Author: Archive

DHL Express Selects DMTI Spatial to Streamline Delivery Routes with Location Intelligence

Posted by | Oct 15, 2007 | |

DMTI Spatial (DMTI) has been selected by DHL Express to provide comprehensive mapping data to optimize its facility and driver routing of its packages by moving from an address-based routing system to a 6 digit postal code boundary framework for its more than 100 locations across Canada. DHL Express Canada picks up and delivers over 300,000 packages on a daily basis. Using DMTI’s Platinum Postal Suite™, DHL can apply national postal code information with unmatched precision down to the neighborhood level ensuring accuracy and reliability in pick-up and delivery services for their customers.

Prior to purchasing the Platinum Postal Suite, DHL’s ability to accurately pinpoint addresses was limited. They had limited ability to analyze routes, make queries for more detailed information within different areas or accurately map routes by major intersection and cross streets. Using postal level demographic and geographic feature data from the Platinum Postal Suite, DHL can precisely define dispatch territories and market segment patterns providing opportunities to streamline their processes, save money and improve customer satisfaction.

“We needed a comprehensive solution that gave us the ability to analyze our routes, realize new efficiencies and provide accurate information for our operations,” explained Lenore Zara, Industrial Engineering Specialist for DHL Express. “DMTI Spatial has detailed and reliable national coverage of Canadian postal geography making them our mapping data vendor of choice.”

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City Sprint acquires Axa courier express ltd

Posted by | Oct 15, 2007 | |

CitySprint is part of the Courier and Passenger Transport Group, which also comprises WestOne Cars and Burgundy Cars. The Group has achieved an average compound growth rate of 10 per cent per annum in the past 5 years and has annualised revenues of GBP 70 million.

Like CitySprint, Axa provides SameDay Courier services to businesses in and around the Heathrow area. Over a period of twenty-five years, Axa has forged a large and satisfied customer base, comprised mainly of freight forwarders. This acquisition by CitySprint will mean that the Axa Courier Express Ltd name and brand will be discontinued.

CitySprint has been providing courier services to a broad range of local companies in and around the area for over ten years. It’s customers benefit from a ServiceCentre team with unmatched experience of the courier industry and a depth of local knowledge – something that Axa’s customers will now benefit from.

CitySprint operates the largest GPS enabled On Demand Courier Fleet in Europe, which means that its customers can benefit from real-time information at the touch of a button. Through CourierLocator, CitySprint offers complete transparency to its customers giving them the up-to-the minute map location of the courier doing their SameDay Courier job. This information is available to view before collection, during the journey and up until the point of delivery. CitySprint’s customers can also share this information with the recipient by emailing them a hyperlink to CourierLocator. CitySprint customers may receive email and/or SMS notifications as to the progress of their jobs and access time stamped job audits as well as electronic proof of delivery.

CitySprint combines a national infrastructure, comprising of 30+ ServiceCentres across the UK, which provides local support with the scale and resource of a national company enabling it to provide levels of service unmatched by many of its competitors.

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Royal Mail begins ad agency review

Posted by | Oct 15, 2007 | |

The Royal Mail has launched a multimillion pound statutory review of its brand strategy, advertising and direct marketing agency roster.

Current incumbents Abbott Mead Vickers.BBDO (above-the-line), Wolff Olins (branding) and Proximity (DM) will all be invited to repitch for the four-year contracts.

The review is being led by Tom Hings, director of brand marketing at Royal Mail, and comes amid the company’s very public disputes with the Communications Workers Union over plans to modernise operations.

National postal strikes were officially stopped last week but talks continue over pay, pensions, job cuts and working practices.

Last week, the Direct Marketing Association announced plans to significantly reduce the wastage from direct mail in response to a report by the Environment Council into stemming the tide of ‘junk mail’.

The company is facing stiff competition from other postal carriers and the growing reach of digital, resulting in its first financial loss in six years in August.

Royal Mail awarded its GBP 18 million media planning and buying business to OMD in April, after a two-way shoot-out with 10 year incumbent Carat.

