Fizyr Vision Solves Safety Directive of Netherlands Labor Authority

 

The six largest Dutch parcel handlers must immediately do more to protect workers.

NOL, the Netherlands’ largest news source, reported recently (English, Dutch) that the Netherlands’ Labour Inspectorate (Labor Authority) now requires six of the country’s largest parcel services to immediately begin reducing the physical strain experienced by many of their workers. “Staff, mostly temporary workers and often migrant workers, work under too heavy physical conditions,” according to the article. 

After conducting a year of research across 35 of their locations, the Labour Inspectorate gave the country’s six largest parcel delivery companies one year to make significant improvements but insists those improvements must start immediately. A spokesperson from the Labour Inspectorate pointed to “Robotization and automation” as a way to help alleviate the need for heavy lifting among employees, and at Fizyr, many of our customers have already deployed these automation solutions to both protect workers and reduce facility-clogging bottlenecks. 

Fizyr automation already protects workers

With Fizyr’s advanced computer vision and our partner AWL, DHL rolled out RODE, a proven solution, for DHL Parcel Benelux to automate a high-variance task that had been causing sorting facility bottlenecks. Profiled in this 2023 video, “DHL and AWL collaborated to develop cutting-edge robot depalletizer,” it reliably picks and places parcels from randomly mixed pallets onto the conveyor belt of DHL’s sorting system uninterruptedly. The robot can lift up to 31.5 kg (69 pounds) and process up to 800 packages per hour with 99.99% accuracy.  

Fizyr and its partner network use Fizyr PanopticTM computer vision software to automate the dull, dirty and dangerous jobs their customers struggle to staff. Much like the relief DHL Parcel Benelux has provided its workers, Fizyr and its partners have deployed many other automation solutions to relieve worker safety concerns, efficiency bottlenecks and staffing challenges, including:

• Heavy bag depalletizing for food manufacturers and other dry goods processors: this AVT solution features Fizyr. As this video shows, it picks and places heavy bags exceeding 25 kg (55 pounds) from variable pallet stacks, and it processes them at a rate of more than 400 bags per hour, reliably automating one of the most difficult jobs in the supply chain.
• Package singulation all day long: AWL and Vanderlande’s ROSI, the company’s robotic singulator, uses Fizyr PanopticTM to singulate packages with the option to sort them. It can pick up to 1,700 items per hour with a singulation accuracy up to 99.9%.  This solution is already making a difference in safety and workflow improvements in DHL Express’s Madrid hub.

Fizyr’s partner network includes many of the world’s most experienced integrators and equipment manufacturers to support solution delivery in the Netherlands and throughout Europe and North America. Yaskawa’s Motoman, for example, depends on Fizyr PanopticTM to pick, sort, induct, palletize or depalletize for piece picking, order fulfillment, parcel handling and more. 

Rapid deployment now a reality

Fizyr stands ready to help parcel handling facilities in the Netherlands and across the globe better protect their workers with proven, highly reliable automation solutions. Although we help many types of organizations solve many types of problems and protect workers in many ways with automation, parcel induction has long been a specialty. 

Fizyr and our Dutch, European and North American partners can help these parcel handlers ease the physical strain placed on workers very quickly. With proven solutions for singulation, depalletization, palletization and trailer unloading, Fizyr PanopticTM is fast to implement, delivers rapid ROI, and makes protecting workers and removing bottlenecks easier than ever. 

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