CONSIGNIA INVESTS £150 MILLION IN INTERNATIONAL MAIL SERVICE WITH WORLD'S MOST ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY
BUSINESS Consignia
From PA NEWS, April 18th, 2001
CONSIGNIA INVESTS £150 MILLION IN INTERNATIONAL MAIL SERVICE WITH WORLD’S MOST
ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY :: PR Newswire, London, April 18. This press release is transmitted on
behalf of Consignia. Consignia has signed a deal to build and equip a new £150 million
state-of-the-art distribution centre, opening near Heathrow in 2002, with the
world’s most technically advanced postal automation. The new Heathrow Worldwide Distribution Centre is just four miles from
Heathrow airport where 70 per cent of all international letters handled by
Royal Mail are transported in and out of the UK. It will be a vital hub in a
global network being dramatically reshaped for the increasingly competitive
international mail market. The main contract to equip the centre with its leading edge technology,
capable of processing up to 10 million international letters each day, has
been won by postal automation suppliers Mannesman Dematic Worldwide Postal
Systems. The task of fitting out the massive site itself will be undertaken by
John Mowlem and Company. Richard Dykes, Consignia’s Group Managing Director Mail Services, said:
”The new centre will, at the same time, greatly improve the service for Royal
Mail’s international customers and increase its efficiency. Consignia is one
of the biggest international mail handlers in the world. In a rapidly growing
marketplace the combination of world-beating technology with a concentrated
operation next to Heathrow brings benefits to customers and gives us a strong
competitive ability to handle growing volumes of international letters.” The fully integrated centre, comprising sophisticated mail automation
systems, advanced materials handling equipment and specially developed
information technology will provide Consignia with both the versatility and
capacity to offer improved products and services to its international
customers around the world. Royal Mail handles 1.5 billion items of international mail a year and this
market is growing substantially, as is the competition in the marketplace. The
global letters and parcels market is forecast to increase in worth to £57
billion by 2010, compared to around £20 billion today. The new centre will
initially employ around 800 people. Employees affected have been fully
consulted about plans to transfer international mail work gradually from a
number of centres around the UK. “International letter mail services are becoming increasingly competitive
– this new investment will put us in a leading position and enable us to
provide the best possible value in future to all our customers all over the
world” said Mr Dykes. UNS Contact: Consignia, Tel: 020 7250 2468 (24 hour) See
http://www.consignia.com ends/mwPA NEWS, 18th April 2001
