“The operation can now be performed with a manpower reduction
of about 20%, and in future we estimate the same reduction in cost
and time,” said Mr. Hirata, describing the anticipated benefits of the
system. “Another major benefit is that we can shift operators from
inspection work to other work. And the inspection accuracy and
shipment quality has certainly improved.”
“With the inclusion of inspection work in the production line, the
entire line can now be managed in an integrated fashion by using
ICT,” added Mr. Maki. “This is a revolutionary system noteworthy in
the industry and could only be achieved through a collaboration
between NEC’s technical capabilit ies and YSD’s operations
know-how.”
“Unti l now, we have been working with the Haneda Airpor t
On-demand Center to promote the adoption of NEC’s Warehouse
Product Inspection System so that we can improve the efficiency of
YSD operations,” concluded Mr. Hiroki Nakamura, Branch Manager
of the East Japan Logisys Branch Office. “But based on this
success story, YSD is now looking to promote external sales of this
system in collaboration with NEC. We have three on-demand
centers in Japan: in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, and we are thinking
next to adopt this system in our Osaka center. We are also planning
to conduct demonstration tests for inspecting 3D objects without
barcodes.”
YSD was established following its split from the computer section of
Yamato Transport, and has been developing and operating the
TA-Q-BIN (parcel delivery service) system for many years. By
utilizing its development and
operations know-how, as well
as its extensive network and
infrastructure assets, YSD is
expand ing i t s bus iness to
provide solutions to customers
in a range of different industries.
As a “Business Process Efficiency
Partner”, YSD is leveraging ICT
to help its customers improve
the efficiency of their business
processes.
The Warehouse Product Inspection System developed by NEC
identifies products by comparing product photographs taken by
cameras installed on workbenches with pre-registered product
image information. The system also simultaneously identifies
product quantities by comparing the weight of each product
measured by a weigh scale installed on each workbench with
pre-registered weight information. By utilizing NEC’s high-accuracy
image recognition technology, matching images are accurately
extracted and products can be identified, even if the products in the
images captured by the camera are partially hidden, only part of the
product is photographed, the product is reflecting light, or the
product is tilted or crookedly placed.
Fur thermore, for products that are dif f icult to photograph,
inspections can be performed visually from the start because the
system also incorporates a sub-function that facilitates visual
inspections so that master information can be confirmed on a
screen.
The Warehouse Product Inspection System can also be linked with
YSD’s cloud-based warehouse management system enabling
integrated management of product master data, shipment
instruction data, and actual inspection data.
The newly developed Warehouse Product Inspection System is a
pioneering logistics system that simultaneously inspects products
based on both image and weight during shipping inspections.
NEC has developed the logistics industry’s first Warehouse Product
Inspection System, which is being used by Yamato System
Development (YSD) to streamline shipment inspections for catalogs,
pamphlets, manuals, and medical package inserts that do not have
product IDs. This system has led to a 20% reduction in costs and
time for all warehouse operations. Improvements in inspection
accuracy have also translated to improved shipment quality.
A large amount of time and effort were being spent on inspections
in the logistics outsourcing business of YSD, so the company was
looking for ways to streamline these operations.
“In pre-shipment inspections, expert operators were responsible for
inspecting the products visually and had to refer to documents
multiple times to check that there were no mistakes,” explained Mr.
Hiroshi Maki, Executive Officer of YSD and President of YSD’s
logistics outsourcer e-logi Solutions Company. “We wanted to
create a labor-saving system, but we did not receive a positive
response from the vendors we contacted. Only NEC enthusiastically
raised their hand to help us with this project.”
Mr. Takeshi Hirata, Head of the YSD’s On-Demand Center at
Haneda Airport, specifically requested NEC.
“We wanted to invest in ICT and build a system that could inspect
the number of items by weight as well as identify products based on
photographs,” said Mr. Hirata. “This would allow us to eliminate the
pre-processes of selection and confirmation and bring efficiency to
the entire operation. We also asked NEC to make the response time
for inspecting one item to not exceed three seconds.”
YAMATO SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.
Shipping Inspection System
Streamlining of inspections for products without product IDs
Overview
Challenges
NEC's image recognition technologyimproves shipping process byreducing costs and time of shippinginspections.
Challenges
• Inspection work was highly inefficient and required a huge amount of time and effort to manually process catalogs and pamphlets that did not have product IDs.
• Needed to build a system that could simultaneously inspect the number of items not only by product ID, but also by weight.
• No vendors came forward to act as development partners because of the complexity of the project.
Solution
• Adopted NEC’s specialized image recognition technology to compare pre-registered product information with product photographs taken by cameras installed on workbenches to verify whether products matched.
