The mailing industry knows that the U.S. Postal Service's program to automate letter mail processing has been a success. Productivity in letter processing has increased 83% since 1993, and mailers have received the benefits through postage discounts for preparing automatable letter mail.
Now, the Postal Service wants to bring those same efficiencies to the processing of flats mail. "Our goal is to make flats mail processing as automated as letter mail processing is now," says John Rapp, senior vice president of Operations for the Postal Service.
While the technology that allows for the automation of letter mail processing was not able to be applied to flats mail, processing and delivery costs for flats steadily grew. As the technology matured and the automation of flats mail processing became feasible, the Postal Service began taking action to improve operational efficiencies.
Flats processing has moved from costly manual and mechanized distribution to new AFSM 100s, automated flat sorting machines that can process sizes up to 15 inches by 12 inches, up to three-quarter inches thick and weighing up to 20 ounces. Five hundred and thirty-four AFSM 100s have been deployed, and the old FSM 881s they replaced will be removed from operation by the end of fiscal year 2003. In the past two years, flats processing at plants has moved from 63% mechanized to 77% automated. Rapp also notes that flats productivity has improved by 78% during that time.
"With added sort capacity, we have also moved flats processing from manual operations in smaller post offices to automated operations in our larger processing centers," says Rapp. "To reduce mail preparation costs, we are working to standardize our opening units and the way we distribute flats."
The Postal Service is looking at new equipment to increase efficiency in the near-term including an automatic tray handling system, a feeder modification to improve throughput on the AFSM 100s and upgrades to the FSM 1000s to add a high-speed feeder and OCR capability. Another piece of equipment being looked at is the Flats Feeder Assist Device. This is a pneumatic crane that enables an operator to quickly load a large amount of flats onto the AFSM 100.
Another key is to increase customer involvement. Rapp notes, "We and our customers need to match makeup requirements to both of our processing needs."
Rapp adds it is critical that the amount of barcoded flats increase. Mailers need to move from nine-digit barcoding to 11-digit barcoding. Address placement, the physical characteristics and the makeup and presentation of flats mail will have to be standardized. "As we continue to automate flats processing," says Rapp, "label placement will become even more critical."
Changes in packaging and preparation also provide a way to reduce costs. The Postal Service is looking at cost-effective alternative flats bundling to feed the AFSM 100 faster and take advantage of its higher throughput. "We want to develop mutually acceptable preparation and handling methods that can drive down costs for both mailers and us," states Rapp.
How can mailers prepare mail so it can be fed into the AFSM 100 to take advantage of its increased throughput? Reducing the number of small bundles in the system is one way. Mailers now have the option to increase the minimum number of Standard Mail flats in a five-digit bundle from 10 to 17. Preparing scheme sorts for flats, similar to those used for letters, also will help reduce the number of bundles or containers. "Reducing the number of bundles will also reduce mailers' preparation costs," Rapp adds.
A Mailers' Technical Advisory Committee (MTAC) workgroup is looking at the feasibility of a three-sided flats tray to feed the AFSM 100 that would help reduce mail preparation labor costs. These trays would be palletized and bypass the Small Parcel/Bundle Sorters. Palletization also allows mailers to reduce the number of people on their binding lines.
Bundle breakage has long been a problem, Rapp notes. An MTAC workgroup study showed that most bundle breakage came from bundles in sacks. "Flats mail bundles need to be shrink-wrapped, double banded and palletized to reduce this problem," Rapp says. "We want to eliminate sacks completely."
Today, over 20% of delivery costs come from the time carriers spend manually casing flats which then have to be combined with letter mail that has already been sorted to delivery order.
The Postal Service's long-term vision includes a plan to test the feasibility of sequencing letters and flats into one package for each delivery point, called Delivery Point Packaging (DPP). The idea is to eventually develop one machine that can sequence both flats and letters in delivery order.
By eliminating flats casing and having letters and flats in one package, both office time and street delivery time could be reduced. Potential work hour reductions could equal 30 million hours in office time and 48 million hours in street time, resulting in $2.8 billion in delivery savings annually. The goal is to have DPP handle 80% of mail volume.
The Postal Service will also pursue a parallel R&D effort to automate flats sorting into delivery order, should DPP prove unfeasible. The Flats Sequencing System (FSS) will use a two-pass system to sort flats, similar to the Delivery Point Sequencing used for letter mail. Delivery savings from this system could reach as high as 30 million work hours, or $1 billion annually.
A DPP machine simulation is expected to be available for evaluation during 2005 or 2006. After the prototypes are evaluated, implementation could begin in 2007. Evaluation of FSS will begin in 2005, with possible implementation taking place in 2006.
"We will weigh the costs and benefits of both systems and choose the technologies that work the best," Rapp says. "Whatever options we pursue or new equipment we purchase, we will involve our customers every step of the way to make sure any potential impacts on them are minimized. Together, we can make this transformation successful."
For additional information on processing flats, please visit www.usps.com.
