www.siemens.com/logistics

Fast and reliableSolutions for seamless mail and parcel sorting processes

The goal is the same for courier, express and parcel or postal services: a quick, reliable and economical delivery of mail and parcels from sender to recipient. As a leading supplierof logistics solutions, we understand your business.

Our intelligent solutions boost your mail and parcel logistics. We enable you to create seamless processes for letters, flats and parcels from the first to the last mile. Drawing on experiences with projects all over the world, we work with

you to generate optimal solutions. Ultimately, our target isto enter into a partnership with you that makes your daily business easier and allows you to concentrate on your core strengths.

Our solutions help you reach the next degree of automation and improve productivity. Turn to the pioneers in mail and parcel solutions for your next project. Turn to Siemens.

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Contents

1 The first of its kind SingPost builds parcel hub with Siemens in Singapore for thriving e-commerce market in Asia

2 LAS becomes SPPAL Siemens subsidiary strengthens market position with new global identity

4 Siemens has got things sorted A look at 50 years of automated mail sorting – made by Siemens

8 Spare parts for a long life SPPAL secures investments and production with global spare parts management system

10 Digital twin shows that it works Simulation depicts reality. Emula-tion tests actual control software

12 Intelligent software for logistics hubs SPPAL and Axit complement each other

www.siemens.com/logistics

SILOG NewsIssue 2015Solutions for postal, courier, express and parcel services

Siemens supports transformation process at SingPost

E-commerce as the driver behind the first parcel hub in South East AsiaSingPost in Singapore has been taking care of the distribution of all kinds of mail for 150 years now. Aiming to secure a leading position in a rapidly expand-ing global e-commerce market, the company is building a parcel sorting hub with Siemens in the east of the city state. In the future, up to 100,000 parcels per day will be processed here and sent on their way.

The contract currently being fulfilled by Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics (SPPAL) in Singapore is worth double-digit millions of euros and involves set-ting up a fully automated sorting hub for parcels. It also includes a 15-year agree-ment for service and spare parts. Project completion is scheduled for mid-2016.

Postal service operator SingPost is mak-ing a bold investment of US$140 mil-lion as its next step into international e-commerce. According to researchers at eMarketer, the e-commerce market in the business-to-consumer sector is the area showing the fastest growth in the wider Asia-Pacific region.

>> Continued on page 3 Siemens cross belt sorter VarioSort EXB

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>> Continued from page 1

Today I am delighted to write to you as CEO of the new Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics. As a legally independent subsid-iary of Siemens, we have the nec-essary flexibility to shape the fu-ture. The carve-out of this business from Siemens AG can justifiably be termed a milestone in our long his-tory of postal and parcel sorting, baggage and freight handling.

Another milestone was the first au-tomated mail-sorting system that Siemens installed 50 years ago in Pforzheim, Germany (p. 4-7). That project marked the start of subse-quent developments toward a host of highly automated projects. One such example is SingPost parcel

hub in Singapore: in the future, 98 percent of items there will be sort-ed automatically (p. 1). Just how powerful technology has become is covered in an article on simulation (p. 10); virtual sorting systems are an assurance for customers that the real system can live up to ex-expectations.

There is another factor relevant to the viability and durability of sys-tems from Siemens: our spare parts unit (p. 8) can provide support and the appropriate parts for your in-stallation.

Sincerely yours,

Michael Reichle

Dear Reader,

Michael Reichle, CEO of Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics GmbH (SPPAL)

On 1 June 2015, Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics GmbH (SPPAL) offi-cially went into operation in Germany. This event didn’t just mark a change of name – it was also the completion of the carve-out of the former Logistics and Airport Solutions (LAS).

SPPAL will remain an independent com-pany operating under the Siemens um-brella. The 100 percent Siemens subsid-iary will continue to be headquartered in Constance, Germany. The service re-sources will remain unchanged, with the familiar sales and service personnel continuing to offer the usual reliable customer services. The biggest change, however, is that the new Siemens sub-sidiary is now considerably more effec-tive and competitive.

The company has re-structured in order to serve the market more effectively, and it is now organised along functional

lines. This leads to a bundling of compe-tences, which in turn further increases the possibilities for optimal customer solutions. This is of particular impor-tance when it comes to development and engineering, where engineers work on innovative products and solutions across various locations. The additional investment channelled into research and development at SPPAL is similarly contributing to the success of Siemens projects.

