A competitive cash supply chain is a major success factor for all players in the cash industry. New available technologies drive you to think about processual and financial feasibility and implementation. Improvements, reached in other industries can be adapted to cash logistics; in addition R&D efforts by leading solution providers result in interesting solutions, both are worthwhile to think about!
The series will give an overview about new developments in cash and cashless infrastructure and connected implementation projects. In part one we are looking at cash center automation.
For the last 10 years cash center operators are focused on automation of cash processing, discussing feasibility of high speed banknote sorters and how to handle retail deposits with banknotes and coins, small and high volumes, etc in best practice. By implementing new equipment the operational capacity and throughput for counting and sorting increased and many operators - in step 1 happy about the installation - recognized in step 2, that calculated improvement in costs per deposit did not realize. Some players invested in sufficient cash management software to improve the daily planning, interfaces to processing machines, reconciliation and reporting. The success was for sure a correct and reliable internal and external reporting, and reduced efforts in clarification of differences. But the high hopes in an overall performance jump were not yet in sight.
Why?
Because the deposit processing starts at the inbound area of a cash center and ends in a storage/ vault or directly repacked in the consignment area. The counting and sorting machine is the biggest investment in such processing chain, and effected by the activities before and after. We saw cash centers with best available technology in the processing room, but the lack of continuous work flow planning, following a pull principle resulted in unexpected low deposit throughput per shift, less flexibility for improved service levels and emotional pressure for the staff in shop floor.
The „simple“, but for many players hard to understand solution is to recognize and eliminate bottlenecks in processes and technology. We call the method Lean Cash Management and adapt the principles from lean production onto cash processing. In essence the investments in cash center automation impacts benefits, if the operator understands to optimize the work flow and deposit throughput in an end-to-end perspective, incl.
- delivery of shipments just-in-sequence, no waiting time for truck crews in the inbound/ outbound area
- automated checking and internal dispatching of received shipments by auto-ID and pre-adviced EDI messages, compliant to GS1 Standards
- adjusted clock frequency and buffer zones for continuous running of high speed processing systems
- packaging and storage systems adjusted to processing frequency
- intelligent cash order management functionality to organize deposit processing and order preparing
The success of automation and new methodologies depends not only on your capability to invest, major decision factor should be the capability to integrate and adjust the internal processes and intra-logistics. This will be valid as well for prepping and processing of deposits in cash centers, e.g.:
The loading module NotaTracc is the link between the prepping stations for deposits and G&D’s high speed Banknote Processing Systems (BPS). The new module enables an automated loading of banknotes for BPS with an associated banknote tray. The tray is also a first choice for intra-logisitcs standardization of banknote containers in cash centers. In connection with adequate GS1 auto-ID format (Global Returnable Asset ID: GRAI) every time traceable within the process.
The innovation is a welcomed step for clients looking for further level of automation and security due to less manual interaction and access to cash. Developed standards enables such automation effectively, with barcodes or data matrix for identification, banknote trays for cash handling, EDI messages for data interfaces between processing, packing or storage systems and back office IT. Automation impacts standards, in this sense open and adaptable interfaces and EDI messages like GS1 Standards for cash logistics add value.
Conclusion:
The benefits of automation will be realized by adequate adaption and integration in the end-to-end process chain. The leverage of new equipment depends on an optimized work flow and connected data flow, possible with the capability of new standards and technologies for cash logistics.
Do you want to know more about processing standards and automation, please contact us.