Editor’s note: This blog post is part two of a three-part series on A Day in the Life of a Parcel. The first segment introduced a few game-changing innovations early in the parcel lifecycle. This segment covers innovations in package labeling and mail efficiency gains for the carrier.Once a package receives approval to ship, it still needs a label.

This area begs for game-changing innovation. Traditional print-and-apply labeling systems face limits, such as a number of design and label-material choices. By completely re-thinking the process of applying labels, today’s labeling systems have more than doubled the throughput of the labeling operation, and eliminate an important bottleneck in the production line.

Our patented high-performance print-and-apply labeling system averages up to 70 labels per minute onto packages that can vary by as much as 36” (1m). This performance occurs with an integrated, dynamic print-cut-apply head. Additionally, by the fact that the liner-free labels require no label peeling and generate no backing waste.

Mail Efficiency Gains for the Carrier

The next stage of the workflow involves induction and processing of parcels into a carrier network.

Here, carriers aim to lower the cost of parcel fulfillment and delivery through automation. These include such tasks as reading, weighing, labeling, and sorting parcels or flats. Modern parcel management and sortation systems operate at speeds of up to 5,000 parcels per hour. As a result, the systems pay for themselves in a very short time by removing extra manual labor.

We have worked with a number of private posts in Europe who successfully confronted the explosion of the parcel and small-packet volumes after implementing automated parcel-sorting systems.

Editor’s note: Part three of the Day in the Life of a Parcel series discusses the last mile and return logistics.

Watch highlights of Ramesh Ratan’s presentation on A Day in the Life of a Parcel at MAILCOM 2016.