Thanks to the new organisational struc-ture and an independent global market profile, the SPPAL sales organisation is making efforts to be closer to the cus-tomer. To this end, SPPAL has estab-lished regional companies in Europe, Asia and North America, whose main focus lies with sales, project execution and service.

SPPAL’s position has been strengthened even further with the appointment of Remco Overwater as the new Head of Sales und Project Execution. The experi-enced manager assumed the position on 15 June. As CEO Michael Reichle also points out, “Our company is now ideally placed to address the needs of our cus-tomers globally and to handle projects on the ground in the best way possible – and as a result achieve maximum cus-tomer benefit.” «

LAS becomes SPPAL

A Siemens subsidiary with a new global identityPlans announced by Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser in 2014 have come to fruition: the Siemens business for mail and parcel sorting, baggage and air cargo handling is now a stronger force in the market.

While dispatch of mail on a national level is declining, more than a quarter of Sing-Post’s overall income is generated by the e-commerce sector.

And for this reason SingPost, which now operates in ten countries in the South East Asian region, is further expanding and automating its logistics infrastruc-ture. Wolfgang Baier, CEO of SingPost, explained at the conclusion of the agree-ment, “It isn’t easy to make the transition from a traditional postal operation dedi-cated to the domestic market to a region-al e-commerce logistics provider.”

The first of its kindThe significance of the project is spelt out by Dr. Sascha Hower, SingPost’s COO and the CEO of Quantium Solu-tions, a SingPost company: “The Region-al eCommerce Logistics Hub, the first of its kind in South East Asia, represents our largest investment in Singapore to date. It will house automated parcel sorting and warehousing systems and bring together the e-commerce activi-ties of Quantium Solutions, Singapore Parcels, Lock+Store and SP eCommerce. Equipped with state-of-the-art technol-ogy, the hub will enable SingPost to of-fer very cost-efficient, fully integrated e-fulfilment solutions to our customers in Singapore and the region.”

hand in hand with recognition systems from SPPAL.

100,000 parcels per dayIn the future, the hub is due to sort up to 100,000 parcels per day. That’s 10,000 parcels per hour, each one travelling at 2.5 metres per second. The accumula-tion chutes are also noteworthy in that they are designed to handle parcels par-ticularly gently – even at capacities of 120 to 200 parcels at once. Equally im-portant is the fact that their extremely ergonomic design goes easy on employ-ees during loading and unloading.

This ambitious project is one in a se-quence of projects fulfilled by Siemens for SingPost: in 1999, Siemens supplied the company with letter-sorting ma-chines, and between 2011 and 2012 with multi-sorter systems. Michael Reichle, CEO of SPPAL, says: “This proj-ect represents a great success for us. It is of particular strategic importance since it provides an excellent and com-petitive international e-commerce logis-tics player with sophisticated technol-ogy from Siemens.” «

State-of-the-art technology from SiemensSPPAL’s contribution to the parcels hub in Singapore is the sorting technology. This includes the VarioSort, a cross belt sorter for sorting parcels. In Singapore the system will measure around 500 me-tres in length and be made up of more than 650 sorter elements, sorting into some 300 parcel accumulation chutes. Each of these is capable of handling up to 200 items.

The task of the hub is to consolidate the flow of parcels. That means parcels converge from all directions at the hub, where they are sorted and subsequent- ly continue their journey in the direc-tion of their respective destinations. The parcels undergo an identification process, consisting of weighing and measuring, label recognition, and auto-matic address reading or video coding. Finally, the parcels land in one of the 300 output chutes, from where they are loaded for further transport. All this is coordinated behind the scenes by SingPost software systems working

The Siemens recognition systems are so efficient that the degree of automation at the facility lies at over 98 percent.

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The 1950s and 1960s

A barrage of mail in the 1950s With the economic upswing in the 1950s, the Deutsche Bundespost was being en-trusted with more and more letters and postcards. Within a few years, the volume of mail had more than doubled, so that by the early 1960s some 30 million letters

service in Pforzheim in 1965. It consisted of 14 manual coding stations and three sorting carousels, the so-called rotunda, each with 100 outlets for the different sorting destinations.

