The Postal IG found that nearly half of AGVs were used on average only once per day in 2022 and that a quarter of them were not used at all that year. Image: Itsanan/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffThe Postal Service has not used “automated guided vehicles” within its facilities to the extent that it intended for them, for reasons including that the high mail and package volumes due to the COVID-19 pandemic “caused congestion at facilities and made AGV usage difficult,” an inspector general report has said.
The USPS further “did not require or adequately monitor the usage of AGVs, resolve issues, or follow up with facilities after deployment to improve use” and the layout of some facilities “limited the usefulness of AGVs and drove down usage,” it said.
It said that over 2019-2022, the USPS deployed some 350 such vehicles, which are designed to move wheeled or palletized mail transport equipment for processing and dispatch operations within a facility on the expectation that they “would reduce mail handling hours, generate labor savings, and introduce automation to mail handling operations.”
However, the IG found that nearly half of them were used on average only once per day in 2022 and that a quarter of them were not used at all that year. Using them involves a scanning system in which employees identify a destination for the AGV but “issues with scanning and congested or obstructed routes, pickup or drop-off points can interfere with AGV operation,” it said.
The report’s recommendations mainly focused on goal-setting and cost issues, to which management partly agreed and partly disagreed.
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