Innovation Award
Denmark & Sweden
Digital Twin: Future Towards Touchless Vision
Parcel terminal management faces numerous challenges in securing the best possible operation excellence. This includes a multitude of sorter configuration possibilities and configuration of set-up, suboptimal process flows, inadequate visibility, and inefficient resource allocation etc. Therefore, the decisions taken are often driven by personal experience and standard operational procedures and less on working with system control due to sheer magnitude of complexity. Furthermore, the constraint of being in a constant operational mode limits the possibility to run trials, test and implement changes in areas like sorting plans, sorter configurations and workforce flexibility. On top of the mentioned internal factors unpredictable factors like weather, uncertainty in volume forecasts, infeed fluctuations during the day, seasonality, variances in customer profiles and product type complexities further complicate execution. All the above limit the ability to operate as a dynamic production system.
The PostNord concept of Digital twin Sorting, derives from a virtual representation of entire sorting centre and replicating operational processes, actors and systems. Furthermore the business case is based on a committed operational efficiency gain of 6-8 % and improved quality with a potential being even higher. In this early phase of implementing the digital twin, the solution acts as a decision support system by simulating different scenarios, processes, actors & IT sorting systems. Utilising the digital twin increases the sorter capacity, removes bottlenecks, and improves collection & distribution sort plan. The digital twin is modelled as per real life setup and can be used to run multiple scenarios without making changes to the real setup and thereby evaluate impact. The solution has been implemented in one of the newest parcel terminals in Sweden with a planned roll-out to the nations other parcel terminals.
The solution has been based on two former trials run over the last couple of years at two different terminals, whereby Örebro Terminal was one of them. The approach was applied after research in other industries and designed together with our IT vendor TCS. One key learning was to start small with a part of the total scope and slowly increase complexity to be able to establish value from the beginning. The current installation is based on historical production data coupled with machine data, work-planning tools and level it up with forecasts derived with increments in volume based on current data. Next phase will incorporate more ambitions like computer vision data, sensors, people and asset flows which is in an early stage aligned with our other initiative called Production Digital Thread.