At the coding stations, postal staff en-tered the postcodes manually in the cod-ing machines, which then printed the appropriate barcode on the envelopes. The machine then sorts the mail pieces according the imprinted barcode.

In the years that followed, Deutsche Post successively automated its letter han-dling centres. It soon became apparent, however, that the desire to automate was a driving force not only in Germany.

>> Continued on page 6

Siemens success story

Siemens has got things sorted50 years of mail automation

In 1950 the Deutsche Bundespost handled 4.2 billion letters in the Federal Republic. By 1964 that figure was 9.3 billion – and everything was sorted by hand. The shortage of workers in Germany meant that action had to be taken. In 1955 the Deutsche Postministerium commissioned a test facility for an automated sorting system.

The first almost fully automated system went into operation on 31 May 1965 in Pforzheim. Soon afterward, sorting systems from Siemens were delivered to postal operators all over the world. Mail has never moved so fast – with today’s largely automated mail sorting facilities, it’s no wonder. Over the years, Siemens has played an outstanding role in the mail automation story. To the present day, the company has been developing highly automated and efficiency-raising solu-tions, and its sorting machines are sold worldwide. For 50 years now, Siemens technology has continued to succeed over several generations of sorting machines, ensuring that mail is correctly and economically sorted. The following pages take a look at 50 years of postal automation.

and postcards were dropped into post boxes and had to be sorted each day. The Deutsche Bundespost took action: as early as the mid-1950s the objective was declared to expand capacity and optimise performance. Letter sorting in particular was to take a big leap in efficiency.

It all started with a wish

The Deutsche Bundespost, however, wanted machines that could read ad-dresses and sort letters at a constant rate, day and night and without getting tired. In 1958 Siemens began concep-tion of an automatic sorting system in close collaboration with the Postal Tech-nical Commission in Darmstadt. The agreement signed by the partners at the time defined in detail what Deutsche Bundespost wanted: components for manual coding of standard letters and automatic sorting to 100 sorting out-lets. The system was also to include fur-ther equipment for automatic format separation, facing and cancelling.

Postcodes ring in a new era An important prerequisite for machine sorting of letters in Germany was intro-duced on 1 November 1961: the intro-duction of the first complete postcode system worldwide. It was designed to guarantee quite literally that “numbers direct letters”.

A necessary technical prerequisite was the possibility of machine-printing of

barcodes – and recognizing them there-after for further processing. A letter had to be manually coded only once and could then be further processed by ma-chines. At the 1963 Hannover Messe, Siemens presented to the general public for the first time a large-scale sorting system with a coding station and sorting machine.

Thousands of mail pieces were coded and sorted during the trade fair. Visitors could receive an impression of the “post-al robots” and furthermore, they could comprehend the necessity of a postal code.

1965: The first system starts operationThe first Siemens sorting system to run in a genuine postal operation went into

In the years between 1950 and 1964, the letter mail volumes in the Federal Republic of Germany more than doubled – from 4.2 to 9.5 billion.

One of the three sorting machines in the post office Pforzheim

Overall view of the first automatic mail sorting system in Pforzheim, Germany (1965)

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The 1970s and 1980s

From Germany into the worldThe search for solutions was also under way in other countries, for example in the Netherlands, Canada, France, Bel-gium and the United States. Siemens, however, was one step ahead and re-peatedly won over the sector with fu-ture-oriented innovations.

of standard typescript used in Germany at the time and hence be able to read the address line itself. After the success-ful demonstration of a functional mod-el, Siemens received an order from Deut- sche Bundespost to develop a prototype of the address reader.

In 1978, the system automatically read addresses for the first time in Wies-baden. The reading devices used at that time were already capable of automati-cally reading and coding around 70 per-

The 1990s to today

Riding the wave of successReading individual characteristics Thanks to rapid developments in the field of electronic data processing, Siemens was able to optimize the mail address reader still further. Siemens engineers

not only boosted performance, they soon achieved initial successes with reading handwritten postcodes. Short- ly afterward, the newly developed, multi-line readers were able to read both the postcode and destination as well as street name and house number and sort according to the reading re-sults. Today, these tasks are performed in the background with cutting-edge recognition software from Siemens that can also read Chinese characters as well as Arabic script and Hindi numerals.

