Author: Archive

Correos delivers on the promise of RFID

Posted by | Nov 12, 2007 | |

Embracing technology to help monitor and improve its delivery service, Correos launched Q-RFID, a quality-control system that taps 13,000 passive RFID labels, 2,300 antennas, and more than 331 readers at the post office’s 16 APCs (Automated Processing Centres).

The largest European RFID deployment ever, Q-RFID brought together hardware from Symbol Technologies and software in the form of Sybase’s RFID Anywhere. Aida Centre was brought on as a systems integrator to build and integrate the RFID technology into existing back-end solutions.

According to Regina Defarges, project lead and organizational deputy director at Correos, the project was undertaken to help audit the efficiency of postal operations and improve delivery times by streamlining the post office’s operating procedures.

Antennas at each APC activate tags on mail and send data from the tags to readers, which in turn send the data to the main server. Business logic within RFID Anywhere then identifies bottlenecks in the system by looking for exceptions to built-in business rules. When an exception occurs — say, a letter overstays its three-hour window in one of the APCs — an alert is transmitted.

But the system delivers much more than a tap on the shoulder when the mail is not getting out. It also provides keen insights into operations, which when coupled with other systems, allows Correos to correct systemic factors that may be contributing to delivery delays.

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Taiwan Post Deploys Nortel Metro Ethernet Solution

Posted by | Nov 12, 2007 | |

Taiwan Post, a postal, banking and insurance services provider in Taiwan has deployed a Nortel Metro Ethernet solution to ensure business continuity.

Nortel’s Metro Ethernet technology enables real-time information backup, access and recovery. Taiwan Post is also enhancing the effectiveness of its operations by converging multiple existing networks onto a simple, scalable and secure metro infrastructure. Based on Nortel’s Optical Metro 5200 DWDM multiservice platform, the new network will enable an efficient and effective information management process ensuring the security of Taiwan Post’s valuable information assets.

Hauman Technologies, Nortel’s Taiwan channel partner will deploy the newly converged network, which links Taiwan Post’s headquarters with an off-site facility in another part of Taiwan.

Y.K. Tsai, regional leader, Taiwan, Nortel explained that as Taiwan Post’s business operations grow, a key priority for Nortel is to provide them with a network that is simple, dependable and scalable. Nortel is delivering a secure and reliable optical networking solution that will enable them to transparently back up business-critical data from any application over a single converged network. This will help ensure that Taiwan Post’s data is protected.

Tsai said in a statement that Nortel was picked for this project because of their market position in optical networking and because they understand their business continuity needs for the present and into the future.

Nortel explains that the use of industry-standard Ethernet technology, even over long distances, ensures seamless interoperability between remote sites.
Thanks to Nortel Metro Ethernet Networking solutions portfolio, companies can consolidate layers of networking functionality, and simplify any-to-any connectivity. The solution also supports a rich set of business connectivity services.

Customers are thus able to reap the benefits of Hyperconnectivity, a new era of networking in which everything that can be connected to the network, is connected.

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‘No vacancies’ signs go up in New York as dollar demand goes through the roof

Posted by | Nov 12, 2007 | |

Dollar frenzy has hit the high street with sales of the US currency now up 87 per cent on the same period last year for the Post Office®, the UK’s largest provider of foreign currency.

But UK holidaymakers hoping to cash in on the dollar crisis and book a Christmas shopping trip to the USA will have to look beyond the traditional favourite, New York, where most affordable hotels have already hung out the ‘no vacancies’ signs. New York flights are also heavily sold – with little or no availability for weekend trips.

The solution for shopaholics keen to snap up bargains Stateside, says the Post Office®, is to consider rival cities. Las Vegas, Boston, Chicago and Miami all have shops to rival New York and plenty of pre-Christmas hotel availability.

Post Office® head of travel services Helen Warburton said: “Bargain hunters with more pounds in their pockets after sterling breached the USD 2 watershed can make significant savings on iPods and Playstation 3s, designer jeans and fashion accessories just as easily in cities like Las Vegas and Boston as in New York.”

With the pound riding higher against the US dollar than at any time since 1981, the latest Post Office® data suggests that record numbers are planning to head off across the Atlantic.

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Australia Post forms ties with China firm

Posted by | Nov 12, 2007 | |

Australia Post has ruled out a joint venture in a new freight business with Qantas while flagging further investment in its logistics arm.

Australia Post is keen to expand its domestic and international logistics operations and sees China as a potential partner for further growth.

