Misload detection via scan audits?

[curiousbrain]

I've been asked to try and setup a UPS application of some sort which can iterate over the scan checks that have been performed thus far on a particular day, and will report any misloads. I'm pretty computer savvy, but was informed that one or two people tried to set up this application before and could not get it to work.

Also, I have no idea what the name of this application is, or what kind of network resources it might need access to (as an example: the Preload Assist Server) ... because I am not an IT person (and/or have no access to documentation about this application), I'm not sure if discovery is automatic over the network or not (i.e. does PAS have a specific network address, to follow on the previous example).

If any one could provide any insight into this application, and what information might be required to configure it properly, that would be much appreciated.

 

[menotyou]

I thought they had this system? The sup scans the barcode on the truck then scans the packages. You MUST scan the trucks barcode before scanning any packages inside the truck. If this doesn't work, why are they wasting their time doing it?

 

[curiousbrain]

I thought they had this system? The sup scans the barcode on the truck then scans the packages. You MUST scan the trucks barcode before scanning any packages inside the truck. If this doesn't work, why are they wasting their time doing it?

I stress that I'm not really "up to speed" on how all the UPS systems interact, so anything I am saying in regards to how different systems interact is hearsay and speculation on my part.

In the center where I am employed, we do perform your basic scan checks - although the scanner does not distinguish between packages in the right or wrong truck. We scan the barcodes on the truck before we scan the packages in the truck, but if a misloaded package is scanned (e.g. a package for route 1A in route 1B), there is no notification to speak of. Why the supervisor in question doesn't notice this beforehand is beyond me, but that is above my pay grade.

The original question pertains to a UPS application that exists which will (as it was explained to me) check the log of scanned packages and detect any misloads.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

BB, I admire your devotion, but UPS has well-paid people in IE who are supposed to do these sorts of things.

 

[menotyou]

I stress that I'm not really "up to speed" on how all the UPS systems interact, so anything I am saying in regards to how different systems interact is hearsay and speculation on my part.

In the center where I am employed, we do perform your basic scan checks - although the scanner does not distinguish between packages in the right or wrong truck. We scan the barcodes on the truck before we scan the packages in the truck, but if a misloaded package is scanned (e.g. a package for route 1A in route 1B), there is no notification to speak of. Why the supervisor in question doesn't notice this beforehand is beyond me, but that is above my pay grade.

The original question pertains to a UPS application that exists which will (as it was explained to me) check the log of scanned packages and detect any misloads.

I misunderstood the question. I never could figure that out, either. I have done many scan checks. They configure this gizmo to scan the packages for human errors, yet depend on a human to detect the error. WTF?!?!?!?!?!
It should 'Ding!' when one is scanned. I don't know what could be that difficult for the creator of this system to tweak it so it does that. What a waste. But, the system isn't really for miss-loads. I guess they haven't told you that, yet. It for double checking on the driver and what he does with the scanned package.

 

[curiousbrain]

I misunderstood the question. I never could figure that out, either. I have done many scan checks. They configure this gizmo to scan the packages for human errors, yet depend on a human to detect the error. WTF?!?!?!?!?!
It should 'Ding!' when one is scanned. I don't know what could be that difficult for the creator of this system to tweak it so it does that. What a waste. But, the system isn't really for miss-loads. I guess they haven't told you that, yet. It for double checking on the driver and what he does with the scanned package.

The UPS application in question exists to make the system do "that" - i.e. detect misloads.

 

[menotyou]

I'm confused, then. Not saying thats hard to do; I am blonde.

 

[curiousbrain]

The UPS application in question exists to make the system do "that" - i.e. detect misloads.

Late, six-month after-the-fact follow up answer, in case someone else stumbles upon this thread and wonders the answer.

The application I was asking about is the the PMD tool, which can be downloaded onto any UPS box via SharePoint, generally accessible from the 'Inside UPS' website (default homepage for internal UPS computers, I believe); select your region, district, etc; from there, under the PDS tab, there is a 'Preload tools' tab, or something similar; you can download the PMD tool from there.

The trick is that the tool can only run on full PDS workstations, not just any old computer; if the workstation doesn't have the full Office suite installed then it will not run (you can tell by checking Start->Programs, and looking for "Office Viewers"). From there, you enter the sort date, building mnemonic, and you can get PAS data, which pulls scancheck data from the building servers, and will compare any scans to the dispatch plan to detect any misloads.

Sounds great; practically speaking, however, it generally requires every loader to have a terminal/scanner on one car (presumably, the one they misload in most frequently), which slows them down and can affect PPH, for both the loader and, by extrapolation, the sort. On the flip side, it enables the supervisors to actually get some tangible benefit out of doing scan checks.

Note: If you are getting errors about "overflow" errors or something similar, then the workstation you are trying to run it on is not a full PDS workstation; try it on your sort managers workstation.