Cleveron 402

The Cleveron 402 is not a cabinet with compartments, but a machine behind a façade. The customer sees a console with a 10.1-inch touchscreen and a retrieval opening; behind it, a shelving system sorts shipments automatically. This explains both its strengths and the building conditions it demands.

Dimensions are the first point where a procurement can fail or succeed. Cleveron specifies width at 3.7 metres in the smallest configuration and 13.7 metres in the largest, depth fixed at 2.1 metres, and height at 3.1 to 4.75 metres. Width is modular, depth is not, and height is the real hurdle: 3.1 metres in the smallest configuration exceeds what a typical retail ceiling can accommodate. Full configuration requires nearly five metres of ceiling height. This is not installation; it is a retrofit.

The smallest model thus occupies approximately 7.8 square metres of floor space, the largest nearly 29. For comparison within the same product family: the Cleveron 302 is 0.7 metres deep and 2.0 metres high, effectively wall-mounted. The 403 sits in between at 4 × 2 × 1.5 metres.

This machine's technology solves a problem that compartment cabinets fundamentally cannot: a fixed compartment is always sized for the largest package it must accommodate, leaving it half-empty for smaller shipments.

According to the manufacturer, the 402 measures the height of each incoming package and adjusts shelf-level size and position accordingly to maximise package density per square metre. The result is in the datasheet and is the hardest figure in this review: 118 packages per square metre. The 403 achieves 63, the 302 achieves 34. The 402 thus delivers more than three times the capacity of the wall-mounted system in the same footprint.

A second mechanism eases the acceptance bottleneck in practice: according to the manufacturer, the device accepts hundreds of shipments in succession, initially filling the nearest shelf levels, then reorganising stored packages during idle time. The delivery operator is not held up while the system optimises; it reorganises when idle.

Cleveron specifies average retrieval time at 10 seconds. This is the figure the end customer experiences, and it is unusually well documented in this category.

It is important not to confuse these 10 seconds with intake time, as manufacturers report both separately and for neighbouring models report only intake time: 20 minutes for 100 shipments on the 302, 22 minutes for 100 shipments on the 403. Cleveron does not specify intake time for the 402. Anyone calculating operator time expenditure must request this figure—it is the other half of the calculation.

In capacity, the 402 is clearly the largest in its family, with a considerable range: 75 shipments in the smallest configuration, 3,400 in the largest, with Cleveron explicitly noting that capacity depends on the height of incoming packages. This is an honest limitation: in a system with variable shelf levels, capacity is not a constant but a function of the shipment mix.

The manufacturer specifies daily throughput at 100 to over 3,000 shipments. This defines the deployment envelope: a device for major locations, not for a retail outlet with two dozen collections per day.

Neighbouring models set the benchmark: the 403 holds 75 to 567 shipments, the 302 only 15 to 402. Anyone operating below approximately 500 shipments can achieve the same volume in a significantly smaller, less expensive and more efficient device.

The assortment has a hard limit that determines what proportion of the shipment stream can be automated: the largest item measures 400 × 600 × 400 millimetres. Everything larger remains manual counter work. For typical parcel and returns mix in retail, this is adequate; for bulky goods, it is not.

One detail warrants a closer look, as it contradicts the rest of the comparison: the smaller 302 accepts items of 360 × 620 × 1,870 millimetres—nearly two metres tall. It holds less, but it takes taller items. Operators regularly handling bulky items such as roll goods or sports equipment will find a more suitable opening in the smaller model. This is good evidence that 'larger' does not uniformly mean 'more' in this category.

A parcel station's operational burden lies in three places: intake, failure, and cleaning. Cleaning is the smallest item here, as no food residue enters the device, unlike with return-goods lockers.

For intake, the key characteristic is that the system does not keep the delivery operator waiting: it accepts shipments in sequence and reorganises only during idle time. Cleveron does not specify intake duration for the 402—the published intake times of 20 and 22 minutes per 100 shipments apply to the 302 and 403 and are not transferable.

Failure reveals the fundamental difference from a compartment cabinet, and it should be clear before deciding. A cabinet with 60 compartments remains 59/60 operational if one lock fails. A robot with a failed handling system releases no packages—and possibly not even those already stored. This makes service response time the most critical line item in any quotation. Cleveron publishes no failure rates or mean time to repair; this is unfortunately standard in this category, but does not make the question any less important. It should also be clarified whether there is an emergency access to retrieve stored shipments manually with the drive inoperative.

This is the figure that distinguishes this review from a sales brochure, and it is the price of package density: Cleveron specifies average monthly energy consumption for the 402 at 300 kilowatt-hours.

Annualised, this is 3,600 kilowatt-hours. At the electricity rate used in this category, €0.30 per kilowatt-hour, this yields approximately €1,080 annually for device operation alone. The 3,600 kilowatt-hours is our annualisation of the manufacturer's monthly figure, not a published annual figure; Cleveron does not disclose an annual value.

Comparison within the family illustrates the scale. The 403 operates at 145 kilowatt-hours per month, the 302 at 30. The 402 thus consumes ten times the energy of the wall-mounted system, with roughly 3.5 times the package density and approximately 8 times the capacity. Those looking at footprint alone gain; those factoring in the electricity bill see the tradeoff.

A useful rule of thumb emerges. For the 402, capacity at full configuration costs approximately one kilowatt-hour per month per 11 shipments; for the 302, approximately one kilowatt-hour per 13 shipments. Per package, the systems are thus not far apart—the 402 is not inefficient, it is simply large. It becomes expensive when not fully utilised. A 402 in minimum configuration with 75 shipments draws the same baseline consumption as one with 3,400 and is thus the worst possible configuration.

The documentation contains no information on connection rating, voltage or overcurrent protection. This is the missing specification for electrical planning; it belongs with floor load capacity in the enquiry.

We do not cite a purchase price for this device. The data held 25,000 euros; this figure has no source, and Cleveron publishes no prices. Parcel robots of this size are project-based business with retail chains and logistics operators, with installation, integration and service agreements bundled. The site therefore states 'on request'.

What can be documented is operating cost, and the 402 is unusually well documented here. Electricity costs approximately €1,080 annually (3,600 kWh at €0.30). For maintenance, we budget €40 per month (€480 annually) in this category, with depreciation over 84 months. Consumables do not apply—no paper, no materials. Documented running costs thus total approximately €1,560 annually, excluding capital costs.

The real cost comparison in this category, however, runs not on the device but on the alternative. A parcel station displaces counter staff time: searching for shipments, verifying identity, receipting. At 10 seconds retrieval time and 100 to over 3,000 shipments daily, labour time saved is what justifies the investment—not revenue the device generates.

Four line items should be explicitly separate in any quotation, as public documentation remains silent on all four:

First, integration. On-site internet connection is assumed, the method is not described. Anyone wishing to link customer identification and shipment data to an existing system needs this interface in the quotation.

Second, service response time—emphatically. A failed robot releases no packages, while a compartment cabinet continues nearly fully operational with a broken lock. This line determines the cost of downtime.

Third, building preparation. Minimum 3.1 metres height, 2.1 metres depth, no floor load specification—these are building works not included in the device price.

Fourth, electrical installation, because connection rating is not published.

In conclusion: the 402 is cost-effective when floor space is tight and shipment volume is high. Below approximately 500 shipments, the 403 delivers the same performance at roughly half the energy consumption, and below 400 the 302 at one-tenth. The package density of 118 per square metre is a genuine unique selling point—but only where floor space actually costs more than the kilowatt-hour.