Vision-guided sortation subsystem for a parcel hub
Machine vision and controls subsystem for parcel identification and sortation, delivered into a larger hub project run by an intralogistics integrator.
- Delivery geography
- Germany
- Variants in scope
- 4 sortation stations
- Program duration
- 7 months to ramp
- Responsibility level
- Subsystem
- Standards applied
- IEC 60204-1 · IEC 61439-1/-2
What the delivered system actually does.
A parcel hub is a sorting machine the size of a building. Every parcel that enters has to be identified — barcode, dimensions, destination — and then routed to the right chute, at a rate that never falls below what the inbound trucks deliver.
GANI delivered the identification and routing subsystem: the machine vision that reads the parcel, and the controls that turn that read into a sortation decision handed to the conveyor system. It went into a larger hub project run by an intralogistics integrator, against their interface specification.
Delivering a subsystem rather than a line is a different discipline. The scope is defined by an interface someone else owns, the acceptance is against their test plan, and the value we add is that the integrator can treat identification as solved and get on with the rest of the hub.
An intralogistics integrator needed a reliable read-and-route subsystem for mixed parcel flows, including poorly printed and partially covered labels. The subsystem had to report into the integrator’s SCADA and hold rate during peak-season throughput.
STARTING CONDITIONThe integrator had the conveyor layout and hub-level SCADA defined; the identification and routing subsystem was an open scope.
- Conveyor layout and mechanical interface drawings
- Parcel mix profile and throughput targets per shift
- SCADA interface specification and tag structure
- Sample parcel sets for vision trials
- Camera and lighting selection with trials on sample parcel sets
- Vision application for code reading and no-read handling
- PLC routing logic and handover to hub SCADA
- Control panels designed and built in-house
- Integration testing at the hub alongside the integrator’s team
What the program delivers.
- Subsystem accepted against the throughput targets in joint testing
- No-read parcels routed to a manual station instead of stopping flow
- Interface to hub SCADA signed off by the integrator
- Second hub ordered under the same subsystem specification
