Postal Technology International Awards 2009

Automation Technology of the Year: Visicon Singulator from Siemens

Bernd Ruppert, vice president of the business segment Cargo and Parcel, Siemens AG, Infrastructure Logistics

What does winning this award mean to Siemens?
We are very surprised, pleased and honoured to hear about this award. This is really something I didn’t expect but I think it is a great thing for my team to encourage them to continue striving for products and solutions for our postal customers.

Why do you think the Singulator won?
I think it is because of the combination of different technologies, which are normally not integrated in other material-handling products. It provides operational benefits for the customers.

What are the main benefits for the postal industry?
The Visicon Singulator has a very small footprint, which means there is space for unloading operations. And as the unit can singulate parcels and packets of all different shapes, forms and consistencies, it allows for the bulk unloading of mail, which reduces time and labour. The singulator is also very environmentally friendly – with a small footprint not much space is needed, therefore energy use from heating and cooling energy use is reduced.

Right now we are trying to market the Visicon Singulator directly to the parcel industry because we can see that, due to the threat of liberalisation, a lot of postal organisations are looking to focus more on the parcel and logistics side of the business. The Visicon Singulator is a tool that will allow the postal organisations to do this in a very efficient way.

Which postal organisations are using the Visicon Singulator?
Right now we have it in place in the express parcel industry with UPS in an international express hub in Cologne. That has been operating there for three years. While working with UPS, we have optimised the product, added some additional features and developed a usable product, which we are bringing to the postal market now. By developing the product this way we have been able to see how it works in a real parcel operation. We have learned from this experience and have improved to the point that we are now ready for the broader market.

Looking to the future, how can the Visicon Singulator be improved further?
We are certainly working on some improvements. The interesting combination of drive technology and mechanical conveying technology gives us the possibility of providing some operational features, which are interesting in this area. We have recently added measurement features into the system, which can measure length, width and height using image recognition technology. We are also exploring other ideas together with our customers.

In terms of the postal industry, where do you see the Visicon Singulator progressing?
I see it going in many parcel operating facilities over the next couple of years. There will be a trend for more bulk unload operations compared to singulated unloads. And there will be a further integration of functionality and features into units like the Visicon Singulator – for example, integrating RFID reading.

AUTOMATION TECHNOLOGY OF THE YEAR SHORTLIST:

• Quality Tool from Syslore
• Click&Mail from Pitney Bowes
• Visicon Singulator from Siemens
• Hybrid Print and Mail service from DHL Global Mail
• United Sortation Solutions