If you have ever purchased a foreign car, chances are pretty good your vehicle arrived on U.S. soil through FAPS Inc. in Port Newark, New Jersey.
FAPS Inc. (originally, Foreign Auto Preparation Services Inc.) was the industry's first full-service automobile port processing company in North America. Since 1956, the company has provided port side automotive pre-delivery processing services. Today, FAPS has the capacity to process more than 600,000 vehicles annually and is widely regarded as the benchmark auto processing facility in North America.
The FAPS terminal complex in Port Newark and Port Elizabeth, New Jersey, covers 250 acres and 575,000 sq. ft. of under-roof processing facilities. Keeping their eye on the entire facility to ensure all that precious cargo is secure is Q2 Industrial Security, which provides surveillance solutions to critical infrastructure sites throughout the United States. The company recently developed a state-of-the-art security control room at the FAPS complex to monitor the facility.
The control room is designed to enable two security personnel, a surveillance specialist and a port watchman to monitor more than 100 video streams from security cameras located throughout the FAPS facility.
Security expert and president of Q2, Adam Conti designed the control room and oversaw every detail from the monitoring technology used to the color of the consoles.
Conti was a founding member of the United States Department of Homeland Security, where he was a highly decorated law enforcement officer assigned to the agency's Special Operations Unit. He later served as a DHS senior officer in charge of design development and implementation of all covert surveillance and tracking technology for the U.S. Department of Treasury's Technical Operations Branch.
In short, as a highly experienced security professional, Conti knew what he wanted in the FAPS control room to ensure the greatest possible level of security for the complex. To that end, the front wall of the control room is lined with five 46-inch and two 52-inch LCD monitors. Operators monitor the video streams on these monitors from a large security console on which seven additional 27-inch LCD monitors are mounted.
A major element of Conti's design was the security console to be used in the control room. The console selected is an ergonomically designed Winsted Sight-Line console, which features clean lines, ample workspace and an innovative monitor mounting system.
The seven 27-inch LCDs are mounted on the console using Winsted's Versa-Trak monitor array mounting system, which enables users to quickly and easily modify sightlines and monitor viewing angles based on personal needs.
"We selected Sight-Line consoles for their aesthetic design, compatibility with flat LCD panels, warranty, ample desktop workspace and cable management," Conti says. "I was pleased with the overall functionality of the console. My primary reason for selecting this console was the aesthetic appeal - it had the right design and the right color offering I wanted, shark grey."
All Sight-Line consoles come standard with Winsted's exclusive TruForm work surface and decorative end panels, both of which are available in a variety of colors and shapes including shark grey. Custom work surfaces and end panels are also available in laminated MDF or solid surfaces.
Lighting in the control room is kept low to enable operators to focus more easily on the monitors. Small task lights were included on the work surface of the consoles for when operators need more direct lighting.
The new control room at the FAPS facility is not only technologically advanced and ergonomically designed, it is impressive to look at. Conti and his team are pleased with the look and functionality of the control room.
