Case Study
Leading national postal service transformed operations at 21 mail processing facilities with UST's vision intelligence solution
OUR CLIENT
After a major national postal service struggled with logistics issues that caused parcel delivery delays, UST helped the organization optimize operations with a comprehensive, integrated vision AI and digital twin logistics solution that streamlined processes at 21 mail processing facilities.
THE CHALLENGE
Mail delivery mayhem—Needed to transform operations to speed package delivery
The postal service struggled with logistics issues in its complex, multi-destination parcel delivery operation, such as:
- Misplaced monotainers—These large collapsible steel-framed containers used to transport mail often got lost between postal facilities.
- Overlooked monotainers—Sometimes, dispatch handlers wouldn’t see every monotainer staged for transport to another facility or final delivery, causing mail delivery delays.
- Capacity constraints—As parcel counts increased, especially with the rise of e-commerce retail, the client’s leaders knew they would soon reach maximum capacity in monotainer staging lanes.
To compound the situation, common solutions, like RFID, IoT beacons, and Bluetooth®, weren’t reliable in postal buildings due to interference caused by metal infrastructure. The client wanted to deploy a data-driven solution to optimize its logistics processes that could function reliably in its facilities.
THE TRANSFORMATION
Deployed vision intelligence and digital twin for logistics optimization
UST deployed a multi-pronged solution to improve postal service logistics, increase operational efficiencies, eliminate bottlenecks, and reduce parcel delivery errors. Now, the client can:
- Oversee all parcels going through mail processing facilities—Deploying connected, AI-based vision intelligence cameras gave facility managers a reliable, real-time view of packages as they moved through the monotainer staging lifecycle. The system operates without interferences inherent to other technologies.
- Gain data insights to streamline monotainer staging—The AI-based camera data is automatically augmented with historical data in a digital twin for logistics solution, enabling operations personnel to visualize and optimize staging lane management.
- Implement immediate corrective actions when issues arise—A live planogram user interface helps mail facility personnel identify bottlenecks and operational errors that need attention.
- Centrally manage mail logistics—A unified operations center gives the client a single source of truth to manage processes to eliminate confusion and redundancies—despite the organization’s complex, multi-facility mail operation.
- Orchestrate edge devices and services remotely—This approach enables real-time responsiveness to connectivity, process, security, and diagnostic issues to ensure seamless, efficient, cost-effective functionality of the vision intelligence process optimization solution.
THE IMPACT
Optimized operations in 21 mail processing facilities
UST’s comprehensive AI-based vision intelligence solution transformed the client’s approach to monotainer tracking. The organization now has data-driven insights to optimize operations across its 21 mail processing facilities with flexibility to adapt to organizational and technology changes and easily scale to add new facilities. Since monotainers aren’t lost or overlooked now, both residents and businesses can enjoy speedier mail delivery service.
RESOURCES
https://www.ust.com/en/what-we-do/strategy-implementation-operations