TNT install Vanderlande systems
Vanderlande Industries has supplied two automated sortation systems to TNT in Belgium in the first half of 2009. The systems were ordered in the last quarter of 2008, and provide TNT with an automated sortation solution to handle growing parcel volumes efficiently.
“These new systems were installed under a tight schedule, which required a lot of flexibility from Vanderlande Industries in the scheduling and execution”, explained the company’s key account manager Roald de Groot. “An interesting aspect of these two projects is that both systems have the same design and layout, and operate in exactly the same way. Ordering two similar sortation solutions and installing them in sequence offers considerable cost savings for the customer.”
Each system comprises two infeeds with integrated weighing scales. After passing a scanning and volume measurement device, the parcels are sorted on a posisorter. In ‘PM mode’ the parcels are sorted to 19 destinations, while in ‘AM mode’ they are sorted to 17 destinations and to two 15-metre chutes with extended conveyors for manual fine sorting.
The heart of the system is Vanderlande’s latest-generation posisorter, of which more than 450 systems have now been installed worldwide. The latest generation contains major improvements in relation to reduced noise levels and a major reduction in MTTR due to improved accessibility for maintenance purposes.
