Personal Parcel Lockers: CleverPods
Estonian company, Cleveron, has been at the forefront of innovative logistical solutions since the early 2000s. Before settling in Viljandi, where their development center is, they started as furniture relators that allowed customers to pick out pieces online and get the items shipped to their home (way before the Amazon wave hit). For the first nine years, they built themselves into the largest furniture retailer in Estonia. Today, they are leaders in the software and hardware development sector for last mile logistics. Under the name SmartPost, they were the first in the market to create the parcel locker network. It was in 2010 that SmartPost was sold to Finnish logistics company Itella and then slowly transformed the company into the Cleveron the world knows today.
It was in 2006 though that the Cleveron logistical department got its feet off the ground and evolved into SmartPOST. It was around this time that they started to fully develop their unique click and collect solutions (“Buy Online, Pick Up In Store”), and creating hardware and software for automated parcel terminals. Cleveron was officially registered in 2007 and two years later the SmartPOST parcel terminal network-based delivery service was declared the Logistics Deed of the Year in Estonia.
No matter how complex our robots may be inside, they are always easy to use for the end-customer, always providing positive emotions.
Cleveron is the innovation leader in retail click and collect pickup automation. Their solutions:
– Reduce last-mile delivery costs
– Enhance parcel delivery and return operations
– Improve the omnichannel customer experience
The Cleveron Family Line
Before venturing into their current endeavor of delivery pods, Cleveron has built up a steady and diverse line of automation products capable of handling up to thousands of parcels a day. Starting with the SnapLocker, one of the original smartphone operated parcel lockers, it is perfect for smaller businesses and has a smartphone or pin pad option. The locker holds small items and letters and the machine itself is small and unobtrusive enough to fit inside a storefront.
The SnapLocker solution is used as the world’s first cloud-based smart mailbox in an apartment building in Tallinn, Estonia.
The CleverBox is the next size up from the SnapLocker and is a more traditional e-commerce model with several shelves and levels allowing up to 100 parcels to be picked up per day. The modular column design is used at Bloomsburg University (Pennsylvania) as a perfect solution for their campus mailroom and flow of deliveries.
The PackRobot, also known as the Pickup Tower (above), is the world’s first robotics-based system and can manage up to 500 parcels a day (depending on size). The tower (seen in action below) has state of the art robotics technology that retrieves specific packages through QLR code. The PackRobots can be found in Walmarts around the U.S. and have been described as a “high-tech vending machine.” It has a flexible storage system that adjusts the parcel shelves height accordingly to the actual size of the parcel. For example, Walmart’s towers are adjusted to hold 300 parcels a day. From the end-user activating the code to retrieving the package, the entire process lasts only 12 seconds. The PackRobot contributes to a more streamlined pickup process while also reducing the size of its carbon footprint. It won the Postal Technology International Award in 2016.
The final and fastest member of the Cleveron pick up family is the CleverFlex. It handles the most parcels per day (100 – 1000) and is even faster than the PackRobot, delivering packages at an average of 7 seconds. The machine continues to reinvent and improve itself. When in rest mode it rearranges parcels within itself creating space for incoming packages. The clothing company, Zara, started using the CleverFlex in their Spain and London shops, where they hold 1000+ clothing parcels behind the stores’ walls which are ready to be selected and picked up by customers in seconds.
CleaverPod
Earlier this year Cleveron piloted their CleverPod project. The CleverPod is a locker-style holding space that is used for deliveries of food, postal packages, and even for friends and neighbors to easily drop off items. The locker can be opened with a key or through an app and includes a thermal box keeping food and grocery deliveries fresh and preserved.
“The CleverPod is based on the same vision as other Cleveron’s products – it is created to save your time and make your everyday life more convenient. Now you can install a personal parcel locker right in front of your house, so you will never have to wait for a courier or drive somewhere to get your parcels. You just come home and the parcels or your groceries are already there,” said Cleveron’s CEO Arno Kütt.
With the delivery pods there will be less run ins with protective “guard” dogs…
Top