Should an address not be recognised immediately, video coding is used – a process that takes just a few seconds. An image of the mail piece is sent to the video coding centre where it is cod-ed. Nowadays, video coding is possible via a web interface. With fast internet connections, the coding station doesn’t have to be in close proximity to the sort-ing machine, but can be located hun-dreds of kilometres away.

cent of postcodes on machine-written letters. Those mail pieces that couldn’t be deciphered by the automatic reader continued to be coded by postal staff. Thanks to the newly developed video coding system from Siemens, however, this was done via a monitor and there-fore meant a significant improvement in working conditions.

With its prototype address reader, Siemens impressed the experts – as well as the press. There was talk of a “new era in letter sorting”.

With the system in Wiesbaden func-tioning smoothly, overseas business enjoyed a sharp upturn. Not only did Norway Post and Royal Mail in the UK sign agreements for orders or collabo- rations; in 1979 Siemens pulled off the seemingly impossible by joining the US Postal Service address reader procure-ment programme. In addition, the US Postal Service bought several machines for flats sorting that had originally been developed for Canada Post.

A competitive edge through the suc-cessful installation of three large, up-to-date reference facilities for letter auto-mation – in Bochum and Braunschweig, both in Germany, and in Bern, Switzer-land – fuelled demand. In the 1970s, Siemens sorting facilities were installed abroad, for example in Oslo (Norway) and Florence (Italy), and as far away as São Paolo (Brasil).

Address reader impresses the expertsResearch work performed by Siemens in the field of pattern recognition was also of fundamental importance to the development of letter sorting devices all over the world.

Both the Postal Technical Commission and developers at Siemens were ob-sessed with the idea of making ma-chines capable of reading addresses au-tomatically. In March 1973 Siemens took on the task of developing an address reader that could recognise every kind

high throughput and high reliability. Decoding technology from Siemens reads and codes hand- and machine-written addresses from images taken with one or several cameras – no mat-ter if the writing is in Latin, Cyrillic, Ara-bic or Chinese characters. Furthermore, linear and 2D barcodes, stamps, adhe-sive labels, logos and tags are recog-g nized.

Work at sorting centres, too, has be-come easier for employees: feeding in the mail pieces as well as emptying compartments and removing contain-ers is more ergonomic than ever. Fur-thermore, noise levels are noticeably lower. It’s no surprise that almost all reputable postal service operators rely on sorting technology from Siemens.

From the inauguration of the first au-tomatic sorting system in Pforzheim 50 years ago up to today’s highly auto-mated and effective solutions, Siemens has been a constant force behind mail sorting. Today, with its installed basis Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logis-tics is active in more than 60 countries worldwide. «

Sequencing At the beginning of the 1990s, Siemens engineers managed to solve another problem: sorting mail according to the path the carrier takes. This represents huge time savings for carriers, who up to then generally spent up to a third of their working time sorting flats, stan-dard letters and cards by hand in accor-dance with their respective routes. The US Postal Service placed a large order for this innovation; starting in the mid-1990s. More than 3,700 machines were delivered to some 1,200 sorting centres in the United States. Further contracts for these special machines were placed among others by Deutsche Post.

A new generation of sorting systemsA new generation of letter and flats sort-ing machines was developed by Siemens just a few years ago. While many of the basic principles of these machines have their origins in the early days of automa-tion, they have been updated and made capable of fulfilling the demands of the current age. The changes are in line with

Siemens’ great emphasis on providing the most viable, future-proof technolo-gies available. Deutsche Post fired the starting gun for a new wave of automa-tion by commissioning in 2000 the mod-ernization of its 82 mail sorting centres.

Siemens developed an entirely new gen-eration of machines for standard and

compact letters as well as for flats, col-laborating with the experts from Deut-sche Post to adapt the machines to the specific needs of Deutsche Post and DHL. Aside from letters, the machines can also sort postcards, flats, advertising fly-ers, magazines and newspapers, wheth-er they are open or plastic wrapped – and even small parcels. In addition, for the first time the fingerprint method was used in the Open Mail Handling System (OMS) to recognize mail pieces. This means that from the combination of stamp, sender and address descrip-tion an electronic fingerprint is created, which accompanies the mail piece throughout the entire sorting process. Through the fingerprint method, pro-cess devices such as the barcode print-er and reader as well as consumable materials becomes superfluous.

