UK Royal Mail invests in new sorting office technology

Royal Mail is close to completing a GBP130 mil project to implement its Address Interpretation technology in all of its UK sporting office, with 63 out of 70 sorting offices already equipped with the technology. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the project, with a five-year contract from Royal Mail. The technology will improve automatic address reading on envelopes, enabling Royal Mail to process an additional 10 mil letters/d without the need for human intervention. The Address Interpretation technology improves the accuracy of Royal Mail’s OCR systems to 89%, vs 70% previously. The technology is being supplied by a number of companies, including Siemens, IBM and Bell + Howell, all under contract to Lockheed Martin.