“Knowledge makes everything simpler,” said John Maeda, the esteemed American technologist. This rings especially true in the fast-paced world of e-commerce, where millions of parcels move through warehouses daily.
Efficiency hinges on one critical factor: knowing exactly what’s happening at every step of the process, writes Mostafa Nait Charif, head of engineering at Asendia UK.
When warehouse operatives are equipped with real-time insights—whether it’s tracking a package’s journey or flagging a technical issue before it escalates—the entire operation flows more smoothly.
This transparency doesn’t just cut down on mistakes; it expedites delivery times, which is exactly what retailers—and their impatient customers—are counting on. Knowledge, in this case, doesn’t just simplify; it accelerates.
This need for speed (quoting Top Gun’s ‘Maverick’ this time) led the team at Asendia UK to develop and deploy a bespoke real-time monitoring system at our Heathrow e-commerce distribution hub, earlier this year. Within six months it has delivered substantial operational and commercial benefits, including a 46% reduction in downtime due to issue resolution, and a 61% reduction in rejections for recirculation.
Thanks to the alert system, integrated with our automated sortation belts and over-labelling arms, SLA (Service Level Agreement) performance is up. At the same time, emails querying misdirected parcels are dramatically down. And we are making further improvements every day.
Minding the gaps
Warehouse operations, particularly in cross-border e-commerce parcel processing, rely heavily on the smooth functioning of sorting belts and labelling equipment. As these systems form the backbone of efficient order fulfilment, any malfunction can lead to costly delays and errors.
At the Heathrow warehouse, a £2.5 million upgrade in 2022 meant we were benefiting from advanced automated sorting belts and six robotic over-labelling arms. However, we lacked centralised, real-time data on the performance of the system. Without this data, it would sometimes take us hours to understand why parcels were being rejected to the ‘failed’ chute. To minimise downtime and boost productivity, we needed to pinpoint the causes of these rejections and belt stoppages.
The starting point was to ask operatives and supervisors what was typically going wrong. More specifically, what information would help them catch problems early?
It soon became clear that being able to detect and address issues with barcode quality issues, sorting belts, and labelling equipment should be the priority.
Aligning warehouse kit with comms
In-house, we developed a fully automated Operational Visibility System, integrated with a web-based operations dashboard that alerts the warehouse team in real-time. Large monitors next to each sorting line display text alerts and the system is equipped with voice alerts that integrate with existing operator walkie-talkies. This innovation delivers real-time, personalised messages to the operations and maintenance teams, ensuring they are informed even without visual contact.
For instance, the system automatically flags irregularities, such as misaligned labels or belt speed variations. Monitoring systems ensure safety protocols are followed by detecting hazards like belt jams or equipment malfunctions. We have also benefited from a reduction in barcode quality issues, and missing data detection time has been cut from 7 minutes to 16 seconds.
How knowledge is shared was also carefully considered in this project. At the core of the incident monitoring system is integration with warehouse management systems (WMS) to provide instant notifications to relevant personnel, speeding up response times.
Increasingly, we are using the system, and the data collected, for predictive maintenance alerts. These can help prevent unexpected breakdowns, reduce downtime, and ensure continuous operation.
Primed for peak
It’s reassuring to know that with this incident monitoring technology, potential issues can be spotted and resolved before they disrupt the flow of internationally-bound e-commerce parcels. This means smoother warehouse operations, fewer parcel delays, and, ultimately, a better experience for both retailers and their end-customers at home, whether home is Birmingham, Bern, or Baltimore.
In the chaos of peak season, knowledge isn’t just power—it’s peace of mind, ensuring everything runs like clockwork when it matters most.
Mostafa Nait Charif, head of engineering at Asendia UK
We deliver!
Our editor picks some choice pieces from the analysis flow and sends them to your inbox every Wednesday. Dedicated research report previews will also come direct to you. Subscribe for the emails.
Why not join us on Linkedin and you’ll get the best updates on our research and analysis – UK, Europe and Global – in your feed.
