Parcels play a fundamental role in the warehouse and the supply chain. Designed to promote easy and flexible shipments, parcels form a crucial link between the warehouse and the customer, ensuring that items are properly packed, shipped, and ultimately, received.
Many processes underscore parceling, which calls for accurate dimensioning and sortation. These essentials determine not only eCommerce shipping strategies, but also influence warehouse storage and overall throughput.
Unfortunately, the process of capturing accurate dimensions — and categorizing parcels accordingly — has traditionally proven time-consuming and prone to errors. These concerns can have ripple effects throughout the entire supply chain, leading to higher costs, lower throughput, and reduced accuracy. These problems compound to cut into profits and damage customer satisfaction.
As high-volume distribution centers strive to meet growing consumer demand, the need for efficient automation solutions has never been greater. Optimizing the sorting process with cost-effective and scalable technologies is key to addressing these challenges. Machine vision offers a transformative approach in high-speed warehouse environments, ensuring greater accuracy, throughput, and cost-efficiency.
Explore how machine vision is transforming warehouse operations—from its foundational concepts and overcoming manual sorting hurdles to refining parcel processing and shaping the future of sorting solutions.
What is Machine Vision?
Machine vision (MV) technology allows computers and robots to capture, interpret, and analyze visual data. MV systems use cameras or sensors to acquire targeted images or video footage, with machine learning systems then analyzing these visuals for classification or decision-making purposes. Key components of MV systems include cameras, barcode readers, sensors, and image processing algorithms, all working together to ensure precise data capture and interpretation. These systems improve efficiency and accuracy across many industries but are especially prominent in manufacturing and warehousing.
Although associated with quality control, machine vision is beginning to enter parceling in a big way. Its integration with parcel sortation systems streamlines operations, improving precision and enabling faster, more efficient handling of high volumes of parcels.
Challenges in Manual Parcel Sorting and Dimensioning
Parcel sorting involves categorizing and organizing items or packaged units known as parcels, which are then transported between locations as part of the distribution process. Strategic parcel sorting ensures that these packages are sent to their appropriate destinations — and in a timely manner.
Manual sorting has long been the go-to approach for parcel processing, but this presents several significant challenges. This method inherently leads to inefficiencies, as the physical demands of handling large volumes of packages—both big and small—inevitably take their toll. Even hard-working employees are bound to tire over time and may also become vulnerable to mislabeling or other data entry mistakes. Meanwhile, throughput is decidedly limited, with even small delays leading to significant bottlenecks. This further slows an already inefficient process.
Scalability is also a concern. Even if manual systems hit peak efficiency, they may be poorly equipped to increase throughput in response to sudden increases in demand. This can make it difficult to respond to seasonal fluctuations or company growth and could lead to significant delays if demand outpaces labor. This challenge is especially critical when it comes to last-mile delivery, where time is of the essence. If earlier steps like sorting and dimensioning are hindered by manual methods, optimizing that final, customer-facing stage becomes significantly more difficult.
How Machine Vision Improves Sortation and Parcel Processing
Machine vision promises to address many of the previously discussed concerns associated with manual sortation and parcel processing. This technology facilitates automation while also bringing a data-driven approach to critical warehouse processes. Opportunities include:
Automated Parcel Dimensioning
Parcel dimensioning determines the length, width, height, and weight of packages. These details can influence shipping methods and costs, so accuracy is crucial. Manual dimensioning, however, is notoriously time-consuming and can lead to major bottlenecks. Machine vision-based dimensioning solutions address these challenges by using advanced imaging and analytics to quickly and accurately capture package dimensions. These systems can be seamlessly integrated into conveyor lines, providing real-time, precise measurements without manual intervention.
Increasingly, automated solutions also leverage machine vision to not only determine parcel dimensions, but also, to use this data in new and exciting ways. Relying on advanced image processing algorithms, machine vision systems can analyze images and extract features to determine parcel sizes — even when packages are oddly shaped.
These solutions are valued for their versatility. In addition to dimensioning, they can contribute to classification and even defect detection. Data generated via MV systems can be automatically integrated into warehouse management systems (WMS).
Parcel Sorting Systems
Upon gathering detailed insights involving parcel size, shape, and orientation, MV-enabled systems can help to automate other aspects of the sorting process. These solutions may integrate robotics, for example, to pick and place parcels as they are categorized in real-time, ensuring that they make their way to the appropriate chutes or conveyor belts. Some MV-enabled solutions even leverage automated guided vehicles (AGVs), which can further refine flexibility while parcels are quickly transported to necessary locations within the warehouse.
Barcodes remain an important part of the equation, but MV systems can capture high-resolution images of these barcodes and automatically decode them to help direct parcels to the appropriate conveyors. These systems work well with cross-belt sorters, which include both primary conveyors and perpendicular belts that activate — based on barcodes or other instructions — to divert parcels.
Sortation Systems in High-Volume Warehouses
While MV-enabled parcel sortation systems boast many use cases, these are particularly impactful in high-volume warehouses and distribution centers, where maximum throughput is a priority — and where even brief bottlenecks can prove devastating. Promoting real-time decision-making, these systems bring an element of adaptability that would otherwise be difficult to achieve in high-speed, high-volume operations.
