UK parcels firm APC Overnight invests in hub extension
APC Overnight has invested over GBP 250,000 (EUR 316,000) in extending its facilities and purchasing additional high-tech equipment for its National Sortation Centre at Essington in the north of Birmingham.
Following a sustainable construction approach, the new hub developments boast a new 2,400 sqm mezzanine floor giving a 50 pct larger sorting area, with five specially designed lifts that transport parcel cages to the mezzanine in less than 40 seconds. APC says that the investment has boosted its capability and will offer significant improvements in customer service during peak times. In addition, a 1,400 sqm weatherproof canopy has been installed over the company’s unloading bays offering maximum protection for parcels and staff in all weather conditions.
Ivor Skinner, APC Overnight director, said: “This investment allows us to create a dedicated area for MailPacks and CourierPacks, which makes perfect sense for the entire operation. Theses consignments are often the most time sensitive, so now we can segregate them on arrival and take them straight up to the mezzanine to be processed. The Security Freight System is now also based on the new mezzanine and handles valuable items such as laptops travelling in separate sealed cages, isolated from other traffic, and handed scanned using an innovative camera-based system on arrival before being sorted and resealed into cages for delivery.
With the additional resources, APC is able to streamline and accelerate its sorting processes by allocating distinct areas for each type of business. This includes a dedicated section called “M Sort area” for 10,000 parcels a night hub handles for local Midlands destinations. This streamlined method of specialised sortation also improves the capacity of the main sorting systems.
APC Overnight, with more than 125 local depots, transports and delivers more than one million parcels each month, and provides a better-than-99.8 pct on-time delivery record.
