Hellenic Post stays ahead with printers that mix reliability with convenience

Background

Hellenic Post holds the leading position in the Greek postal market and for 179 years has played a significant role in both the social and business environment of the country. Established in 1828, the Hellenic Post became a Societal Anonyme, under the brand name ELTA S.A., in 1996.

Since1998, a major modernisation and restructuring programne has been underway, aimed at improving the quality of the services provided, increasing productivity, and optimising utilization of the company’s human resources.

In the five year period 2004 to 2008 an investment programme amounting to E200m is supporting the expansion of its product portfolio, the enhancement of financial products and services, and the formation of strategic alliances. An example of the latter is the  acquisition of shares in, and the new commercial cooperation with, the Greek Postal Savings Bank, through which Hellenic Post will achieve the best possible utilisation of the Greece’s most extensive network, comprising approximately 1,000 postal outlets, 1,000 postal agencies, 3,500 urban and 1,000 rural delivery personnel.

The Group now provides a wide range of postal and financial services both to individuals and businesses, with100 million transactions and 60 million customer visits to its premises each year.

The Technology Challenge

In an intensive competitive environment it was crucial for Hellenic Post to maintain an efficient, fast service to ensure it would remain market leader and meet the high quality standards imposed by the regulatory authorities. In addition, the company has turned to market oriented solutions such as the promotion of direct mail products. As a result, Hellenic Post has had to look at its own internal processes to ensure that it can remain competitive in a fast changing market.

As an example, at the Air Mail Sorting Centre in Athens the company sorts, bags and tags around 15,000 bags and sorting trays each day. It works on a 24 hour basis 7 days a week. The sorting machines, as well as running software from the Universal Postal Union for dispatch preparation, are reliant on a production line that is fast, efficient and fault free.

The Technology Solution

Hellenic Post chose the LP 2844 Zebra direct thermal barcode printer to support the sorting and dispatch preparation process. “Its space-saving but sturdy construction was perfect for the sorting office environment” says Ignatios Michailaris, IT hardware engineer at the Hellenic Post. “For us, reliability is key – and we needed machinery that would streamline the sorting and tagging without meaning a huge change to how the sorting centre was operating,” he states. “We had to trust that the printers we got could cope with the workload while operating seamlessly with our existing systems.”

He added: “Of all the hardware we have across the business, the Zebra printers are now the equipment we run that have the least downtime. We’ve now had the same machines running for over five years with no problems.”

Future plans

The success of these printers means that the new sorting centres that stem from EU investment will also see them as part of the hardware. Hellenic Post is planning to use them in all new centres as they are opened.

“The changing landscape of mail sorting in Greece – and across Europe – means we need to be working with the best equipment and services that we can get to remain ahead of the curve,” concludes Michailaris. “Our business model is changing to reflect a new and modern approach to postal service, and Zebra are an intrinsic part of that.”