The U.S. Postal Service is testing a new mail-sorting machine for letters, flats and oversized pieces that combines the work of three machines into one.
The machinery, called the “Delivery Bar Code Sorter Input/Output Sub-System” and described by USPS engineering vice president William J. Dowling as the “next generation of automated [mail sorting] equipment,” is being tested at the Arlington, TX, facility of developer Siemens ElectroCom.
Under terms of an $8 million contract, Siemens is to install six of the machines at USPS international mail processing plants by the summer. Eight more are to be installed at other locations across the country by early next year.
According to Dowling, the new machine will save the USPS money, free up floor space at various facilities and cut down on spare parts inventories because it can do the job of three separate mail sorting machines that are currently in use.
He explained that the machine, which has up to 300 sorting slots compared to the 60 on the others, can read addresses on letters and flats, including catalogs and over-sized direct mail pieces; print barcodes on mail pieces; send undecipherable addresses to remote coding sites for deciphering and printing; and sort mail by carrier route walk-sequence at speeds as high as 40,000 pieces per hour.
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