Buytrago, a Spanish express delivery and transport services provider, has equipped its Madrid distribution centre with a camera-based identification system. It allows the site to sort parcels for dispatch automatically at high speed, and deliver them to customers on time.
As parcels travel through the system, the Vipac identification system from Vitronic captures images of five sides using five high-resolution line-scan cameras. Integrated software isolates and identifies barcodes within the acquired images, and instructs the sorter to send items to the correct loading bay for dispatch. Unlike conventional laser scanners, Vipac identifies incomplete or damaged barcodes, and achieves a successful read rate of 99 per cent. This allows Buytrago's Madrid hub to process up to 6,000 parcels per hour.
The system reads barcodes in any orientation on five sides of a package. This solves the problem of random parcel alignment caused by the eight in feed conveyors. Its cameras feature advanced focussing, which allows the software to recognise and separate items travelling closely together.
Daniel Navarro, Buytrago's technical director, commented: 'We are very pleased with the technology Vitronic installed in our Madrid hub. Because Vipac identifies barcodes on five sides of parcels and produces extremely high read rates, it has much improved our sorting process.'
In addition to standard barcodes, Vipac reads 2D codes, text, supplier numbers, and even human written address information. Achieved using optical character recognition (OCR) techniques, this is a feature exclusive to camera systems.