Swiss Post to restructure logistics unit, cutting 250 jobs

Swiss Post has launched a two-year process to restructure its PostLogistics business, with the potential loss of 250 jobs. The company said today it was reshaping its small consignment and warehouse operations to provide more comprehensive logistics services in future, while also setting up the division to support the parcel business in the long term.

Restructuring begins immediately, Swiss Post said, with jobs lost by attrition where possible, and through a redundancy scheme where needed.

PostLogistics saw its operating results sliding 8% last year compared to 2010, on sales that also declined, by 2.6% to CHF 1,439m ($1,558m USD) for the year.

Swiss Post said increasingly its customers wanted to work with a single logistics partner in their supply chain, and as a result it needed to provide a more all-encompassing solution in that area alongside the core mail and parcels business.

Changing customer needs mean the courier, express and parcels segment now overlaps to a greater degree, requiring more of a “one-stop-shop”.

Swiss Post said it must also to respond to “aggressive competition” and price pressures from international logistics rivals. In 2011 parcel volumes fell by 1.4%, with results affected particularly by lower volumes from Germany.

The company said of the two-year restructuring process: “This is the only way to ensure that the business will be able to assert itself successfully in the market with a good price-performance ratio in the future.”

Restructuring

Swiss Post said its PostLogistics network was taking a different approach to deliveries, focussing more on smaller and lighter consignments – and using more subcontractors for delivery via lighter 3.5-tone vans, rather than using so many in-house drivers.

Warehousing operations are being transformed with more flexible working arrangements and by rethinking transportation connections, as well as bundling activities. The new transport concept is to be piloted at Swiss Post’s Daillens site.

Operations are set to move to a new site in Pfungen in summer 2013, which will allow better scope for streamlined operations and also allow a full range of activity including overnight logistics, small consignment transport and warehousing to take place on a single site.

Commenting on the 250 expected job losses, Swiss Post said today: “As a socially responsible employer, Swiss Post will do everything it can to avoid making people redundant.

“Should this be unavoidable, a redundancy scheme, which has ben negotiated with the trade unions, will be implemented.”

The Syndicom communications union today condemned the “tough” course at Swiss Post’s PostLogistics business, although it recognised the difficult conditions within the cargo and warehousing industry.

But, the union said the policy of outsourcing work to external drivers was not the action of a socially responsible state enterprise.

“PostLogistics AG wants to eliminate all drivers and carry out transportation by independent drivers. Swiss Post is thus promoting a highly problematic and false idea that it is advancing the precarious working conditions in this way,” the union said.