Handheld sp400 All-in-One??

[pretzel_man]

We spa in the aisle with "trolleys" as they deemed there was not enough room by the doors...which is BS, but thats what we've got. I'm sure we'll get this system eventually as out of syncs run rampant at times.

quote]

Most people hate the trolleys. I will bet you will get the imprinter.

You will see about 33% less people in the aisle.

Each one will be slower than today. However, today each package is handled twice (once for the SPA, and once for sorting). By handling each package just once staffing is reduced.

I think people go about 800 PPH with the imprinter.

P-Man

 

[trplnkl]

We spa in the aisle with "trolleys" as they deemed there was not enough room by the doors...which is BS, but thats what we've got. I'm sure we'll get this system eventually as out of syncs run rampant at times.

quote]

Most people hate the trolleys. I will bet you will get the imprinter.

You will see about 33% less people in the aisle.

Each one will be slower than today. However, today each package is handled twice (once for the SPA, and once for sorting). By handling each package just once staffing is reduced.

I think people go about 800 PPH with the imprinter.

P-Man

Help me out with the numbers here, maybe I'm missing something. How can a preloader average 1000pph when the feed to them is 800pph?

The legibility of the sp400 worries me some, most of our loaders have hard enough time with the stickers, getting them in the right car much less in the right sequence.

When I first heard of PAS/Spa/EDD, the nightmare I had that night had a device almost exactly like the sp400, except it was being used by robots.

 

[westsideworma]

We spa in the aisle with "trolleys" as they deemed there was not enough room by the doors...which is BS, but thats what we've got. I'm sure we'll get this system eventually as out of syncs run rampant at times.

quote]

Most people hate the trolleys. I will bet you will get the imprinter.

You will see about 33% less people in the aisle.

Each one will be slower than today. However, today each package is handled twice (once for the SPA, and once for sorting). By handling each package just once staffing is reduced.

I think people go about 800 PPH with the imprinter.

P-Man

I agree, the trolleys are rubbish lol

They've been reeling in the PAL label purchasing so I really think this is headed our way soon. Like I said I'm hoping for the best, but with any new thing here, I'm also fearing the worst.

800pph is just going to lead to more sorters with these sp400s (well depending on how many we're "given") in the aisle in my opinion to make up the difference. I say that because thats about 200-400pph (possibly more, I forget the actual "planned pph" of the aisle) off what they expect out of a sorter in the aisle. All I know is they try to do 30000 packages in under 3 hrs. Luckily, i don't work in the aisle haha.

 

[IWorkAsDirected]

I guess the loaders and sorters you've spoken with feel differently than the ones I have.

P-Man

As I have said repeatedly P-man you live in a corporate fantasyland. If all the hourlies, sups, managers would stop covering up and going the extra 100 mile superman efforts day in and day out, those of you in your crystal offices would be able to see that pas is a failure, but that will never happen because we want to do a good job. And we do it in spite of all of your crazy ideas not because of them.

 

[HEFFERNAN]

The corporate wet dream is that all technology improvements will invoke a 50% increase in efficiency. When people are expected to go faster. MISTAKES HAPPEN. Read all the posts about misloads. How 'bout all the packages in my car that has a bad pal on them. Damaged packages because belts are slammed.


I disagree that pas is a failure. Pas created more jobs that UPS had to add to the payroll. From that video, I don't know how you are to read that label quickly and get the job done. Seems too smudgy and very difficult to read.

 

[pretzel_man]

As I have said repeatedly P-man you live in a corporate fantasyland. If all the hourlies, sups, managers would stop covering up and going the extra 100 mile superman efforts day in and day out, those of you in your crystal offices would be able to see that pas is a failure, but that will never happen because we want to do a good job. And we do it in spite of all of your crazy ideas not because of them.

First, I do not live in corporate. I'm in the operations.

Second, as I have said repeatedly, you have only seen your location. I've seen over 100.

I'm an not agruing that you are not going an extra mile. I've listened to drivers like you and there are many good points there. But I've also spoken with thousands of drivers and your opinion is not the only one.

I have never said that every location is doing great, but many, many are. You accuse me of ignoring facts while you also do not listen to what I'm saying.

P-Man

 

[westsideworma]

well we finally got these instruments in WORMA yesterday. These are some of my impressions. The cons will be more detailed as I asked my loaders their opinions as well. Let me get this out of the way, I don't dislike it (despite how it may appear below), but I think there are certain things that prevent it from being as good as it could be (things we could change). I have some thoughts and hopefully P-Man can possibly enlighten me as to the choices etc.

