Even 'uglies' moved with ease

Hermes handled more than 335 million parcels last year. It provides flexible and affordable delivery options to home, work, neighbour, safe place or ParcelShop that are convenient for the consumer and fit within people's increasingly busy lifestyles.

Challenge

Hermes' increase in parcels also includes 'ugly traffic', an industry term for bulky, out of gauge, non-machinable parcels such as flat-pack furniture, car exhausts and ironing boards. Hermes realised that it required a more economic and speedier way of dealing with this increase in traffic, especially the 'uglies'. According to Apex Insight who provide fact-based consulting work ugly traffic currently represents 5% of the parcels market by value. 

Much of this awkward work was processed by hand, which inevitably slowed down the transit of the parcels through the network, resulting in a reduction of the number of parcels that can be sorted in peak periods and an increase in damages and mis-sorts due to human error. All this and the potential for revenue loss caused by an inability to accurately weigh and measure the ugly traffic and correctly invoice customers.

Solution 

After initial discussions with the client about their requirements including anticipated traffic type and volumes, L.A.C. Conveyors & Automation produced conceptual solutions and drawings to help deliver the best possible resolutions for the new parcel management system. The design that provided the greatest flexibility was a high-speed, semi-automated carousel modular belt conveyor that would replace the several existing manual sorting systems and could be integrated with the latest auto-scanning, volumetric and weighing technologies.

The specification for the carousel conveyor required that it should be made from heavy duty acetal plastic 2in pitch modular belt with a 5mm thick steel bed which could handle 50kg/m. The straight length of the conveyor on either side is 52m. In reality the design can easily cope with a 75kg/m and could go to 100kg/m with a result that the belt can withstand heavy loads being dropped onto it. With a tight 180° radius turn and an inner radius of 1000mm at either end to keep the flow of items moving along the 52m straight runs, the conveyor is able to move parcels up to 2m in length. A 1.2m wide belt means there is plenty of room for items, ensuring that they won’t fall off. Transfer plates at conveyor join points means that even the smallest of parcels are able to transit the system.

Results

The new conveyor system had to be put in place without interrupting the depots very busy work patterns and the L.A.C. installation team were able to successfully achieve the installation and commissioning over a two week period. Hermes now has a new high-speed system that can handle up to 4000 items per hour to over 60 destinations with the potential of boosting productivity by over 30% and because it is integrated with the latest scanning and weighing devices, all parcel types are now accurately identified and invoiced saving time as well as ensuring that valuable revenue streams are protected.