… the key to maximising sorter capacity. Parcel sorting centres seeking greater process efficiency are finding a powerful ally in Prime Vision OCR. Many of its customers had already invested heavily in automation but were still not maximizing sorter productivity. The capture of hand-written data continued to stifle progress.
Post Danmark is a good example. Whilst addresses of 2,500 parcels per hour were read automatically at its Brøndby Centre, a further 1,500 needed video coding. "We knew our rejects were most often on hand-written labels," explained Process Consultant Svend-Erik Rørdal.
Prime Vision's proven competence in hand-written OCR and its willingness to adopt a flexible approach to system integration proved decisive. So too did the company's commitment to implementing the system in a very short time frame before peak production at Christmas. The resultant 5-sided OCR has seen video coding fall from a massive 75% to just 40%.
Manual data entry is where TNT Dordrecht also had its greatest bottleneck. Although video coding throughput could rise to 8,800 parcels per hour, its sorter has a capacity for 21,000 per hour. Prime Vision OCR has enabled TNT to increase productivity by up to 18,000 parcels per hour, an investment that will deliver an aggressive return on investment.
A very low OCR error margin was naturally the prime requirement for TNT Arnhem which sorts registered and other special mail for the Netherlands. Hand-written labels are common here yet Prime Vision continues to operate within the maximum error rate of just 0.5%. "Our OCR system is saving us money every day and it has also greatly improved working conditions for our employees," concludes Project Manager Kees van Keulen.
Background Information
Prime Vision B.V. is an ISO-certified company specialising in character recognition in postal and banking automation. Its technology is also used in vehicle license plate recognition. It offers solutions for a wide range of applications required for image interpretation to reduce costs, increase productivity and improve process quality.
Prime Vision grew out of the former KPN Research, active since 1967. During this time the company built up more than 35 years of expertise in pattern recognition. This experience has allowed Prime Vision to become a world leader in the development of systems capable of automatically reading handwritten information.