Swiss Post – Yard Management

Swiss Post is a modern logistics company. Every day, it delivers half a million parcels and 15 million letters and other consignments. It provides its business customers with comprehensive solutions, ranging from storage to transports of all types. Swiss Post’s internal procedures and processes are improved continuously and the company invests heavily in new technologies. Swiss Post thus strives to both remain an efficient company and meet shifting customer requirements.

CHALLENGE
Swiss Post has 1200 trucks that carry containers with parcels. These trucks enter or leave the three parcel centres in Frauenfeld, Härkingen and Daillens. The fast and reliable dispatching of the trucks to its loading and unloading platforms is a key element in the whole business process. The identification of the containers has to be fully automated and in real-time.

SOLUTION
• All trucks and containers are identified with passive RFID-transponders.
• An existing active transponder solution was replaced by a RFID UHF Gen 2 solution.
• The readers are actively monitored by an RFID middleware and failures are automatically reported by Email.
• The control and transmission of entry and exit information is made directly by the Smart Readers at the gates through a serial connection to the transport guidance system (TESS).

BENEFITS
•Long-life, maintenance-free (passive UHF Gen2) transponders means no more battery replacements are needed.
•Items used outdoor are IP67 or better.
•Successful readings of the transponders up to 3 meters under all weather conditions (including ice and snow).
•Readouts of the transponders are correctly sequenced.
•Reliable readouts at speeds up to 50 km/h on the road and railway.

“The implemented RFID-Solution fulfills all our operational and technical requirements fully and has well-proven its functionality over 99%, even in the strong wintertime”
Alain Meuwly, Project Manager RFID Systems at Swiss Post