The rush of unit load (trays, tubs) at dispatch time can cause major bottlenecks through material handling, and poses high demand on labor to ensure that all unit loads are sorted into containers and tugged/moved to the proper dock locations. To balance the load on equipment and people, dap developed a simulation model that allowed users to vary the start and stop times of mail processing operations, and to allocate various runouts to machines in order to synchronize the dispatch flows with labor. The client was able to test staffing scenarios that would limit labor-operating costs but meet clearance windows.
Postal Plant Operation Animation
February 27, 2011