A number of available technologies, like video coding, can help distribution centres reduce the number of no reads passing through to maintain a high-speed automated sortation capacity. The BEUMER Group Video Coding System (VCS), an add-on to your existing system, enables operators to key in sorting information based on visual inspection of one or more images of the item.
E-commerce has grown exponentially in the last decade and is predicted to continue its impressive growth for the years to come.
And that opportunity also comes with challenges. Packing, shipping, and distribution centres must deal with exponentially growing volumes, increasing diversity of item types and packaging and home printed labels coupled with uncompromising customers that expect flawless process and day to day delivery.
Barcode technology served the industry well for decades. Camera based scanners are gradually replacing the traditional laser based scanners and improve somewhat the raw read rate, but the fundamental No-Read challenge is still a major issue for the industry and cause delayed deliveries, reduced throughput , increased costs and discontent customers.
Different solutions are being employed to address the No-Read challenge. No single technology will solve all the sources for No-Read errors and as it seems, the human operator is still required, and capable to resolve the challenge when technology fails. However, manual handling comes with a cost. Skilled human operators are costly; floor space for manual handling is scarce and physically diverting items to manual handling and re-inducting them to the system later is a time consuming and inefficient process.
The BEUMER Group Video Coding System (VCS), an add-on to your existing system, brings the advantages and capabilities of the human operator but eliminate the need for physical diversion. With Video Coding, images of the parcels, usually from different angles, are brought to an operator’s computer screen while the item never leaves the sorting system. The operator, that can be located in a convenient office environment far away, can inspect the image, read the barcode or otherwise deduct the intended destination and code this information into the system, allowing the item to continue to its destination without significant delay and at a fraction of the cost of the traditional physical manual handling.
The BEUMER Group Video Coding System is an add-on system, which enables an operator to manually key in label data or add other relevant information regarding an item, from afar.
It consists of a backend server, which collects images from cameras and handle coding requests from the sorting system control system, and a web based frontend client which presents the images to an operator that key in the information that they retrieve from the image.
The need for manual coding is determined by the sortation system control server and while the video coding process takes place, the item in question will stay on the sorter and, if needed, just circulate until an answer is received. The VCS server distribute the video coding tasks to the video coding operator(s), collect the response and feed it back to the sortation system control server which will then be able to complete the automatic sortation process.
The user interface is web based and can be operated from any compatible web browser (Chrome / Edge). The user interface is constructed so that it can be operated effectively from a touch screen or a traditional mouse and keyboard and provides zoom and rotate functions which allow the operator to inspect the images from different angles to optimize the information retrieval process.
The system can work with any camera that can to be integrated with the sortation system and provide the images over a network interface (e.g. FTP). If the system already uses camera based barcode scanners, the images provided by these cameras can normally be used for video coding as well, so no new cameras are required.
The BEUMER Group Video Coding System supports a number of optional functions that can be tailored to your specific needs:
While typing the barcode sequence can be done in just few seconds, in some cases the coding process can be even further simplified by allowing the operator to key in short codes, like postal numbers, or city codes that provide enough information to allow the sorting process to continue.
When a large number of items are expected to be destined to a few pre- defined destinations, like major cities or hubs, it is possible to configure a few Destination Keys on the GUI which allows the operator to select one of these frequent destinations simply by a touch or a click of a button.
When multiple images per item exist or when an image consists of multiple elements and possibly multiple labels, the Region of Interest function can assist the operator in focusing on the right area or label. This function driven by machine learning will process the images, select the best and highlight the areas where the important information is likely to be found to the operator. The function can also present the image to the operator rotated, zoomed and centred on the identified Region of Interest
For quality control purposes, or to increase the data encoding accuracy, it can be beneficial to have the encoding process performed by two operators at the same time. With this function enabled, the images will be distributed to two operators and the results compared. In case the encoded data differ, the system will flag the case for further review or send it to a third operator for a majority vote decision.
When training operators, it is possible to set an operator workstation into training mode where a set of pre-stored images with known data will be presented. The data entered by the trainee will be compared against the expected data and feedback is provided to the operator.
No. The system can work with any camera that has the capability to be integrated into a sortation system; this means any camera that can automatically supply images into a server environment. If your sortation system is using cameras to decode barcodes, these cameras can be used for video coding as well.