Pros:
- much more convenient than the iSPAs (all on your arm, no more 3 pcs to carry around)
- should eliminate out of syncs if used properly
- EXTREMELY easy to setup and use
- seem well built (read: durable)
- no scanner disassociation (bluetooth iSPAs are notorious for this at times)
- can read barcodes AND maxicodes (thank god)

Cons as dictated from my loaders and my own impressions
- this is the main complaint from everyone: the ink color choice is absolutely horrible...I mean horrible reddish/purple ink? are you serious??!?! It all but disappears on many boxes. Not to mention it is clearly less legible than the stickers...there is no disputing this I don't care who you are, don't even try. In the cages, you can't see where its going, making preselecting very difficult. The sorters on the slide sent a bunch underneath (DCAP station) because they couldnt see where package was supposed to go (ink was smudged, incomplete imprints, illegible imprints etc). My preloaders who were trained by me as to what the label looks like and such still had difficulty as label is much thinner.
I was told that they chose this ink because it doesn't interfere with the diad scanner should an imprint be rolled over a barcode. No offense, but this isn't DAS, the preloaders need to be able to read these labels if we're going forward with this, change the damn color.

- Speed: this thing is slow, definitely faster than an iSPA, but slower than our scanning stations. I can see this being a problem as they are always GO GO GO GO in the primary. They need to slow the belts down...I bet they will for a bit...and then they'll push it.

- imprinting process: I can see this being an issue as some boxes simply don't have a good place to roll on an ink stamp. Also the more pressure and care you take for the imprint the more legible (bad ink or not). Try that in the sort isle...won't happen in many cases (see the GO GO GO part in the last con haha)

All in all I do like the machine, for add/cuts it would make things much easier on us honestly. I can't wholeheartedly recommend it due to legibility concerns, but if we fix that (and we can...if allowed) it will be ok. The stickers will always be more legible, no question. It also impacts the preloaders as they are going to be using crayons again (no more PALs to peel, a method in our center though not a corporate method). I preferred the crayons but hey to each their own.

 

[westsideworma]

I wonder how it will print on plastic rolls of fabric or black boxes????\

in a word: poorly

 

[pretzel_man]

well we finally got these instruments in WORMA yesterday. These are some of my impressions. The cons will be more detailed as I asked my loaders their opinions as well. Let me get this out of the way, I don't dislike it (despite how it may appear below), but I think there are certain things that prevent it from being as good as it could be (things we could change). I have some thoughts and hopefully P-Man can possibly enlighten me as to the choices etc.

I think your assessment is pretty fair. They SWEAR that extensive testing was done with colors and this was the best choice. It looks goofy to me too.

Here is my take on the device. Its just an option. Not the only option.

For locations that are putting labels on in the sort aisle, its better than other choices.

Its also cheaper. Each individual SPA station is slower than using a dedicated printer, but since its designed to BOTH sort and SPA, it takes less people overall.

Also, remember you are looking at version 1 of this device. I think its pretty ingenious. UPS and HP together developed this new technology. I would expect future iterations to be better.

P-Man

 

[PTer4Ever]

I'm a SPA person in our building and we've been hearing tidbits about this device for a few weeks now. I'm all for "green" and cutting costs, but I have my doubts about how effective this thing will be. I work on a belt with another employee on the other side of me. We each have a dedicated scanner and printer. There are 10 stations in all, but because volume is so low we only run 6-7 on a given morning. I start a bit earlier than the rest, and I know that when I turn my belt on I get crushed. This is due to the unloaders pushing boxes up a stopped belt until I get in to turn it on. I spend the first 30 minutes of my morning getting killed and shutting the belt off to break jams. This is only going to make it worse. I don't see how I can reach across a huge box to grab, scan, and roll on a label in a timely fashion with a mecha-arm. This could work in our building, but there is going to have to be cooperation among the SPA clerks, sorters, and mainly the unload to curb the flow. We've been trying to get them to understand that if they keep a nice steady flow that it prevents damages from jams and makes everyone's job a lot smoother. There's no point in getting crushed for a half hour and then see 10 pieces a minute thereafter. FWIW, our area averages about 2-3 out of syncs a week. I've had only 1 since I started. I don't know if that's good or bad. On another note, how are we supposed to handle send-agains? We can't just stick a new label over the old one now...that alone could lead to more problems unless the loaders are super careful.

 

[evilleace]

I never thought about send agians, but I still think this is just a way to cut jobs UPS doesn't care about the waste the generate. Also it will eliminate many jobs across the country another bad idea if they give it to the sorter or the unloader it will slow down pieces per hour the PAL label is hard enough to find.

If it is only a replacement for the ispa then that is fine but as far as replaceing the scanning stations I think it is a bad idea.

 

[rushfan]

I like the words, "as your package ROLLS down the line"....that's pretty much in a nutshell at UPS.