UPS South Africa introduce 'Diad' service
UPS South Africa has introduced the Delivery Information Acquisition Device (Diad), which allows customers, through the Internet or a UPS call centre, to track their parcels’ position within the global UPS network chain.
Diad III is a hand-held computer scanner used by courier drivers to simultaneously capture and transmit real-time delivery information. It represents one of the fastest package-tracking systems in the world and will assist in the 3,5-million package queries received daily from UPS customers.
In the traditional supply services chain, the information on labels on packages has to be manually filled out. UPS industrial engineering manager for East and sub-Saharan Africa Christian Helleputte says UPS uses ‘smart’ package load data labels which have coded information on them, including a bar code that records a scanning, and a postal bar code which is linked to vehicle loading information.
Manual labels require employees to physically fill out information, with data being captured by an employee within an organisation. With the Diad system, Helleputte notes, UPS installs software in customers’ facilities, or on a computer, and the customers will duly load this information onto their own computer systems.
The mainframe technology of Diad can display all logistical information, including the time of departure of a parcel, the time of delivery, and how many stops are made during the day, which allows a customer to track the whereabouts of a parcel through the delivery chain. Further, it can also work out the best, most direct routes for package delivery.
UPS also has plans to launch GSS, a wireless scanner that is placed on a driver’s finger, in the third quarter of this year. UPS South Africa has introduced the Delivery Information Acquisition Device (Diad), which allows customers, through the Internet or a UPS call centre, to track their parcels’ position within the global UPS network chain.
Diad III is a hand-held computer scanner used by courier drivers to simultaneously capture and transmit real-time delivery information. It represents one of the fastest package-tracking systems in the world and will assist in the 3,5-mil- lion package queries received daily from UPS customers.
“As a result of this implementation, UPS’s customers in South Africa can receive more up-to-date information concerning the status of their shipment and better plan their production,” says UPS South Africa MD Paul Horsfall.
In the traditional supply services chain, the information on labels on packages has to be manually filled out. UPS industrial engineering manager for East and sub-Saharan Africa Christian Helleputte says UPS uses ‘smart’ package load data labels which have coded information on them, including a bar code that records a scanning, and a postal bar code which is linked to vehicle loading information.
Manual labels require employees to physically fill out information, with data being captured by an employee within an organisation. With the Diad system, Helleputte notes, UPS installs software in customers’ facilities, or on a computer, and the customers will duly load this information onto their own computer systems.
Horsfall says that the product has the latest digitised imaging technology that captures signatures at the point of delivery, offering customers detailed information about the status of their package, with the system automatically giving notification of a parcel’s path in the delivery chain through email or SMS.
The mainframe technology of Diad can display all logistical infor- mation, including the time of departure of a parcel, the time of delivery, and how many stops are made during the day, which allows a customer to track the whereabouts of a parcel through the delivery chain. Further, it can also work out the best, most direct routes for package delivery.
Diad allows drivers to maintain immediate two-way contact with dispatchers, which, in turn, allows customer pick-up requests to be quickly forwarded through text messages. The device can also act as a radio and in-vehicle cellular phone, and offer traditional telephone transmission, eliminating the need for a cellphone or pager.
Horsfall says that UPS South Africa spent 18 months mapping and planning streets in the five cities where it currently operates, namely Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, Port Elizabeth and Pretoria, with each street mapped by number. He adds, however, that it plans in the near future to introduce the Diad system to the rest of South Africa, as well as to press ahead with new technologies.
UPS also has plans to launch GSS, a wireless scanner that is placed on a driver’s finger, in the third quarter of this year.
Diad has been launched in South Africa with several enhancements, including an enlargement of the screen display area where consignees can place their signatures, four times the memory of the previous version, (now six-and-a-half mega-bytes), a faster processor (one- and-a-half megabytes), numeric keys arranged like a telephone keypad rather than like a calculator, a glow-in-the-dark keypad and built-in label illuminator, and icons, rather than text, to simplify global deploy- ment.
South Africa is the only country in Africa to use and launch the technology, used in 41 countries. If load-shedding should occur, the unit can hold up to 130 tracking numbers before it has to upload. As soon as power comes back on, it will put the information back into the mainframe.
Diad I was launched in 1991 in the US, while Diad III was launched in 2002. Diad IV is currently undergoing a ‘rephasing’ process in the same country.
