The Hermes Logistics Group’s new distribution hub in Hückelhoven, Germany, incorporates Vitronic’s parcel recognition and volume measuring technology, which allows it to process 50 million shipments a year. This enormous productivity means quicker delivery times and an efficient customer service. HLG is one of Germany’s biggest logistics companies and transports everything from letters, packages and furniture to electrical equipment. With over 13,000 employees and 13,500 package shops across the country, HLG is responsible for a third of German deliveries.
The new Hückelhoven hub cost 34 million euros to build and has over 130 employees, who work a shift system to keep the hub open twenty-four hours a day. In addition to domestic packages, the hub accepts shipments from France, the Netherlands and England, and sends them to HLG outlets around Germany. These distribute the parcels to smaller ‘carrier bases’, which forward them to customers.
HLG delivers hundreds of millions of shipments to customers around Germany each year. Its distribution centres must operate efficiently to ensure packages reach their destinations on time. Automated parcel sorting is essential to this process.
The Hückelhoven hub has two high-performance sorting systems. One sorts regular sized and large parcels, and runs at a speed of 2.26 m/s. The other handles smaller objects and runs at 2.5 m/s. Each uses VIPAC, Vitronic’s automated parcel recognition system, to identify packages at high speed.
As parcels flow through on powered conveyors, VIPAC uses fast, auto-focus, line-scan cameras to capture high resolution, photographic images of the labels. The system interprets these images using computer algorithms and optical character recognition (OCR) techniques. VIPAC then instructs the sorter to send parcels to specific destinations.
Unlike traditional laser barcode scanners, camera systems like VIPAC read badly damaged, marked or poor quality codes, handwritten address information and supplier numbers. This information is used in parcel sorting and tracking to improve efficiency. Camera systems identify most codes and addresses correctly, reducing the need for manual intervention and associated costs. The two VIPAC units above HLG Hückelhoven’s sorters each use three cameras to read barcodes on the top and all four sides of parcels.
Two additional VIPAC systems, both equipped with one camera to read only the top side of a parcel, identify handwritten recipient addresses on items originating from HLG package shops before they reach the sorters. Vitronic helped redesign the parcel labels to increase the read rate of handwritten addresses by 25%. In the event of an unreadable label, its image is sent to one of four videocoding terminals, where an operator manually enters the information.
As VIPAC identifies the parcels, it instructs HLG’s sorters to send them down the appropriate coil shoot for loading and dispatch.
HLG Hückelhoven is also equipped with Vitronic’s Volumec HS2s. This ingenious device uses lasers to measure the height, width and length of parcels travelling at speeds of 2.5 m/s. Using this data, it calculates the volume of each item and the smallest possible cube that will enclose it. This optimises loading by ensuring vehicle transit space is utilised efficiently.
Vitronic’s Volumec HS2s is the only product of its kind to be certified for use over sorters. Conventional volumisers have trouble differentiating the parcel from sorter trays, which are usually shaped or have a lip. Where multiple belt conveyors feed a sorter, each requires its own volumiser unit, which is expensive.
Volumec HS2s features sophisticated software, which identifies the tray and separates it from the package, allowing it to determine an item’s volume correctly. This means it can operate over sorters and serve numerous belt conveyors, bringing significant savings. Each of HLG’s sorters at Hückelhoven incorporates Volumec HS2s.
Vitronic is a leading supplier of camera systems for warehousing and logistics. It worked closely with HLG from initial consultation and planning through to design and implementation. Vitronic completed the project on schedule, despite a tight timeframe.
Thanks to Vitronic, the HLG Hückelhoven hub operates efficiently and cost effectively. The automated parcel handling system ensures the company maintains its speedy deliveries and first class customer service.
Vitronic
www.vitronic.com
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