The OMS from Siemens went live as a pilot system at the Munich postal centre in 2009. Up to one million mail pieces per day are sorted there almost fully au-tomatically. Today, there is also an OMS system in Pforzheim, where everything began; it can handle between 750,000 and 1.5 million items per day.

Solutions for the entire process

From pre-sorting up to sequencing ac-cording to the carrier’s route, Siemens delivers a proven, extremely dependable portfolio of sorting systems. Whether for letters or flats, Siemens solutions offer a

Current sorting technology: feeder of the Integrated Read-ing and Video Coding Machine

View of the delay line, through which mail runs during address coding

Letter-sorting system in Berne (picture taken in October 1986)

The Open Mail Handling System use cutting-edge technology to sort flats

The SPPAL central warehouse near Frankfurt Airport contains more than 15,000 different components. From here, over 50,000 parts are shipped every year to customers all over the world. To enable rapid deliveries, it is important that a base stock of spare parts is available at all times. Conse-quently, SPPAL spare parts purchasing monitors how many spare parts are sold and ensures stock levels are opti-mized. The warehouse is continually restocked on the basis of forecasts.

The proximity to Frankfurt Airport makes for short transport routes and also late pick-up times for express carriers. If an order is received before 3 pm on a work-day, the majority of requested parts can be delivered to customers within the EU as early as the next workday or the day after. Fast service like this means that customers don’t need to have as many spare parts on hand, which translates into cost savings. Frankfurt on the Main is also the site of the exchange ware-house, which offers refurbished parts at reduced prices. Furthermore, a centre in Constance takes care of repairs for com-puters and inkjet printers.

Logistics consultancy and life-cycle managementLong-term security for customer in-vestments is an essential part of SPPAL life-cycle management. According to Schwarz: “It includes keeping systems running, even after more than 20 years, and where necessary providing the right modernisation solutions to extend this period even further. This approach is fundamental to the SSPAL service business, and customers really appreci-ate it.”

SPPAL’s primary objective is, of course, to use as few wear-and-tear parts as possible, or to use parts with a long service life. In day-to-day machine op- eration, however, one fundamental principle applies, which engineers and inventors have been trying for centu-ries to override, but which they have to accept as a fact, namely that you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. Where machines run under en-durance stress and in rough conditions, service and careful maintenance are

For many years now, SPPAL has been op-erating a centralised and certified spare parts management system in close coop-eration with its customers worldwide. The goal is high system availability on the one hand, but with a minimum of spare part stockpiling on the other. It is essential to know precisely which sys-tems are in operation for which custom-ers so that the necessary spare parts can be accessed quickly and efficiently.

Anyone who has tried to have consum-er goods repaired knows that there are a number of approaches to spare parts. For many standard household applianc-es, it seems that no one has an interest in making repairs. In fact, repairing con-sumer goods is usually very expensive and time-consuming – if it is even pos-sible at all. Of course, this kind of atti-tude is totally unacceptable for capital goods. Here, quite the opposite is called for: a company that takes its customers and their desire to protect their assets seriously is obliged to not only offer the option of repairing machines and re-placing components, but also to make doing so as simple as possible. It is just as important to see to it that machines and systems can be modernised. Schwarz: “Spare parts management plays an extremely important role in our business and that of our custom-ers. After all, our machines can’t be al-lowed to fail in the middle of a shift!”

Knowing what’s been deliveredSPPAL administers its installed base by means of a configuration management

Meeting the highest standards

Worldwide spare parts supply secures investment and production

system. Central storage of module infor-mation, drawings and of the associated spare parts means that the most impor-tant data is in the system. It is therefore possible to track what has been deliv-ered, even at a considerably later date. The corresponding change management system records modifications that have been made to a system since delivery. This is done especially with regard to substitutes and also modernization, so the customer is always subsequently supplied with the correct spare parts.

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the order of the day for highly automat-ed systems.

