Spectra Systems Corp., Providence, RI, a provider of software that tracks documents, announced Friday that it has been awarded a contract by The U.S. Postal Service to develop an invisible label technology for potential use in coding of flat mail for their Automated Flat Sorting Machine-100 systems.
The USPS's fleet of 537 AFSM-100s handle 50 billion pieces of flat mail per year. The machines sort magazines, catalogs, circulars, some newspapers and oversized envelopes.
There are several new automation initiatives being considered for flat mail that could provide considerable savings for the USPS. There are also opportunities to make use of a remote database system to “look-up” and track flat pieces. Both of these systems will require that a barcode or similar ID be applied to flat mail to avoid multiple manual keying. Spectra is developing this type of a system.
