BEUMER Group – a supplier of automated parcel and post distribution systems – has been awarded the contract to extend the fully automated parcel sorting system in UK Mail’s national UK hub near Coventry. The extension is scheduled to be completed by end of 2017.
In response to increased demand from the eCommerce sector, UK Mail has combined the flexibility to sort a wide spectrum of products with later cut-off times, leading to growth in the number of parcels that the company is handling. This growth has prompted expansion of UK Mail’s parcel network in addition to the extension of the sorting system in its national hub.
The hub’s existing BEUMER Group automated sortation system was installed in 2014 and enabled UK Mail to quadruple the capacity of its previous system by handling 24,000 parcels an hour. The new extension will allow UK Mail to further increase the hub’s handling capacity to 29,000 parcels an hour. This higher capacity will enable continued development of UK Mail’s parcels business and allow it to benefit from the resources of the Deutsche Post DHL Group which acquired the company in December 2016.
“The easy integration of additional sections was an essential part of the design for the original system,” explains Stephan Heessels, Director for BEUMER Group’s Logistic Systems division. “This ensures that the system will continue to be an essential part of UK Mail’s strategy for years to come.”
When the contract for the original system was awarded in January 2014, Richard Wenham, UK Mail’s network development director, explained; “We chose BEUMER Group’s system for its ability to deliver a parcel sortation system based on the industry’s most energy-efficient sorters in addition to providing the flexibility to handle a wide variety of parcel sizes in a single system. The automated system not only enabled an immediate increase in handling capacity and process efficiency but also secured our ability to support future growth.”
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