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FedEx Ground Reports Federal Court Decisions

Posted by | Oct 15, 2007 | |

FedEx Ground, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., reports that the United States District Court in Indiana in the pending multi-district litigation has issued a decision granting class certification in the Kansas action for both the Kansas state claims and a national claim under the ERISA statute.

FedEx Ground plans to seek prompt review of this decision by the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

In a separate order, the Court denied the plaintiffs request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction in the California action, also pending as a part of the same multi-district proceeding.

This court decision will not affect FedEx Grounds ability to serve its customers in the world-class manner they have come to expect.

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The new bank in the post office: P.S.K. turns into PSK BANK

Posted by | Oct 15, 2007 | |

P.S.K. has now assumed a new role as a separate brand within the context of the new positioning of BAWAG P.S.K. The new addition to the company name, using the word “Bank”, underlines the core competence of PSK Bank in the banking business. As a result, PSK Bank has become “the bank in the post office“, offering a maximum level of comfort and ease of use to private customers. The new strategy and advertising approach of PSK Bank will be presented today in the newly designed post office in Vienna, Fleischmarkt 19.

In order to more effectively fulfill customer demands, the PSK BANK has set new priorities for its future operations, which will be supported by its business strategy, a new logo, newly designed branch offices and innovative products. The clear-cut strategic goal of the new BAWAG PSK in Austria is to concentrate on business with private customers.

Due to its extensive network of branch offices, Austrian Post represents one of the most important distribution channels for the banking products provided by BAWAG PSK. As a result of the new positioning of PSK BANK, the sale of banking products is being expanded to become a core competency of the post offices. “The distribution of financial products and services comprises 25% of total revenues achieved in our branches, thus contributing to the successful business development of our branch network. In the upcoming years, we are striving for a solid growth path of 7% – 7.5%”, says Herbert Götz, Member of the Management Board of Austrian Post with responsibility for its Branch Network Division.

The level of consulting competence in the post offices will be expanded by mg additional financial consultants available for customer services, as well as by expanding the professional training and continuing education of employees in the banking segment. By the end of 2007, the total number of financial consultants will rise from 150 to 650. In Vienna alone, an additional 50 financial advisors will provide advisory services on financial products. In rural areas, a total of 100 mobile consultants will each be responsible for supporting several smaller-sized post offices simultaneously in providing high quality banking products and services. Moreover, approximately 200 service centres will be established and successively modernised.

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Neopost wins two Royal Mail Group Awards

Posted by | Oct 15, 2007 | |

Neopost Limited wins Best Vendor Overall Award and the Winning Together Award by the Royal Mail Group at the Group’s annual vendor awards

Neopost is delighted to announce that it has been honoured with two awards by the Royal Mail Group at Royal Mails annual vendor awards; The Best Vendor Overall Award and The Winning Together Award. The awards are presented to companies which have delivered a particularly high level of service to Royal Mail Group (RMG) or to companies which have helped RMG deliver on its key business objectives.

Beating a number of other companies to the awards – RMG has an extensive vendor base to support its operations, spending more than GBP 2 billion a year on goods and services – Neopost was presented with each award at RMG’s annual vendor event, an event which brings together their top suppliers to hear about the company’s future plans and business opportunities.

Neopost Limited has been working particularly closely with Parcelforce Worldwide for the last 4 years. It is integral to the successful operation of online ordering, supplying a booking system which enables customers to book shipments over the internet. The system is used by thousands of customers and accounts for over 60% of Parcelforce volume. Neopost also provides an IT infrastructure to manage the flow of data between customers, Parcelforce Worldwide partners and Parcelforce Worldwide. Recently it developed a new service to manage tracking information for Parcelforce Worldwide.

Best Vendor Overall is an award given to the vendor that has continually provided excellent delivery to Royal Mail Group.

This award recognises a company that has developed a highly effective partnership with Royal Mail Group and has strong relationships with the different elements of its business, in particular Parcelforce Worldwide and Royal Mail. The award winner is an innovator and partner to Royal Mail Group, and is always looking to develop new systems which will help make the business more efficient.

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Canada Post to spend $1.7B on modernization

Posted by | Oct 15, 2007 | |

Canada Post is planning to spend $1.7 billion to modernize its antiquated equipment as it anticipates riding a global wave of deregulation that has already struck many developed countries, particularly in Europe.