The Australian business has a partnership with China Post called Sai Cheng Logistics which it hopes will be the conduit to its long- term aim of becoming a more significant player in Asia-Pacific logistics.

Australia Post already has alliances in Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, the United States and Britain.

In support of its growth strategy, Australia Post has indicated that with US$91.6 million available for investment it will concentrate on improving warehousing and electrical systems in support of logistics operations.

Australia’s Post, whose shareholder is the federal government, has just released impressive financial figures. The parcels and logistics division – the entity’s biggest money-spinner – contributed a pre-tax profit of $234.6 million to the Post’s overall 2006-07 pre-tax profit of A$514.96 million.

Chairman David Mortimer said the acquisition of JR Haulage – now renamed Post Logistics Australia – has given the group a good launching pad in traditional logistics. “We know our business platform is sound – and this year’s strong results confirm that we’re pursuing the right strategy,” Mortimer said. “So we’ll be investing our remaining profits in programmes that will help to broaden our revenue base, control our costs and maintain our high service standards.”

Australia Post’s managing director Graeme John said: “Our growth in parcels and logistics is partly driven by online trading but it’s also due to an increasing recognition among Australian businesses that we offer an efficient and comprehensive range of distribution services.”

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TNT speeds up with mobile technology

Posted by | Nov 11, 2007 | |

The rollout of wearable mobile computers and scanners is paying dividends on the global mail company’s previous investment in tracking technology.
TNT has made significant improvements to its delivery services with the rollout of mobile computers.

TNT Express UK, which is the carrier’s largest division and its main business-to-business arm, has reduced vehicle loading time by 30 per cent and achieved on-time delivery rates of 98 per cent since rolling wearable computers and scanners out to its delivery drivers a year ago.

TNT Express looked to long-standing provider Motorola, to provide its MC9000 series for drivers to be able to operate the devices even when wearing gloves and has now implemented 2,750 devices for its UK van drivers, expanding to over 8,500 across the Europe, Middle East and Africa division. The UK TNT Express Specialist Services delivery team opted for 900 smaller, lighter MC70 devices.

TNT Express also wanted a scanner that left workers’ hands free, to optimise productivity and vehicle loading time. As a result, TNT played an integral part in the beta testing of the WT4000 wearable scanner. It is currently using 155 of these wearable mobile computers in the UK and has plans to implement a further 800.

TNT is now planning to implement further wearable mobile computers and MC9000s worldwide and is currently investigating how the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology can help its business.

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TNT Innight Austria wins Fiat spare parts contract

Posted by | Nov 10, 2007 | |

TNT Innight Austria, the overnight express company, has signed a contract with Fiat to provide night-time deliveries of time-sensitive shipments for the brands Fiat, Lancia, Alfa Romeo and Fiat Professionals.

Fiat Group Automobiles S.p.A. has recently relocated its spare parts centre for CEE countries including Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia from Guntramsdorf in Austria to Bielsko Biala in Poland.

TNT Innight Austria said it is now responsible for daily transportation of the spare parts from the centre in Poland, situated 650 km from Vienna, to the regional distribution centres by the next morning from where the shipments are delivered on time to traders and authorized repair shops.

This procedure guarantees real-time delivery service and at the same time a low storage level at the trading companies. Additionally, TNT Innight also handles return shipments.

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TNT to leave German market?

Posted by | Nov 10, 2007 | |

TNT NV is mulling whether to turn its back on the German postal market, its Chief Financial Officer Peter Bakker said in a letter to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The letter was reported on Saturday by Dutch media, including Het Financieele Dagblad, and confirmed by a TNT spokesman.

Bakker told Merkel in the letter that he strongly opposes plans for high minimum wages and the beneficial tax status for Deutsche Post, a TNT spokesman said.

“If this situation becomes reality we will reconsider our position, which could include leaving the country,” Bakker was quoted as saying by the spokesman.

Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende and Finance Minister Wouter Bos also received a copy of the letter as well as Junior Economy Minister Frank Heemskerk, who is responsible within the government for postal liberalisation.

Investors have closely followed the liberalisation process in the Netherlands as it affects the Dutch mail business, one of TNT’s most profitable units.

The Dutch parliament had approved the new postal law, which is due to end TNT’s remaining monopoly in the Netherlands from January 2008.

It includes a emergency procedure that allows the Economy Ministery to delay the liberalisation if other European countries and particularly Germany do not fully liberalise their markets at the same time.

A spokesman for the Economy Ministry said he had not seen Bakker’s letter yet and that the government was still aiming to introduce the new postal law on Jan. 1 next year.

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