To ensure that nothing is left to chance, developers have thought long and hard about how to improve and extend the durability of products. Life-cycle man-agement begins at the design stage of a machine and includes retrofitting or modernising systems, which can then operate for at least as long again as origi-nally planned.

While design focuses on how to reduce the number of different parts and de-velop modular machine concepts prior to product development – to save on re-sources and reduce storage costs, for example, by choosing a common-parts strategy – it is also concerned with opti-mizing service and maintenance for the entire system life cycle.

At the start of a customer project, the spare parts strategy has to be estab-lished in regard to which spare parts to

Companies running business-critical systems need a sound spare parts concept to ensure the quick repair or replacement of critical components. With a sound concept in place, the chances of entire processes coming to a complete stop are kept to a minimum. The Customer Services department at Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics (SPPAL) prides itself on being a reliable life-cycle partner with a service portfolio that covers the company’s entire spectrum of products – as well as its huge installed base of systems for baggage and freight handling, mail and parcel sorting. “We are in a position to react quickly to any customer-specific de-mands,” confirms Joachim Schwarz, Head of Spare Parts Logistics.

Competence Centre for spare parts

The global spare parts business, which is certified according to ISO 9001, is man-aged from headquarters in Constance, Germany. All requests are directed here, whether from customers directly or from the SPPAL regional businesses on behalf of their customers. Specialists at the Competence Centre possess the neces-sary know-how to ensure smooth pro-cesses. Spare parts can be ordered via the usual communication channels. An online shop has been in operation for some years now and is attracting more and more attention. Schwarz on the ad-vantages of this convenient solution: “Our customers can log into the site and search easily for spare parts, view stock levels and prices, and place orders around the clock.”

store and where. A storage site can be either local or central. SPPAL supplies more valuable spare parts on request. In addition, SPPAL’s spare parts experts are on hand to help the customer with stock reviews, which can be carried out at any time, even several years after a system delivery. Following such a re-view, the spare parts warehouse is opti-mized to meet current demands.

It is not possible to prevent the discon-tinuation of special spare parts over the years. It is important, however, that the subject is handled correctly. Customers with corresponding Pro-active Obsoles-cence Management agreements are in-formed early on about components to be discontinued. A “last call” can be is-sued to meet needs for the rest of the life cycle or even trigger the develop-ment of substitutes. It is important that all parties are aware at all times of criti-cal components in the system, and that

A core stock of spare parts is always avail-able for immediate dispatch

“Whenever there are questions about spare parts, we are on hand to give help and support with tailor-made spare-parts solutions,”

Joachim Schwarz, Head of Spare Parts Logistics

appropriate measures are taken in good time.

SPPAL has spare parts framework con-tracts with many of its customers to safeguard life-cycle support. Annual required quantities are defined in ad-vance, and delivery times are clearly designated. “Regular personal contact with customers is vital to discuss ques-tions relating to deliveries, substitutes and technical matters. This exchange of ideas helps both the customer and SPPAL alike to identify and solve issues quickly,” Schwarz explains. A concept like this begins with the initial spare-parts package, which is delivered on purchase of a system, and ends with a comprehensive framework contract. This ensures good spare-parts service even years after the original delivery.

For many years now, SPPAL has been successfully supporting its customers throughout the entire life cycle of the supplied systems. «

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a virtual sorting system. A bulk unload-ing system is planned with the associat-ed conveyors and singulation compo-nents. To achieve this, the planner calls up a construction kit consisting of the relevant SPPAL modules configured in 3D. Four VarioMoves, which fetch the parcels from the trucks, are positioned at the merging module. These dock onto the conveyor belt, which takes up the as yet unsorted parcels for transport. The cascade element follows, which ensures that the parcels no longer lie on top of one another. The Siemens VisiCon Singulator is located after the bend and separates the flow of parcels into single items. As a result, the parcels and pack-ages move along the belt correctly spaced and ready for transport to the scanning and sorting system.

To set the image in motion, customer data are required, namely the expected volume of parcels, a rough idea of the composition of the parcel mix in terms of weight and dimension, and the arriv-al and expected departure times of the trucks. The functional data within the Siemens modules is just as important. Control mechanisms and programs for simulating the material flow are natural-ly also included.

