Wheeling, IL and Longmont, CO (February 7, 2018) – Fluence Automation, LLC (formerly the Bell and Howell mail and parcels sorting division), the leading manufacturer of mail and parcel sorting, high-speed encoding and labeling equipment and software, and Parascript, LLC, which automates the interpretation of contextual data from image and document-based information, today announced its partnership in Germany to deliver a state-of-the-art mail processing solution to CITIPOST Bremen.
A member of the CITIPOST Group, Bremen is one of the largest private postal services in Northern Germany. Since 2005, CITIPOST Bremen has offered its services to corporate and private customers across its territory and, through cooperation with other postal companies, provides letter delivery across Germany.
Together, Fluence Automation and Parascript supply CITIPOST Bremen with the most advanced mail processing systems in the industry: advanced sorting equipment and software that enables CITIPOST Bremen to more accurately and rapidly process reject mail in real-time.
CITIPOST Bremen relies on Fluence Automation’s high-speed Criterion® sorter and two mixed-mail Intellistar sorters, along with MMT Sabre Plus OCR System® software. The software combines Fluence Automation’s advanced reading technology with Parascript’s machine and handprint recognition software, which significantly reduces first-pass rejects and increases barcode assignments.
“We chose this technology based on a very clear ROI calculation using a test period to collect KPIs based on live CITIPOST Bremen production data. Our primary goals were to improve customer satisfaction while delivering mail on ever-shorter timetables, reduce TCOs, and implement a new Pre Sort Service for a Consolidation Partner in our region, in addition to CITIPOST Bremen Private Post Business. This Postal Service poses a special challenge to the sortation reading technology, which was expertly fulfilled by our partners Fluence Automation and Parascript. The number of rejects and associated time-consuming, labor-intensive processing were reduced so that our customers see their mail delivered to the right places in exceptional time,” said Helge Schweers and Matthias Hansen, Managing Directors of Mail Logistics at CITIPOST Bremen.
“The MMT SABRE Plus software significantly improved our operational efficiency, in part by automating both machine print and handwritten mail pieces,” they noted. “We are impressed with the overall performance and the unique customization to meet specific requirements for our territory in Bremen. Based on key performance indicators, which we collected in a test phase using Fluence Automation’s NetSort sorting software’s Report Tool, we were able to carry out the upgrade of our sorting machines exactly to our requirements.”
“It is important for us that incoming mail is processed with the optimal utilization of all sorters. Therefore, we have decided to upgrade all machines at the same time. The biggest improvement of 12 percent to a read rate of 92 percent was achieved on one of our Intellistar mixed mail sorters. This unit sorts letters, catalogues and special formats. The read rate on the Criterion high-speed letter sorter was improved from 91 to 97 percent and the read rate on a second Intellistar was improved by 5 percent. The whole MMT SABRE Plus software upgrade has improved our overall sort rate by 7.5 percent.”
“We regularly issue upgrades for our hardware and software that dramatically improve efficiencies on legacy equipment and on several other competitive sorters,” said Mike Swift, President of Fluence Automation. “These upgrades in reading and software technology can extend the life of otherwise high-performing sorting hardware for many years into the future.”
Fluence Automation and Parascript worked together on the first-ever MMT SABRE Plus software implementations. “Parascript software has been used in MMT SABRE Plus for commercial mailers in the United States with great success, so we have developed a similar approach for Germany,” explained Swift.
“I am delighted that we were able to help CITIPOST Bremen achieve these goals,” said Ruediger Hartmann, VP Sales International, Fluence Automation Germany GmbH. “The essential success factors were the cooperation of all involved parties and Parascript´s involvement in installation and support for a live test to collect exact KPIs from live production data.”
The MMT SABRE Plus software – which leverages character recognition technologies from both Fluence and Parascript — automatically reads addresses with the highest read rates achievable, greatly reducing time, costs and labor commonly associated with mail processing. It locates and captures address block information on an envelope, mailing label, or flat image to efficiently process the entire mail stream. It reads any character type — cursive, handprint, and machine print — in any combination to provide a universal address recognition and validation solution.
“It is exciting to see Fluence Automation’s equipment with our jointly-developed software implemented at CITIPOST Bremen, and that this solution is proving to help maintain their superior service and reduce costs in the highly competitive mail delivery environment,” said Kaz Jaszczak, VP of Postal Automation for Parascript. “We are also pleased that Fluence Automation has had such positive, high read rate results using Parascript for both machine print and handwritten mail.”
About Parascript, LLC
Parascript automates the interpretation of meaningful, contextual data from image and document-based information to support post and mail processing. Parascript Artificial Intelligence (AI) software processes any document with any data from any source with its easy-to-use, image-based analysis, classification, data location, and extraction technology. More than 100 billion documents for financial services, government organizations, and the healthcare and life sciences industry are analyzed annually by Parascript software. Parascript offers its technology both as software products and as software-enabled services to our partners. Our BPO, service provider, OEM and value-added reseller network partners leverage, integrate and distribute Parascript software in the U.S. and across the world. Visit www.Parascript.com for more information.
About Fluence Automation, LLC
Fluence Automation is an innovative technology solutions company that sells mail and parcel sorting systems and owns a portfolio of mail and parcel labeling technologies that are increasingly being adapted for the e-Commerce fulfillment market. Fluence Automation provides long-term support and customer care through its robust suite of software focused on vision/recognition and sorting applications, and a service support network that is based primarily in the U.S., with operating subsidiaries in the UK and Germany. For more information visit: www.Fluenceautomation.com.