Tag: UK

In the first of a series of online interviews published on ME-news, Paul Carvell, CEO of UK time critical logistics company, Business Direct gives us an insight into last mile solutions.
Q. Paul, tell us a little about the history of Business Direct?
A. The company began in 1993, as a specialist logistics company delivering time critical parts for field engineers pre 8 am. After recognising a gap in the market in 2001, the concept of an automated exchange was designed, and developed, and commissioned in 2004. As a result, the company listed on the AIM market in August of that year, raising capital to roll out a national network of ParcelXchanges. Two additional acquisitions were subsequently made namely ‘Esprit’ the in boot delivery operation of ANC, and ‘Concord’ the specialist logistics company working in the Hi-Tech sector. In 2007, ParcelXchange was launched globally, primarily to Post offices and is now in use in more than 5 European countries and in South East Asia.
Q. So as a result of all this action, how many units do you have in the field?
A. The first PX units were rolled out nationally in 2004; currently there are 310 sites with 4,500 individual lockers in the UK. Additionally, there are drop boxes and PUDO’s (manned counters) positioned around the UK taking the total number of delivery points to over 500, all capable of track and trace. Globally, we anticipate that ParcelXchange will be used in circa 12 countries across 3 continents in the next 12 months.
Q. I’ve read recently of successes both inside and outside of the UK market, tell me more?
A. The business is split into three divisions: In Night, Global Licensing and Specialist;
In Night has been gaining rapid market share from parcel carriers, (depot collect and pre 10 am), competitors and branch collections in the B2B field service market. Major wins include Jungheinrich and Siemens Medical, all wishing to improve productivity, reduce cost and enhance customer service and response to down time (up to 30% reduction in costs). Major strategic partners include DHL, TNT and Parcelforce – where we are seen to be adding value to their services.
ParcelXchange Worldwide – We have had significant wins with DHL Ireland and are undergoing trials in Finland, Estonia, France and S.E. Asia. Our major prospects are OEM’s, In Night carriers, but more importantly Post Offices around the world. The major opportunity is for Post Offices to lease the ParcelXchange equipment and operating the software under license for their own use – there is no CapEx and the customer can start small and build up as their requirements grow.
Specialist – This is an area for key growth with companies such as Computacenter, Xerox and other major I.T resellers. Other areas are Two Man, Technical Courier and Sameday. Many of these customers also work with the In Night division – “One Stop” package for IT logistics.
Q. It all sounds very positive, has there been much resistance?
A. The PX system works at Six Sigma levels (99.9% +) everyday and offers a national pre 8am service unavailable from the carrier market at prices below sameday/pre 10-am carrier tariffs. AT Kearney recently reported that all the carriers are in need of this service, particularly for B2C growth. Ironically only DHL, TNT and Parcelforce have so far adopted this bolt-on to their range of supply chain services. Carriers should not be threatened and should adopt this new technology by working with us – we are not mainstream Express competitors and it could dramatically reduce their cost of first time failure, and improve their service to their B2B and growing B2C customer base. UK failed delivery costs to UK Carrier players is thought to be £123m p.a (source: IMRG) – using a PX offers the customer the opportunity to dramatically reduce failed deliveries and consolidate their delivery points. Globally, a large proportion of interest has been in units containing 50-100 lockers which will naturally drive down costs. I don’