Virtual commissioning: real software controls the modelComplete virtual representation of the actual planned system is achieved by a further clever trick: the engineers are able to integrate the actual control soft-ware into the simulation. That means that the programs from a programmable memory controller or material-flow con-troller control the simulation processes. This method is suitable for when a sort-ing system is being modernized, and testing takes place on the model to find out whether the overall concept works.

Simulations help solve problems It is also possible, however, to solve problems that occur in reality using the model. Recently, a rather special parcel caused quite a stir in a new customer system. The parcel’s dimensions were unusual, and on top of that it was also very light. Siemens engineers measured the item and ran it through the system on the simulation module. Using the

Simulation aids advanced system testing

Fast, safe, economical – from planning to implementation Companies today benefit from increasingly powerful computer technology and simulation models. Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics, of course, is no exception. The company’s engineers configure entire sorting systems on computers in 3D and use these models to simulate the behaviour of a system before it is installed. This allows engineers to carry out virtual tests on processes in advance, shorten project life cycles, and make time-critical modernization work even safer.

From animation to simulationThe most important development in the visualization of layouts and material flows is the ability to create a system or module using 3D models and simula-tion technology without turning a sin-gle screw or bending a single sheet of steel. This is possible because the mov-ing image is not only based on the visu-alization of the geometries of a planned system; instead, system control is also simulated, and the mail pieces flow ac-cording to actual planned physical prin-ciples. Using such models that have “come alive”, engineers can test and op-timize what the planned system config-uration can achieve and detect poten-tial weak spots. “Before we assemble the system at the customer’s site and put it into operation, we have already identified possible problems and bottle-necks,” explains Härle.

Such true-to-life simulation with such vivid graphics is by no means self-evi-dent. Over 20 years of expertise have gone into SPPAL’s simulation models – on top of the developers’ vast amount of experience in all kinds of logistics processes. To this end, the team uses a vast array of simulation modules.

Simulated bulk unload system One example effectively demonstrates how customer wishes flow into creating

virtual representation, a solution was quickly found.

Preparing modernization on the screen

For SPPAL and its customers, experien-ces with this virtual representationme- thod have been positive through and through. That’s no surprise. Härle re- calls how things were not too long ago. “Until fairly recently, in order to test a large system we would have to have a large team of people on site. Our em-ployees had to monitor the behaviour of the machines and the flow of parcels and document everything by hand.”In addition, the large quantities of material that were sent through the system for the tests had to be acquired and sor-ted using the corresponding manpower – without disturbing normal operations.

Simulation means that such tests can be considerably reduced. “The moderni-zation of a system has become safer for the customer,” stresses Härle. Since mo-dernization takes place during ongoing operations, simulation makes it easy to plan and test such “open-heart surgery”, as the procedure is often nicknamed.

Other than that, it is still a complicated affair that frays nerves and costs both time and money. Härle is therefore con-vinced that “simulation prior to realiza-tion, as in the case of replacement of an old control system with a new one, se-cures the success of an investment.” He clearly sees it as a big advantage that virtual designs that also simulate physics can be created today with the aid of 3D technology. “Even the dimensioning of

Key terms

Simulation: Thanks to advanced computer technology, systems can be modelled, tested and analysed virtually. This makes it possible to gain insights into a real system via a simulation model. Classic ques-tions and objectives for exploration include the determination of sys-tem performance and performance reserves, determination of utiliza-tion, bottleneck analyses, develop-ment and validation of control con- cepts (warehouse management, prioritization, material-flow con-trol), implications of malfunctions for operations, and determination of problem areas in material flow.

Emulation: Mimicking of known behaviour in a system by a sepa-rate technical system. At Siemens, the behaviour of a conveyor sys-tem is tested including the actual control software. This step aids the virtual commissioning of new or modified system control software.

Virtual commissioning: Linking programmable controls or even material-flow controllers directly with the simulation. The 3D mod-els represent or emulate mechan-ics and actuator and sensor tech-nology and therefore provide an environment for testing during the development phase.