Amazon is notorious for leveraging machine vision, offering the perfect example of how this cutting-edge technology can transform high-volume operations. The intelligent robotic arm Cardinal, for example, can detect a single package — even if it’s found in a pile of similar packages — and place this in the appropriate cart or container so that it’s ready for transport.
Benefits of Automated Sortation and Dimensioning
Automated parcel sortation solutions that use machine vision technology promise diverse benefits and, at this point, are not only helpful, but indispensable in an increasingly competitive market. Advantages worth noticing include:
- Increased throughput: Capable of handling large volumes of parcels, automated sortation systems optimize throughput by expediting time-consuming dimensioning and categorization processes. Throughput also gets a boost via continuous operation, which can be difficult to achieve when relying exclusively on manual processes.
- Scalable automation solutions: Parcel volumes can change dramatically over time, but it can be difficult to accommodate these shifts with human labor alone. Automated systems, however, are highly scalable, with software updates easily accommodating differing order volumes. In addition to accommodating seasonal changes, this can influence future growth, with machine vision systems capable of adapting to meet increased package volumes over time.
- Improved accuracy: Manual dimensioning can produce significant errors, especially because different employees may use different measurement strategies. Employees are also prone to misreadings and transcription errors. Unusually shaped parcels can exacerbate these issues, as can time constraints — when employees feel pressured, they may be prone to errors. MV-enabled systems, however, are highly accurate, even as operations increase their throughput.
- Flexibility for sortation workflows: With proper MV integration, sortation workflows become more flexible and even more personalized, accommodating ever-changing requirements as businesses adapt to the market’s fast pace of change. This flexibility can be especially valuable for last-mile logistics, prioritizing urgent deliveries and even accommodating various delivery methods.
- Real-time tracking: In an increasingly data-driven industry, machine vision captures valuable information and uses advanced algorithms to ensure it is analyzed in real-time. This can promote end-to-end parcel visibility while also making it easier to detect patterns or potential problems early on.
- Future Cost Reduction: Machine vision and automated systems can eventually lower operational costs by reducing the need for extensive manual labor and minimizing costly errors. Their scalable nature allows businesses to handle fluctuating parcel volumes without excessive overhead, making these solutions an economical choice for long-term growth.
Considerations for Implementation
While machine vision-powered sortation and dimensioning can deliver considerable benefits, putting these solutions in place isn’t without its hurdles. Finding the right technology partner—one who can offer comprehensive guidance from initial design through integration and ongoing support—can significantly smooth the path to successful implementation.
Initial investments can be significant, and, while this may eventually produce an impressive ROI, some enterprises may be reluctant to take on these upfront costs. Conducting a thorough ROI analysis is essential to balance the initial investment with anticipated long-term gains in throughput, efficiency, and cost savings.
Integration may also prove difficult, especially when dealing with legacy systems that are ill-equipped to handle a sudden influx of real-time, MV-driven data. Ensuring compatibility with existing conveyor systems and sorting machines is critical, as not all setups can support the increased throughput that MV-enabled solutions promise. Scalability should also be a priority, allowing systems to handle high-speed, high-volume operations while accommodating future growth.
Meanwhile, warehouse staff may require additional training and encouragement as they shift from manual dimensioning to machine-assisted strategies. Comprehensive training programs equip staff with the skills to operate and maintain these advanced systems effectively.
Strategic system design is also crucial, as is expert installation. By opting for end-to-end machine vision integration solutions, like those offered by Peak Technologies, enterprises can ensure seamless, high-impact implementations. For example, FedEx successfully integrated machine vision technology at its Memphis hub by deploying robotic arms equipped with 3-D machine vision and AI capabilities. These robots handle thousands of parcels daily, significantly enhancing sorting efficiency and accuracy.
Future Trends in Parcel Sorting Solutions
It is impossible to discuss the future of parcel sorting without mentioning the exciting advancements in machine learning (ML) technology. Predictive analytics, in particular, promises to bring an elite level of adaptability and customization to the warehouse environment. Facilitating a proactive approach, predictive analytics can help solutions prepare for supply chain challenges or unexpected changes in demand.
Another exciting advancement worth noting: improvements in cross-belt sorter technology, with the latest sorters operating at impressive speeds without sacrificing accuracy. Many conveyor systems now feature modular designs, which make it easier to accommodate not only changes in order volumes, but also, different types of products.
Meanwhile, sustainable strategies promise to limit waste, with data-driven solutions helping to reduce parcel traveling distances. By limiting operational inefficiencies, these sustainable solutions can make parcel sorting systems even more cost-effective.
Integrate Machine Vision in Your Warehouse Today
Machine vision has an exciting role to play in the diverse warehousing operations of tomorrow. This powerful technology can prove especially transformative for package dimensioning and sorting. MV solutions promise to provide a competitive edge in an increasingly demanding field while addressing long-held sources of inefficiency.
Peak Technologies can guide this transformation through end-to-end machine vision integration. To learn more about our automation services and solutions, get in touch today.
Sources
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/14727978241299513
https://www.zebra.com/us/en/software/mobile-computer-software/zebra-dimensioning.html
https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/operations/amazon-fulfillment-center-robotics-ai
