Finnish delivery and fulfillment company Posti is working with a total of 38 Flow Projectors from Prime Vision. Prime Vision installed the projectors in two sorting centers. The machines project numbers onto parcels, so employees can see at a glance where to sort the parcels to. Thanks to the Flow Projector, sorting at the Posti centers near Helsinki and Turku is faster and it feels more natural.
Prime Vision’s core business is computer vision and robotics for postal, parcel and e-fulfillment companies. The Flow Projector owes its name to keeping the flow going during sorting. When workers can see numbers on the parcels, they need to do fewer actions than before. They immediately see in which bin, container or truck the parcels belongs. For example, they do not have to read the label or look at their handheld. The projectors make the manual sorting process up to 40% more efficient.
Fast action
After Posti became interested in the projectors in late 2021, both companies moved quickly. In the spring of 2022, a pilot was running. By early fall, the entire project of 38 projectors was functional. Well in time for the year-end rush in the sorting centers.
Posti’s Sorting Technology Lead, Janne Remesaho: ,,The main benefit is that the workers have their hands completely free to do the chute sorting, instead of using a handheld. Another benefit is when the projector shows the same route on multiple parcels, the chute worker can pick them up all at once instead of having to go through them one by one.” Director of Logistics Technology and Data, Tommi Rantanen: ,,A work instructor who had been working with the Flow Projectors for a few weeks, then went back to a normal chute, where he had to work again with the handheld. He said that going back to the old way felt cumbersome and kind of unnatural. The muscle memory to just pick up parcels and put them away was so much smoother.”
