SPX Express unveils biggest sorting center
SPX Express Philippines, a logistics partner of Shopee Philippines, formally opened its largest sorting center (SOC 5) in the country on Wednesday, Feb. 22, having a capacity to process over three million parcels daily.
The 25,000 square meter (sqm) mega facility, located within the property of Robinsons Logistix and Industrials Inc. (RLX) in Barangay Paciano Rizal in Calamba, Laguna, is SPX’S first automated sorting center, servicing orders made through its partner online retail platform Shopee.
SOC 5 began initial operations and testing in late 2023, and will ramp up its activities starting this month. Operating 24 hours daily, SOC 5 caters to shoppers in the National Capital Region (NCR), South Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.
Aside from the physical scope of the facility, SOC 5 is the largest sorting center in terms of machinery capacity, featuring robotic machinery that directs parcels to designated lanes sorted for various delivery areas and smart cameras that can instantly identify packages.
SPX Express Philippines Head Martin Yu described sorting centers as “crucial links,” bridging buyers to brands. From the seller, ordered parcels go to consolidation hubs, then to sorting centers, before finally arriving at delivery hubs.
Packages that arrive at SOC 5 will be placed at the inbound processing area, where up to 2,000 trucks can be unloaded per day. Using more than 25 conveyor lines, parcels that are placed in sacks or bulky parcels are taken through the scanners. However, rollable and oversized parcels will be directed to the manual sorting area.
After passing through the scanners, the parcels are taken to the cross belt sorter (CBS) where they are slid into shoots pertaining to their respective distribution hubs. Afterwards, the packages proceed to the outbound area where they are loaded to their destination areas.
Overall, the processing from inbound to outbound areas for parcels in SOC 5 is around three minutes for bulky parcels and an hour for the sacks.
SPX’S move towards automation is all about “executive focus to push speed, reliability, and efficiency,” said Yu, noting their aim of reducing manual errors in parcel sorting.
Automation allows SPX to sort to over 300 destinations via SOC 5, with 60 percent in sorting efficiency and lead time reduced by around two hours per parcel, compared to a manually-operated facility.
“The whole network that is SPX Express is the sorting center and hubs. For us, we want to enhance the experience of getting parcels. Machines like this will help us sort better, but we also need more hubs to reach more customers,” he added.