ParcelXchange – meeting the need for flexibility
Paul Carvell, CEO, Business Direct
World Mail Review May 2008
Tag: Europe
New RedPrairie Warehouse Management system increases staff productivity by 50 pct at Belgian postal service
De Post – La Poste, the Belgian postal service, has implemented a new Warehouse Management system from RedPrairie, a leading consumer driven optimisation company. The system has automated and optimised De Post’s central warehouse and increased the productivity of warehouse staff by 50 pct since its implementation in June 2007. There is complete visibility into inventory levels, paperwork has been virtually eliminated, and orders received before noon are dispatched the same day.
The central warehouse of De Post – La Poste stores all supplies for post offices across Belgium. It receives an average of 2,000 orders a day. Stocks include 900 different items of apparel, more than 1,000 types of products sold at postal windows (stamps, parcel packages, etc.), and over 2,000 consumables for internal use in post offices. Items are stored in three different buildings.
To address these issues, De Post – La Poste opted for RedPrairie’s Warehouse Management system. RedPrairie’s excellent track record and local presence in Belgium proved decisive factors in this choice. The system handles all inbound stocks, warehouse management, and picking order processes. With Warehouse Management, incoming goods are automatically allocated to their optimal position in the warehouse, based upon the frequency of their demand. High rotation items are placed so that they can be easily accessed by the picking staff. Even before goods arrive, their placement is known, so no time is wasted looking for an appropriate spot.
Read MoreRoyal Mail Group’s health and wellbeing ‘blueprint’ could provide GBP 1.45 billion boost to UK’s struggling sectors
Innovative measures help the organisation cut absence by 25 pct and save GBP 227 million in three years
Health and wellbeing initiatives introduced by Royal Mail Group could hold the key to reducing the impact of absence across the UK’s worst performing sectors and deliver savings of GBP 1.45 billion a year, a study by the London School of Economics revealed today.
In its ‘ Value of Rude Health’ report – the result of a unique, year-long study – the London School of Economics also calculated that the value of Royal Mail Group’s approach to tackling absence could bring more than 94,000 people absent through illness or injury back into work more quickly.
The study revealed that Royal Mail Group’s health and wellbeing activities have:
• Slashed absence by 25 pct between 2004 and 2007
• Brought 3,600 employees absent through illness or injury back into work
• Saved more than GBP 227 million in terms of direct costs (wages and benefits)
Royal Mail Group’s success in cutting absence by a quarter has been achieved through:
• Health screening for employees and occupational support services including physio and occupational therapy
• Health clinics in more than 90 Royal Mail Group sites to help people return to work and prevent them getting ill
• Fitness centres run by trained instructors in larger sites
• Health promotion campaigns targeting smoking and back pain
• Increased support and training for managers to improve the effectiveness of absence to attendance policies
Postcomm publishes criteria for approval of redress schemes for licensed postal operators (UK)
Postcomm published its final criteria for approval of redress schemes.
Following consultation in January 2008 on approval criteria for redress schemes, Postcomm has today published its approval criteria and decision document. The document summarises the key issues raised by stakeholders in response to the consultation, suggestions from the industry working group for licensed postal operators (facilitated by Postcomm), and relevant best practice.
The key changes are:
– amendment to the scheme’s governance, monitoring and reporting criteria in relation to the governance arrangements and fee structure to ensure there is no disproportionate effect on any particular group of members;
– additional requirement for the scheme to reallocate the cost of any case to another scheme member where the fault is found to lie with it;
– amendment to the requirement for publicising the redress scheme to prevent premature referral to the scheme. The requirement now states that appropriate steps must be taken to ensure consumer awareness of the scheme;
– clarifying the complaints which the redress scheme must consider by drawing from the BERR decision document; and clarifying that the case handling will be free of charge but that a complainant may incur a cost in the form of telephone call charges etc. to contact the redress scheme (but that this should be kept to as low as reasonably practicable).
EU approves 1.1 bln euro compensation for Poste Italiane
The European Commission said it has approved the 1.1 billion euros compensation Italy granted Poste Italiane SpA between 2006 and 2008 to meet the costs of fulfilling its universal postal service obligations.
Universal service ensures citizens and businesses located in rural areas get a comparable service to their urban counterparts.
The state support is in line with EU rules on public service compensation because it does not over-compensate Poste Italiane for providing these services, and therefore does not allow for cross-subsidies for other activities, the Commission said.
Poste Italiane is the universal postal service provider in Italy.
Over the period 2006-2008 Poste Italiane received 1.1 billion euros compensation for providing this public service.
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