New autonomous technologies, including drones, zero-emission vehicles and innovative solutions such as robots were among the winners of the 10th Postal and Parcel Technology International Awards at POST-EXPO 2018 in Hamburg this week.
Despite being relatively new to the postal sector, LibanPost was the winner of the Service Provider of the Year award. Launched 16 years ago at a time when there were no postal services in Lebanon, the company has successfully grown and now generates more than 50% of its turnover from non-postal activities. Recent developments include the implementation of a new addressing system, improving cross-border e-commerce services, and introducing environmental initiatives.
StreetScooter’s versatile electric vehicles took the Supplier of the Year award this year. The company’s first vehicle, the E-Transporter, was developed in 2011 in a cooperation with Deutsche Post DHL Group and today more than 7,000 StreetScooter vehicles are on the road for DHL. Fitted with lithium batteries these vehicles have reduced carbon emissions by 23,000 tons per year of being on the road. The company are also working on developing autonomous driving solutions, including a self-driving delivery van.
The Sorting Center Innovation of the Year category saw robotics become increasingly visible. Winner Unmanned Life and Swiss Post worked together to develop a new autonomous solution using mobile robots to execute sorting activities instead of traditional conveyor belt technology. The solution is integrated with enterprise business information systems and AI stacks to enable an end-to-end modular and scalable system. Posts can boost capacity by adding robots as required and change input or output directions at will, making it an adaptable solution for any logistical operation and provide significant savings to sorting centers.
In the Delivery Innovation of the Year category, nominations focused on improving customer service levels with the introduction of more drones into the last-mile fleet. With Drones in Action for Public Health, this year’s winner Swiss Post addressed the inefficiency of the logistics processes used within the medical and pharmaceutical sector. Their use of autonomous transportation drones to carry urgently required medical goods has resulted not only in cost savings of up to 80% but also shortened the patient’s treatment time and enhancing treatment quality.
Australia Post took the Digital Innovation of the Year award for its implementation of a OneView Digital Store Platform. By capturing data from every customer interaction point, Australia Post can further understand and predict shopping behaviour, resulting in a highly personalized customer shopping experience and increased customer loyalty. Posts have always played a critical role in supporting the communities they serve, and Australia Post’s vision is to bring a wider assortment of products to local and rural customers.
The New Business Diversification of the Year award is taken by Posti and Vaisala for their Street Data Service. Using the Vaisala’s RoadAI solution and data from video and road weather sensors, as well as from on-board cameras and manual reports from Posti personnel, a situational picture of Finland’s road network and environment is created. The service is currently live in two Finish cities and Posti are in discussions to introduce it to several others. In addition to optimizing road maintenance, in the long term Posti also hopes that the cooperation with Vaisala will also support smart traffic development projects in Finland.
This year’s Environmental Achievement of the Year category saw posts continue to invest heavily in more ‘green’ vehicles and winner Deutsche Post DHL Group (DHL) was no exception. Their TRAiLAR solar transportation solution – which consists of thin film solar mats attached to vehicle roofs and connected to the vehicle’s battery – is part of its target to achieve zero emissions by 2050. TRAiLAR can be fitted to new vehicles or simply integrated into existing fleets enabling their customers to operate more cleanly and efficiently by reducing carbon emissions and lowering fuel consumption.
The Postal and Parcel Technology International Awards were chosen by the judging panel made up of 18 industry experts from posts, consultancies and associations from around the world.
