Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics (SPPAL) has secured contracts from UPS Germany and Australia Post to equip their respective parcel and mail hubs with the latest sorting systems to increase efficiency and handling capacity.
UPS has implemented Siemens’ automatised sorting systems at its expanded parcels hub in Nuremberg, southern Germany, to double the sorting capacity from the previous 15,000 parcels to 30,000 parcels per hour, made possible through the modernisation of the facility which took about two years. While parcels were previously sorted with conventional conveying systems at the hub, it now features five automatised Visicon singulators, eight sorters and a total of 87 terminal stations.
“Our priority was to ensure that UPS could carry on operations as usual while the new equipment was being installed,” Michael Reichle, CEO of SPPAL, said. The upgrade took place alongside running operations, as it was the case during the modernisation of the UPS air hub in Cologne/Bonn which officially opened in 2014. This time, experienced employees from Cologne transferred to Nuremberg to help with their know-how and ensure the best possible success of the project.
UPS is one of the largest employers at Nuremberg’s port on the Main-Danube canal which is a key logistics location in southern Germany. Nuremberg represents an important hub for the company’s European cross-border network and acts as a bridge to further destinations in countries like Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Italy.
Frank Sportolari, President of UPS Germany, said previously at the hub’s official opening: “With this expansion, UPS is investing in its network to handle the growing export business. The hub holds a key function for UPS to support its customers exporting to south-eastern Europe.”
Separately, Australia Post also contracted Siemens to equip its mail sorting centres with the state-of-the-art Open Mail Handling System (OMS) for flats sorting to reduce the high maintenance costs associated with some of its older machinery and provide greater operational efficiencies across its mail network.
Six of the highly automatised, advanced systems will be installed in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Western Australia for efficient sorting and sequencing of large letters, open and plastic wrapped magazines, as well as small parcels.
Key features of the OMS are the high degree of flats automation together with fast sequencing and sorting processes in an ergonomic environment. All of the machines are equipped with a barcode reader and printer. The color scanner, which is used for the first time in a flats sorting machine, ensures that the reading system gets high-quality pictures. For the ergonomic work environment, sorting is supported by the tray unloading device at the feeders as well as by a tray commissioning and buffering area.
The systems can process a wide range of mail piece formats and are configured either with two induction lines to sort up to 25,000 mail items per hour or with four induction lines for up to 50,000 mail items per hour. The five mail centres in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane will be equipped with the OMS featuring four induction lines while the sixth facility in Perth will feature a system with two induction lines.
The new sorting systems will replace the old flats sorting machines from Siemens, which have been operating for more than a decade now.
“We evaluated different machine types for flats processing and decided to go for Siemens’ sorting system because of its advanced technology. The OMS processes a larger spectrum of mail types and formats than the other solutions we looked at,” Andrew Howlett, General Manager, Postal Services at Australia Post, said.
Australia Post delivers 60 million items to more than 11 million delivery points across the country every week.
In addition to UPS Germany and Australia Post, SPPAL was recently contracted to equip Singapore Post’s new Regional eCommerce Logistics Hub in Singapore with its sorting systems.
At Post-Expo in Paris last week the company picked up the Postal Technology International award for the Parcel Handling Innovation of the Year for its new Label Learning software which simplifies reading of new and unknown labels, and thus speeds up sorting processes.
In the beginning of this year, Siemens outsourced its Logistics and Airport Solutions unit under the new name ‘Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics GmbH’ (SPPAL) in Germany, which continues operating as a new company under the Siemens umbrella.
