PostNL appoints Prime Competence for process optimisation
PostNL, the Dutch postal operator, has appointed Prime Competence, an independent consultancy firm, to provide support and strategic input. The purpose of the first assignment was to determine the optimal location for specific codes on the mail piece and involved the development of a ‘white stroke detector’ for items that are unable to run on the company’s new, advanced sorting machines. The best way to integrate large, pre-sorted shipments of magazines into e-sort sequence sorting has also been considered.
The team then applied its experience to improving the quality and effectiveness of video coding for mail without a valid post code. How to decode these items at the remote data entry centres and to use fuzzy matching techniques in the database were part of this remit.
Prime Competence has also developed software tools for maintaining and benchmarking the performance of sorting machine cameras and work is ongoing to evaluate the potential for process enhancement on the Culler Facer Canceller (CFC) machines. Considerations include optical, fraud stamp and return mail detection.
“With professional advice from Prime Competence on a daily basis we are continuously improving logistical processes and reducing erroneous deliveries to an absolute minimum,” confirmed PostNL’s Joop ten Dam.
