For Rail Cargo we have automated the sensing of containers position at the transshipment site in Mělník

Colleagues from the Smart Systems Division scored another significant success. For the multinational company Rail Cargo, which operates container transshipment for ship, train, and truck transport in Europe, they created a system for identifying the location of individual containers at the transshipment site in Mělník. The new solution has successfully passed testing and is planned to be put into operation.

What makes the solution innovative?

The system uses sensors to automatically record where containers are stored and removed. This can replace the manual work in which transhipper drivers have to manually enter container numbers into the warehouse system and then determine their position accordingly. Thanks to the new technology, the handling and picking of containers is going to be many times faster, and last but not least, the possibility of unwanted human error will be eliminated.

"We used an innovative solution at the transshipment site in Mělník. We have installed a previously unused system with its own evaluation logic, which uses GPS technology and transmitters located in the measured area to record the location in units of centimetres," says Petr Hasman, project manager. It is a technology that is used in a similar design for the precise guidance of autonomous agricultural equipment. "I dare to say that despite the shielding of the iron containers, our location targeting is even more precise," adds Petr Hasman. According to him, the customer has also greatly appreciated the training of the ZAT technicians, who have performed the expert installation of the sensors and are also servicing them.

The plan is to fully implement the system

Rail Cargo's requirement arose from the implementation of the new corporate system across its European branches and the need to track the location of transported containers online. ZAT's priority task in the initial phase was to identify suitable technology to measure the exact position of containers and integrate the data into the system, which the company is preparing for implementation in other transshipment sites in the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary.

"The project is currently awaiting the completion of system modifications on the customer side, which we are ready to follow up with the deployment of our technology. In the first phase, we want to extend the use of our technology to transshipment sites in the Czech Republic and Slovakia," concludes Petr Hasman.