Parcel shipping is increasing worldwide - partly due to the huge growth in online orders. Naturally, recipients would prefer to have their goods delivered to their doorstep on the same day. If a logistics or parcel service provider is unable to respond, a competitor is quickly at the ready. This is why Austrian Post opened a new distribution center in Wernberg in Carinthia in summer 2017, which distributes and delivers parcels in Austria's southernmost province and in East Tyrol. "The move to Wernberg was necessary because the previous location in St. Magdalen could no longer meet our requirements," explains branch manager Kathrin Fischer. "We could no longer cope with the increasing volume with the old distribution technology, and the hall was too small for a new system." While the St. Magdalen site will be retained for the distribution of letters, Austrian Post's most modern sorting and distribution facility for parcels has been built on a site area of 12,000 square meters.

A lot of technology in a small space
The site is conveniently located on the highway, between the urban centers of Villach and Klagenfurt. On average, around 30,000 parcels are processed here every day, and up to 50,000 at peak times. That's up to 6,000 parcels per hour. "The different parcel consignments have to be distributed gently, quickly and accurately," says Fischer. This places high demands on the distribution system. The technology was supplied by the Beumer Group - the centerpiece is the Group's new high-performance sorter, the BG Sorter, designed as a tilt-tray sorter. "We installed our components from goods-in to goods-out," reports Frank Niemietz, Sales Manager Logistic Systems at the Beumer Group.

Flexible, quiet and safe
When the truck docks in the hall for unloading, an employee places the parcels on a telescopic belt conveyor that can be moved and adjusted in height. This transports the boxes and parcels onto a Beumer Parcel Belt Conveyor. The weight of each individual package is already determined here. The consignments are then dynamically fed onto the BG Sorter. To ensure that the system can assign the parcels to the correct destination, it is equipped with barcode recognition and a laser system that determines the volume in transit and reports the result to the higher-level computer system. If parcels cannot be read, they are sent to a special destination.

"Our BG Sorter is based on our proven technologies," explains Frank Niemietz. "This includes, for example, the steel sorter frame or the contactless energy transmission instead of the usual conductor lines that competitors often use." The tilt-switch sorter design allows goods weighing up to 60 kilograms to be conveyed. In contrast to infrared communication, where data is only sent when a sensor point is passed, wireless communication enables data transmission in real time. This means that the communication time can be limited to milliseconds. "We also have the option of implementing different operating modes. This allows us to react better to sensitive products, among other things," explains Niemietz. "The ejection takes place very precisely at different speeds." The operator is also more flexible when handling parcels of different sizes.

Energy-efficient drive
The new system is equipped with energy-efficient drives. The servo-based OptiDrive reduces power requirements and CO2 emissions. With this friction-locked solution, the contact pressure of the drive wheel is automatically adjusted depending on the required drive force - even when braking. This increases efficiency by up to 90 percent and extends the service life of the drive wheels. The BG Sorter also has larger rollers than comparable systems. These reduce the rotation frequency by up to 25 percent. This has a positive effect on wear and noise levels. From the sorter, the parcels are transferred via chutes to telescopic belt conveyors. Employees remove the goods and load them into swap bodies. They are then placed on the loading areas of the trucks, which make their way to the other distribution centers within Austria.

Smooth project execution
Even after completion of the project, the cooperation is not over for the Beumer Group. Among other things, Austrian Post has concluded a hotline agreement with Beumer Customer Support. This enables the customer to contact the service engineers if necessary. "The implementation of the project was extremely professional and we had open communication with Beumer throughout," says Gert Haas, Technical Manager of Österreichische Post AG, Region West. "The entire system was put into operation on time. That's not a matter of course for a project of this size." Branch manager Kathrin Fischer is also satisfied. "The BG Sorter is quiet, highly available, extremely accurate and fast when sorting the products."