Mailmover System
Situation
A major mailer installed a new conveyor system and needed to track mail trays. They needed to record the tray weight and the tray tag number (contains destination ZIP code and mail type). The system would divert bad trays to a reject line and allow the good trays to move to the loading area. They also needed better reporting capabilities to determine how much mail was being sent to various types of Postal facilities.
Company
Main contractor: MSI Corporation
Customer: Diversified Mailing Systems (Fredericksburg, VA)
Action(s)
The MailMover system used a PC, in-motion scale, in-line scanner, and relay board to track trays. It captured and logged the tray weight and tray tag number. It rejected underweight trays and trays where the tray tag could not be scanned. A relay board was used to signal the conveyor PLC unit that controlled the conveyor motors and sensors. MailMover included a reporting module that analyzed the tray data and reported the results by destination Postal facility type (called SCFs and BMCs).
Outcome
MailMover allowed the mailer to track mail and reject the bad trays. It allowed the mailer to provide reports to their customers showing when their mail was processed.
Benefits
The system requires no operator intervention once running. The data collected could be used to fine-tune sort plans in order to process mail more efficiently. Such fine-tuning could result in lower postage costs due to better sorting.
Product Details
- PC-compatible computer
- ICS DIO-8P relay/input board
- Microscan MS-7000 in-line scanner with object sensor
- In-Motion scale from The Scale People (modified Weightronix scale)