Verastream helps automate package sorting for DHL

It's no surprise that DHL is the world's leading express and logistics organisation.

The company is smart about optimising processes and using technology in innovative ways. Its latest feat: improving service and cutting costs for DHL Belgium, thanks to a new automated sorting system with integrated shipping information. Attachmate Verastream was key to making the integrated system a success.

Unlocking vital Unix-based data, DHL Belgium has become the linchpin of DHL's worldwide express and logistics activities. It has 10 modern sorting centres and nearly 3 700 employees.

At the Zaventem Airport alone, DHL handles an average of 900 tons of packages a night. Sorting that many packages by size and weight is an extremely slow, error-prone and expensive process. In an effort to ensure faster, more reliable, and more cost-effective delivery, DHL Belgium decided to implement an automated sorting system. The system would be able to automatically scan, weigh, and measure packages, and then ship them to their appropriate destinations.

For that to happen, DHL needed to somehow integrate the required shipping information with the new sorting system. The problem was that all shipping information was locked inside a home-grown, London-based UNIX application. The application did not have a programming interface, and there was no way to access the database directly. Rewriting all the business logic was not an option. The only alternative was to access the data through the application's VT terminal interface.

Working with Dolmen IP, a vendor for warehouse distribution systems and software, Mr Vanherck, development and deployment manager at DHL Benelux, figured out how to handle the necessary integration via the VT terminal interface. He deployed the Verastream integration server.

Using Verastream, Vanherck found he could capture selected application logic and data in the central shipping application and wrap them up as easy-to-integrate Web services. The Web services, which retain all the information about the host behaviour, can then be consumed by the automated sorting system's material flow controller software.

With Verastream, there's no need for DHL's IT staff to rewrite code on the underlying UNIX application or replicate any data. What's more, they can reuse the newly-created Web services as needed to enhance their business processes.

With Verastream in place, DHL Belgium has been able to automate the entire sorting process - from weighing a package to routing it by destination.

"Verastream is a high-performance product that never slows down the automated sorting system," said Vanherck.

Ultimately, the new automated solution allows DHL Belgium to process packages faster and more accurately - which has a positive impact on the company's bottom-line.