Arnulf Betzold GmbH has been supplying educational institutions with a wide range of products for over 50 years. Every day, numerous incoming shipment boxes containing a wide variety of items arrive. Manually checking labels, item numbers, and quantities was time-consuming and costly.
As part of the redesign of the goods receiving process, P4 Consultants from Hamburg worked with Betzold to develop a new concept for automated goods receiving.
The joint plan developed by Betzold and P4 Consultants was implemented by HEBER Fördertechnik as the general contractor, including the delivery of light-goods conveyor technology and its integration into the existing system landscape.
The following issues needed to be addressed during the planning phase:
Fully automated goods receipt processing was implemented at Arnulf Betzold GmbH in collaboration with partners Stadler + Schaaf and HEBER Fördertechnik, utilizing AI-supported OCR for incoming goods cartons. The intelligent solution automatically reads item numbers, reliably detects deviations from pre-programmed labels, and additionally records the quantity of items contained in the carton. All relevant data is transferred directly to the higher-level IT system.
The results were impressive:
For Arnulf Betzold GmbH, the implementation delivers significant added value through faster, more transparent, and highly accurate goods receipt processing. By reducing manual effort and minimizing errors, employees can focus on higher-value tasks while the AI solution operates reliably and efficiently in the background.
The idea for this project came from the logistics consulting firm P4 Consultants, which has successfully supported logistics projects at Betzold – from planning through implementation – for over 20 years. Stadler + Schaaf, an experienced specialist in camera technology solutions, was brought on board; its portfolio ranges from multi-sided scan tunnels and AI camera technology to OCR text recognition and weighing and volume measurement solutions.
Conclusion: This project impressively demonstrates how modern AI technology can revolutionize goods receipt – efficiently, reliably, and sustainably. With AI-supported OCR text recognition, the system integrator HEBER Fördertechnik is expanding its portfolio with an innovative module that creates measurable added value for demanding logistics processes.
A project report by HEBER Fördertechnik, February 2026.