Nippon Express – one of the biggest express parcel delivery companies in Japan – has introduced LiBiao Robotics’ T-Sort parcel sortation technology at its Tokyo hub.
The facility, which is spread over 4-floors and conveniently located near to the main road and rail routes into and out of Tokyo, provides a range of inventory management solutions as well as a host of value-added services such as kitting, labelling, quality control and product testing, to a diverse and constantly increasing client base.
The introduction of LiBiao’s T-Sort technology has benefitted Nippon Express in several ways but, according to Katsuhiro Kimura, Head of Operations at the facility, the most significant impact has been on the way that human resources are used at the site.
Prior to the T-Sort’s installation order sorting had been essentially a manual process that required the dedicated efforts of a significant number of personnel – particularly at peak periods.
Now, thanks to T-Sort, just a handful of operatives are required. A team member positioned at an induction point located on the outer edge of the T-Sort’s raised operating platform, simply places a parcel on to one of the waiting Mini Yellow robots and RFID scanning software directs the robot to the correct destination chute using the shortest, safest route.
“By optimizing human efficiency, the T-Sort system has enabled us to reallocate personnel to other inventory management duties throughout our Tokyo hub,” explains Katsuhiro Kimura.
In fact, such has been the impact of the LiBiao T-Sort system and the Mini Yellow robots at its heart that Nippon Express named the T-Sort as its Employee of the Year!
Visitors to two forthcoming European trade fairs – the UK’s Intralogistex (Birmingham, UK, March 19-20) and the German show Logimat (Stuttgart, Germany, March 19-21) -will be able take a good look at the T-Sort system along with other LiBiao mobile-robot-based sorting technology by visiting the LiBiao Robotics’ stands at the shows.
LiBiao Robotics’ European headquarters is in Frankfurt, Germany.
