Achieving Peak Operational Performance With Automation

With e-commerce growing at such an accelerated rate, the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) post and parcel industry has been left struggling to keep up with soaring demands — resulting in the exposure of major system and process limitations, and leaving existing infrastructures and operations unable to accommodate demands.

Through 2019, post and parcel companies in the European Union (EU) have strained to keep up with a steady 9%[1] growth in volume. After years of incremental adjustments and upgrades to accommodate this growth, in just three months, the industry faced a staggering 40%2 increase in volume, as consumers turned to the safety and reliability of online shopping at the onset of the pandemic in 2020. This leap was followed by another 40% increase in the second quarter, and then a growth rate of 25% throughout 2021.

Entirely based on the constant movement of goods from station to station without delay, the EMEA post and parcel industry and its challenges are unique.

It is only with automation that distribution centres (DCs) and logistics operations can meet current and future order fulfilment demands. Material handling equipment (MHE) automation suppliers, system integrators, and developers of industry-specific software and control platforms like Honeywell are alleviating the challenges threatening the EMEA post and parcel industry and enabling facilities to achieve peak operational performance, even during peak demand.

Intelligent equipment and automation that can scale to meet a business’ unique needs are giving logistics managers at facilities of any size the power to specify equipment that can be configured for the optimum use of available space.

Whether it’s the proliferation of various types of product packaging, from polybags to mixed or loose goods to oversized boxes or the precise diverts of a variety of product and packaging sizes and types, scalable and modular designs of sortation technologies are designed to precisely handle complexities.

Automating sortation tasks that require speed, accuracy and repetitive actions does not eliminate the roles of human workers; rather, it utilises labour to automate sortation tasks, while moving scarce workers into more satisfying and higher-value jobs.

By making investments in advanced material handling automation solutions, smart robotics, innovative software platforms and analytics, post and parcel facilities can achieve peak performance at any level. Honeywell is here to help post and parcel companies find new paths of efficiency and reliability with automation.

Discover the possibilities. Download our latest white paper, Improving EMEA Post and Parcel Operations With Automated Solutions, for more information from Honeywell.