Siemens Network Booster interconnects sorting center data

Siemens Logistics is launching its new Network Booster software for parcel and mail distribution networks to provide full process visibility and enhanced network performance.

Features include full monitoring and recording of throughput for each connected logistics center and high-end visualization and analysis of performance data. Thanks to the real-time collection of operational data, the software enables to quickly identify operational irregularities, localize bottlenecks, and respond rapidly to reduce negative impacts on overall network performance.

An example is the detection of items looping between sorting centers and the information required to extract these items. Recirculating parcels are a frequently occurring problem, leading to higher costs, Siemens Logistics pointed out.

Thanks to Network Booster, unnecessary sorting and transport costs caused by recirculations can be reduced by at least 80%. Mail and parcel service providers benefit from increased operational efficiency and overall network profitability, according to the company.

“Due to the corona pandemic, shopping opportunities are still limited in some countries. At the same time, e-commerce is booming, and we are seeing record-breaking parcel flows,” says Michael Reichle, CEO of Siemens Logistics. “Network Booster is the right answer to manage these immense volumes and to operate networks of distribution centers that are becoming increasingly complex and might even be transnational.”

Network Booster visualizes key performance indicators based on a digital twin. This digital model of all connected parcel and mail distribution centers allows the monitoring of item flows and to derive potential measures for the improvement of processes within a network. The analytics technology platform incorporated in Network Booster depends on modern cloud-native software architecture that allows for demand-driven functional deployment.

Network Booster is the latest addition to Siemens Logistics’ growing software portfolio to maximize the utilization of existing mail and parcel processing capacities. It also includes the smart solution Hub Booster. Launched in 2019, Hub Booster visualizes all processes within a parcel sorting center and assists in operating it at optimal performance. Network Booster and Hub Booster are complementary and function independently of one another. In combination, they cover the processes within a single sorting center and between sorting centers of the entire network.