• Installed a new system to verify product quantities by comparing the weight information of pre-registered products with weight of products on workbenches.
Results
• 20% reduction in costs and time for performing shipping inspections of products without product IDs.
• Greater inspection accuracy and shipment quality.
Case Study
“The operation can now be performed with a manpower reduction
of about 20%, and in future we estimate the same reduction in cost
and time,” said Mr. Hirata, describing the anticipated benefits of the
system. “Another major benefit is that we can shift operators from
inspection work to other work. And the inspection accuracy and
shipment quality has certainly improved.”
“With the inclusion of inspection work in the production line, the
entire line can now be managed in an integrated fashion by using
ICT,” added Mr. Maki. “This is a revolutionary system noteworthy in
the industry and could only be achieved through a collaboration
between NEC’s technical capabilit ies and YSD’s operations
know-how.”
“Unti l now, we have been working with the Haneda Airpor t
On-demand Center to promote the adoption of NEC’s Warehouse
Product Inspection System so that we can improve the efficiency of
YSD operations,” concluded Mr. Hiroki Nakamura, Branch Manager
of the East Japan Logisys Branch Office. “But based on this
success story, YSD is now looking to promote external sales of this
system in collaboration with NEC. We have three on-demand
centers in Japan: in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka, and we are thinking
next to adopt this system in our Osaka center. We are also planning
to conduct demonstration tests for inspecting 3D objects without
barcodes.”
YSD was established following its split from the computer section of
Yamato Transport, and has been developing and operating the
TA-Q-BIN (parcel delivery service) system for many years. By
utilizing its development and
operations know-how, as well
as its extensive network and
infrastructure assets, YSD is
expand ing i t s bus iness to
provide solutions to customers
in a range of different industries.
As a “Business Process Efficiency
Partner”, YSD is leveraging ICT
to help its customers improve
the efficiency of their business
processes.
The Warehouse Product Inspection System developed by NEC
identifies products by comparing product photographs taken by
cameras installed on workbenches with pre-registered product
image information. The system also simultaneously identifies
product quantities by comparing the weight of each product
measured by a weigh scale installed on each workbench with
pre-registered weight information. By utilizing NEC’s high-accuracy
image recognition technology, matching images are accurately
extracted and products can be identified, even if the products in the
images captured by the camera are partially hidden, only part of the
product is photographed, the product is reflecting light, or the
product is tilted or crookedly placed.
Fur thermore, for products that are dif f icult to photograph,
inspections can be performed visually from the start because the
system also incorporates a sub-function that facilitates visual
inspections so that master information can be confirmed on a
screen.
The Warehouse Product Inspection System can also be linked with
YSD’s cloud-based warehouse management system enabling
integrated management of product master data, shipment
instruction data, and actual inspection data.
The newly developed Warehouse Product Inspection System is a
pioneering logistics system that simultaneously inspects products
based on both image and weight during shipping inspections.
NEC has developed the logistics industry’s first Warehouse Product
Inspection System, which is being used by Yamato System
Development (YSD) to streamline shipment inspections for catalogs,
pamphlets, manuals, and medical package inserts that do not have
product IDs. This system has led to a 20% reduction in costs and
time for all warehouse operations. Improvements in inspection
accuracy have also translated to improved shipment quality.
A large amount of time and effort were being spent on inspections
in the logistics outsourcing business of YSD, so the company was
looking for ways to streamline these operations.
“In pre-shipment inspections, expert operators were responsible for
inspecting the products visually and had to refer to documents
multiple times to check that there were no mistakes,” explained Mr.
Hiroshi Maki, Executive Officer of YSD and President of YSD’s
logistics outsourcer e-logi Solutions Company. “We wanted to
create a labor-saving system, but we did not receive a positive
response from the vendors we contacted. Only NEC enthusiastically
raised their hand to help us with this project.”
Mr. Takeshi Hirata, Head of the YSD’s On-Demand Center at
Haneda Airport, specifically requested NEC.
“We wanted to invest in ICT and build a system that could inspect
the number of items by weight as well as identify products based on
photographs,” said Mr. Hirata. “This would allow us to eliminate the
pre-processes of selection and confirmation and bring efficiency to
the entire operation. We also asked NEC to make the response time
for inspecting one item to not exceed three seconds.”
YAMATO SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.
Results
About
NEC provides advanced image recognition technology to meet the customer’s development needs
Inspection costs and time reduced by 20% by implementing ICT management that links all work lines
Solution
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Inspection unit (1)
Control terminalDatabase /
WMS interface server
WMS(warehouse
ManagementSystem)
Inspection unit (2) Inspection unit (n)
Camera(image recognition)
Scale…
• System configuration