InfoShip® In-Motion Overview

Many high volume shippers implement InfoShip as a fully automated operator-less solution that utilizes in-motion scales, fix-mounted bar code scanners, thermal-transfer label printers/applicators, and conveyor equipment to process small package carrier shipments for BAX Global®, DHL®, FedEx®, UPS®, UPS Supply Chain Solutions®, USPS®, and various local and regional carriers. CLS collaborates with other vendors to provide the hardware for these in-motion solutions. If your company already has in-motion equipment in place, CLS will work cooperatively with your current vendors to interface InfoShip with their equipment.

The number of packages processed per minute through a single in-motion system depends on many factors, such as conveyor speed and thermal label printer/applicator speed. Typical throughput ranges from 20 to 60 packages per minute.

An InfoShip client screen is not used at an in-motion station. Data communication between InfoShip and host systems, plus all business rule execution are performed in the background. The most common configuration has in-motion transaction execution occurring on the InfoShip DMS Server, but a workstation dedicated to the in-motion process may also be used.

A shipping transaction is generally initiated by a unique ID bar code on a box being scanned by a fix-mounted bar code scanner located just ahead of the in-motion scale. Two scenarios exist as to what occurs next.

1. The scanned data plus the weight captured by the in-motion scale is passed to the host system. The host system then transmits the transaction information (“ship to”, carrier service, freight terms, package weight, etc.) to InfoShip. InfoShip DMS is set up as a server application listening for input from the host system in this scenario.

2. The scanned data plus the weight captured by the in-motion scale is passed to InfoShip by a programmable logic controller (PLC). InfoShip then passes the unique ID to the host system so the host system can pass the shipment information back to InfoShip.

Each scenario above can communicate via sockets using text based or XML message structures. Under scenario 2, InfoShip could also be configured to directly look up the associated shipment information for the unique box ID in a host database rather than passing messages to the host system.

Once InfoShip receives the shipment information, InfoShip executes any business rules and then sends the shipping label information to the PLC or host system for printing by the thermal printer. The label is automatically applied to the box by the applicator. An additional bar code scanner can be positioned after the label is applied to the box to validate the label is good. If the validation scan fails, the box is diverted to a manual rework lane. After a successful validation scan, the box continues down the conveyor until it is diverted down the proper lane to load onto the carrier’s trailer.

The InfoShip client application is used by an operator at the manual rework station to correct any issues for packages that were diverted there by the in-motion station. The manual rework station and additional operator-attended InfoShip stations can be used to process non-conveyable oversized packages and LTL shipments.

InfoShip updates the host system with the shipping transaction information on a real-time basis at the in-motion station and at the operator-attended stations. Having the transaction information immediately available for any department that has access to the host system reduces time to generate invoices and provides up to the minute order status information for Customer Service and Sales.

The above description of an “in-motion” InfoShip system is a brief example of one of the many ways InfoShip can be configured. Contact CLS at 800-407-0280 to discuss your company’s specific requirements and find out how InfoShip can benefit your operations.