Virtual design helps to clarify typical questions

Customer benefits of simulation and virtual commissioning

•Visualizeideasandpresent them intelligibly

•Recognizeweakspotsin concepts (e.g. performance reserves, utilization, bottleneck analyses)

•Demonstratefunctionalities and prove that they really work

•Optimizeadvancecommission- ing by means of models

•Reducecommissioningtimes, safety measures and costs

•Trainemployeesusingmodels

•Carryoutmodificationsmore easily than on real systems; trial-and-error testing possible

•Makeprojectssimpler,cheaper and reproducible

•Securesuccessofinvestments

the software and communication back-bone of a provider can be derived using simulation,” he adds, completing the list of possible applications. «

When ordering a new sorting system, or modernizing or extending an exist-ing one, a number of questions come up in the planning phase. The common theme is viability: will the planned sort-ing system be able to cope with the ex-pected variety of mail? Will there be sufficient capacity, for example in stor-age space in the drop-off area? Can the system configuration and logistics con-cept produce a level of performance ca-pable of processing the expected vol-ume of mail within a limited period and preparing it for further transport?

In the past, customers had to pore over countless layout and material-flow plans. Now it’s possible to see the planned sys-tem working on the screen as early as the acquisition phase. The simulated representation of a system creates a common understanding of what is in-volved and helps participating parties to grasp the envisaged concept and, at the same time, optimize it.

What’s special in this case is the fact that the Siemens engineers are show-ing customers not an animated film, but reality itself represented virtually. These virtual models can be used in im-plementation and for testing software code during emulation. “This means a fundamental change in planning and implementing new products, newly in-stalled systems and modernization proj-ects, both for Siemens and also for our customers,” stresses Ernst Härle, Head of Development at Siemens Postal, Par-cel & Airport Logistics (SPPAL).

“We shorten project life cycles and pre-empt numerous issues and questions relating

to commissioning.”

12 SILOG News I Issue 2015

The software at the heart of this cloud-based solution for air freight and parcel centres and other busy logistics hubs permits the coordination of transport operations inside and outside hubs. This so-called “control tower” function shows at the push of a button which transports and nature thereof currently on their way to the hub. This means information is available at the earliest possible stage, allowing sufficient lead times for planning, e.g. of required handling capacities.

SPPAL and AXIT solutions complement each other“We are creating a new degree of trans-parency for logistics hubs,” says Michael Reichle, CEO of SPPAL. SPPAL specializes in the automation of intralogistics pro-cesses and freight handling. Together with cloud specialist AXIT, they have suc-ceeded in linking incoming and outgo-ing shipments at a logistics hub with processes inside the warehouse and in the yard area.

“The logistics hub is in the picture early on and can plan its capacities consider-ably more precisely and efficiently than before,” Holger Schmitt, CEO of AXIT,

explains one of the advantages of the solution.

When and where will each shipment ar-rive? What will it contain? Which ramp is available at the corresponding time? How many employees will be needed at the goods receiving area, and when?

By means of the logistics IT platform AX4, AXIT bundles all shipment data, maps the transportation process, and advises of delivery dates. It assumes control once again as soon as the ship-ments are ready for the outward journey.

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Hall 4 · Booth 3010

Published bySiemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics GmbHBuecklestrasse 1-578467 ConstanceGermany

info.logistics@siemens.com

www.siemens.com/logistics

Editor-in-chiefInsa SiglSPPALnews.logistics@siemens.com

Responsible for contentMonica Soffritti

© Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics GmbH 2015 Printed in Germany

Photo credits: Museumsstiftung Post und Telekommunikation, Museum für Kommu-nikation Frankfurt page 4.

All rights reserved. No part of this publica-tion may be reproduced or used without express prior permission. Subject to tech-nical modifications.

Easy. Fast. Flexible.

Intelligent software straightens out traffic situation in logistics hubsThe collaboration between Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics and AXIT cuts the Gordian knot in logistics: by merging two IT application areas, Siemens Postal, Parcel & Airport Logistics (SPPAL) and AXIT have developed a new solution for the management of freight flows, thereby reducing bottlenecks at logistics hubs and shortening handling times.

The SPPAL Parcel Hub Suite software supports in-hub processes. It controls freight movements from the factory gate of the logistics hub – both in the yard and inside the hub itself.

Both systems supply information and enable integrated management of the entire delivery chain from dispatch, along the transport route, to the logis-tics hub ramp right down to actual in-hub processes. The services offered by

both companies complement each other perfectly right along the delivery chain. «