We bring our technical performance expertise to the postal and logistics industry with the Minerva product suite. Based in Havant, Hampshire, Lockheed Martin's logistics business focuses on delivering high-tech, field-proven solutions that integrate seamlessly into existing enterprises.
Revolutionising Sortation and Automation
The Minerva product suite is a collection of software capabilities developed in the UK, harnessing the power of deep learning and artificial intelligence technologies. These modules automate image processing of postal items, unlocking new levels of efficiency and accuracy in sortation and automation.
This innovative solution processes postal item images, identifying a wide variety of targeted features and decoding them for further processing. Minerva products boost sortation speed, reduce manual sortation and exploit up the full capacity of mail processing machines. Minerva is configured to support a wide variety of revenue protection initiatives, and the product suite enables significant longer-term planning decisions for customers, including reduction or complete removal of manual data entry, even during peak periods.
Minerva Enrichment Device (MED): MED employs advanced algorithms to locate defined areas of information in cluttered postal labels with remarkable flexibility and resilience. Already successfully implemented in national posts across Europe, MED has demonstrated significantly increased read rates and reductions in video coding tasks, leading to more efficient machine utilisation and higher overall throughput. Detects incorrect/double feed, identifies and classifies stamps, supports dynamic binarization selection to improve image quality and classifies items by logo or packaging type.
Minerva eCommerce (MEC): MEC identifies relevant information on customs labels with high accuracy, enabling rapid VAT recovery and operational efficiency. Fully integrating with existing Lockheed Martin OCR solutions, MEC allows for automatic reading and information capture as part of the normal automated sortation process.
Minerva Auto Keyer (MAK): MAK completes a variety of video coding tasks at incredible speed, integrated as a human operator to existing systems. By allowing customers to dispense with manual data entry suites, MAK reduces costs and improves reliability. Its adaptability enables quick retraining to recognise new patterns as task requirements or mail volume changes. Our customers no longer rely on human intervention to cope with increased, seasonal volumes. Includes front/back detection, bad image detection and directory-less country/region detection.
Minerva Image Processor (MIP): MIP transforms images within a computer vision processing pipeline, removing unwanted artefacts, improving automatic recognition rates and significantly reducing error in address assignment. This innovative solution replaces the traditional approach to image binarisation algorithms, adapting dynamically to printing, packaging, and image capture conditions.
Minerva Revenue Protection: Label / label component detection assists revenue protection – detects incorrect postage or suspicious items and identifies them for rejection and investigation. Stamp detection and classification supports our customers in their withdrawal of old stamps. Detects and processes barcoded stamps.
Key Benefits
- Low-risk Integration: Seamlessly integrate advanced AI/ML solutions into existing enterprises and operations with minimal disruption.
- Flexible Licensing: Licensing available on a short-term basis, ensuring value delivery without significant long-term investment.
- Real-world Impact: Deployed at industrial scale, demonstrating tangible results in the postal and logistics industry.
- Enhanced Performance: Unlock significant longer-term planning decisions for customers through improved sortation performance.
By offering these products, Lockheed Martin empowers postal and logistics organisations to embrace advanced AI/ML technologies, transforming their operations and driving efficiency, accuracy and cost savings. The Minerva suite showcases Lockheed Martin's commitment to technological innovation and its ability to deliver real-world results in the postal and logistics sector.