The expenditures to be carried out over five years would allow the Crown corporation to eliminate the “decrepit” equipment jokingly referred to as computorsaurs.

“The whole way in which we handle the mail is antiquated,” Canada Post CEO Moya Greene said in an interview Monday.

“We have equipment that most postal administrations haven’t used in 20 years.”

The new equipment, which has yet to be ordered, would help the mail carrier to adjust to the large number of employees who are expected to retire over the coming years, while honouring all its promises about job security.

It would also permit the replacement of some 7,000 trucks with more environmentally friendly vehicles.

Modernizing is a requirement for Canada Post as it positions itself for the market reality of new and greater competition, Greene said following a speech to the Canadian Club of Montreal.

Although she’s not asking the government to deregulate postal service in Canada, Greene said global trends suggest markets are becoming more liberalized with varying degrees of success.

Government officials couldn’t be reached for comment. But earlier this year, they denied any plans to privatize postal services.

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Q&A: DHL USA CEO Hickler shares his views on shipper service, express and logistics markets

Posted by | Oct 15, 2007 | |

When it comes to understanding the many facets of global and domestic supply chain operations, few have DHL Express CEO Hans Hickler beat. With more than two decades of experience in the transportation and logistics industries—first at the NOL Group and its APL and APL Logistics subsidiaries—prior to joining DHL Express as Executive Director of Strategy and Business Implementation in 2004—it is fair to say that Hickler has a very good handle on what it is customers want: attention and service, for starters. And as the “new kid” in the country, with DHL having made its entrance into the U.S. domestic parcel market in 2004, Hickler, who replaced John Mullen as DHL USA CEO in September 2006, is charged with making sure the company is doing everything it can to increase customer awareness of its many express and logistics offerings to ensure that it is being considered as a viable entity by shippers in an extremely crowded marketplace. Logistics Management senior editor Jeff Berman recently spoke with Hickler about the steps DHL is taking to increase market share, the current freight transportation environment and related topics, and as the commercials say “putting the service back in shipping.”

LM: Much has been made of DHL’s commitment to improving customer service in the U.S. How are things going on that front?
HH: The important thing to note is that we are not “claiming victory.” What we are doing is putting a stake in the ground. Our industry—whether it is 3PLs, supply chains, or broader logistics—does not have a Starbucks- or Ritz-Carlton-type equivalent that says “this company really gets the customer and is all about driving a better and unique customer experience.” That is what we are targeting.

LM: How are you doing that?
HH: By coming in with the realization that customers in general are not thinking that our industry is about the customer. But we think there is a place for that, and our customers are telling us that as well. Bain & Company surveyed 360 companies that said 80 percent of their customers described their experience as “superior.” That means there is a huge mismatch there, and we want to change that in our industry. It is a bold move, but I think that is what our brand stands for, and we have to do things to stand behind that.

LM: What steps need to be taken for DHL to stand behind that belief?
HH: We believe we need to shift from a performance paradigm to one of service. This industry—rightfully so—has been one that is all about incredibly high performance levels, whether it is express, package delivery, or overnight [among others]. And it is in relation to how our processes are engineered, its relation to the IT capabilities, or just how we can deliver the product. It is a very performance-oriented discussion, and that is so ingrained in the actual fabric of the product that the differentiation lies in the service paradigm. Those are the chips needed to get into the game; we need to be highly reliable across all dimensions, but that doesn’t really define anything that would “wow” the customer. That dimension is service.

LM: How is that being executed within DHL?
HH: We have a customer service initiative overseen by a board member that is accountable for customer experience, and he drives our “first choice” initiative, which is a global, company-wide endeavor for DHL Express and the entire Deutsche Post World Net (DPWN) group…focused on becoming the first choice. In our case, it is our ambition to be voted the first choice by our customers as the most responsive express company in the U.S. That’s a dream for us. Statistically, we know which of the 82 touch points we spent two years reviewing matter most to customers, and we scorecard that and review it weekly at our meetings. And we created a customer experience index which has one number we post throughout our network each week [that focuses on] how we did in comparison to five key touch points, which we are trying to build a company cult

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