DHL picks Vitronic for advanced parcel recognition
The automatic parcel sorting and dispatch allows the hub to process up to 60,000 items per hour.
It makes for swift, automatic parcel sorting and dispatch, and allows the hub to process up to 60,000 items per hour.
DHL is using Vitronic’s camera-based recognition system, VIPAC, to identify barcodes and address information on parcel labels at its new €300m distribution centre in Leipzig, Germany.
DHL Leipzig covers nearly two million square metres and is one of the world’s largest distribution centres. Close to Leipzig airport, it incorporates a specially built airfreight hub, from which DHL planes fly to 46 global destinations, including Asia, the Middle East, all European countries, and the US.
Open twenty-four hours a day, DHL Leipzig incorporates advanced sorting automation and an extensive conveyor network (over 6,500 metres of track). Twenty-two VIPAC units from Vitronic identify parcel labels at high speed, enabling sorters to automatically direct packages to the correct loading bays for dispatch.
As parcels flow through on powered conveyors, VIPAC uses fast, auto-focus, line-scan cameras to capture high-resolution photographic images of their labels. It combines optical character recognition (OCR) with computer algorithms to read barcodes, 2D codes, badly damaged or marked codes, and handwritten and printed address information.
Together with videocoding, a facility that enables the manual input of unreadable labels, VIPAC achieves read rates approaching 100%. This allows users to maintain high levels of efficiency, and reduces the need for time-consuming manual intervention. This leads to significant cost savings.
All VIPAC units link to a videocoding system at DHL Leipzig. In the event of an unreadable label, its image is sent via a high-speed network to one of six terminals for manual input. An intelligent address database helps operators fill in missing details. Videocoding means DHL Leipzig achieves a successful read rate of nearly 100%.