You are in: Home » DeliveryX News » Warehousing » GUEST COMMENT Operational visibility boosts parcel processing speed and accuracy
GUEST COMMENT Operational visibility boosts parcel processing speed and accuracy
Katie Searles
“Knowledge makes everything simpler,” said John Maeda, the esteemed American technologist. This rings especially true in the fast-paced world of e-commerce, where millions of parcels move through warehouses daily.
Efficiency hinges on one critical factor: knowing exactly what’s happening at every step of the process, writes Mostafa Nait Charif, head of engineering at Asendia UK.
When warehouse operatives are equipped with real-time insights—whether it’s tracking a package’s journey or flagging a technical issue before it escalates—the entire operation flows more smoothly.
This transparency doesn’t just cut down on mistakes; it expedites delivery times, which is exactly what retailers—and their impatient customers—are counting on. Knowledge, in this case, doesn’t just simplify; it accelerates.
This need for speed (quoting Top Gun’s ‘Maverick’ this time) led the team at Asendia UK to develop and deploy a bespoke real-time monitoring system at our Heathrow e-commerce distribution hub, earlier this year. Within six months it has delivered substantial operational and commercial benefits, including a 46% reduction in downtime due to issue resolution, and a 61% reduction in rejections for recirculation.
Thanks to the alert system, integrated with our automated sortation belts and over-labelling arms, SLA (Service Level Agreement) performance is up. At the same time, emails querying misdirected parcels are dramatically down. And we are making further improvements every day.
Minding the gaps
Warehouse operations, particularly in cross-border e-commerce parcel processing, rely heavily on the smooth functioning of sorting belts and labelling equipment. As these systems form the backbone of efficient order fulfilment, any malfunction can lead to costly delays and errors.
At the Heathrow warehouse, a £2.5 million upgrade in 2022 meant we were benefiting from advanced automated sorting belts and six robotic over-labelling arms. However, we lacked centralised, real-time data on the performance of the system. Without this data, it would sometimes take us hours to understand why parcels were being rejected to the ‘failed’ chute. To minimise downtime and boost productivity, we needed to pinpoint the causes of these rejections and belt stoppages.
The starting point was to ask operatives and supervisors what was typically going wrong. More specifically, what information would help them catch problems early?
It soon became clear that being able to detect and address issues with barcode quality issues, sorting belts, and labelling equipment should be the priority.
Aligning warehouse kit with comms
In-house, we developed a fully automated Operational Visibility System, integrated with a web-based operations dashboard that alerts the warehouse team in real-time. Large monitors next to each sorting line display text alerts and the system is equipped with voice alerts that integrate with existing operator walkie-talkies. This innovation delivers real-time, personalised messages to the operations and maintenance teams, ensuring they are informed even without visual contact.
For instance, the system automatically flags irregularities, such as misaligned labels or belt speed variations. Monitoring systems ensure safety protocols are followed by detecting hazards like belt jams or equipment malfunctions. We have also benefited from a reduction in barcode quality issues, and missing data detection time has been cut from 7 minutes to 16 seconds.
How knowledge is shared was also carefully considered in this project. At the core of the incident monitoring system is integration with warehouse management systems (WMS) to provide instant notifications to relevant personnel, speeding up response times.
Increasingly, we are using the system, and the data collected, for predictive maintenance alerts. These can help prevent unexpected breakdowns, reduce downtime, and ensure continuous operation.
Primed for peak
It’s reassuring to know that with this incident monitoring technology, potential issues can be spotted and resolved before they disrupt the flow of internationally-bound e-commerce parcels. This means smoother warehouse operations, fewer parcel delays, and, ultimately, a better experience for both retailers and their end-customers at home, whether home is Birmingham, Bern, or Baltimore.
In the chaos of peak season, knowledge isn’t just power—it’s peace of mind, ensuring everything runs like clockwork when it matters most.
Mostafa Nait Charif, head of engineering at Asendia UK
We deliver!
Our editor picks some choice pieces from the analysis flow and sends them to your inbox every Wednesday. Dedicated research report previews will also come direct to you. Subscribe for the emails.
Why not join us on Linkedin and you’ll get the best updates on our research and analysis – UK, Europe and Global – in your feed.
Read More
You may also like
Subscribe to our email community