Tag: UK

Now UK Mail picks up the post at HSBC

Posted by | May 23, 2007 | |

HSBC has become the latest major bank to give Royal Mail the sack.

UK Mail, the postal arm of parcels courier Business Post, said today it now acts for three of the five High Street banks after HSBC joined Royal Bank of Scotland in ditching Royal Mail for the sorting for delivery of its bank statements.

Lloyds TSB had already switched to UK Mail’s arch-rival, the Dutch postal group TNT, but UK Mail today announced it had also picked up part of the Lloyds TSB contract.

Major customers such as the Department of Work and Pensions, the BBC, Vodafone, and Powergen helped UK Mail revenues soar from GBP 40m to GBP 90m in the year to the end of March, doubling profits to GBP 6.4m.

That compares with UK Mail forecasts at its launch in 2004 that within three years it would make GBP 10m on revenues of GBP 150m – about 3% of the GBP 5bn market.

Chief executive Guy Buswell said UK Mail missed the targets because VAT issues meant part of the market remained in favour of Royal Mail. Business Post’s group pre-tax profits doubled to GBP 9.8m but the dividend is pegged at 10.8p.

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Environmental Emphasis Recognition for Pall-Ex

Posted by | May 23, 2007 | |

Fresh from winning the Leicestershire Business Of the Year Award 2007, pallet network industry leader Pall-Ex takes home another accolade.

Chosen as finalists for the International Freighting Weekly Environmental Award, Pall-Ex can add this achievement to a long line, which is echoed by their brimming trophy cabinet at the £12million purpose built facility, strategically located in the centre of the country in Ellistown, Leicester, close to junction 22 of the M1.

The very nature of this operation reduces journey length and underused capacity of fleet vehicles for all members of the Pall-Ex network, significantly reducing the environmental impact of vehicle emissions. This was however, just the beginning for the innovative entrepreneur Hilary Devey, Managing Director, who saw the opportunity to reduce emissions inside as well as outside her premises. Within the distribution hub, a fleet of 37 fork lift trucks run both day and night reorganising palletised freight into bays for onward delivery. These fork lift trucks all run on compressed natural gas, and not diesel, which limits emissions impact on the environment. Any emissions are mainly water based, which equates to cleaner air for the drivers to breathe, and no pollutants emitted that could contaminate freight.

Hilary Devey, Managing director and 100% owner of Pall-Ex commented “The very nature of the Pall-Ex concept is a brilliant way of uniting businesses around the country to reduce wasted journeys, increase profits, and reduce fuel consumption and emissions. Where Pall-Ex particularly shines is by going the extra mile, for example by using compressed natural gas in their fork lift truck fleet. The innovative nature of the company has been the root of Pall-Ex success, and will mean the company will continue to outshine competitors into the future.”

The other two finalists are CitySprint and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, and the winner will be announced at a gala dinner in The Honourable Artillery Company, London.

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Third Round Table of International Post-CIOs

Posted by | May 22, 2007 | |

IT-Managers of the Postal Organisations from Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria meet in Budapest

Since the first and second Post CIO Roundtable were very successful, the third international „Postal CIO Roundtable“ (PCR) will take place in Budapest on 24 May. The Post CIO Roundtable is an initiative launched by the Austrian post office (Österreichische Post AG), hosted by the Hungarian post office (Magyar Posta Zrt.) and is aimed at promoting information exchanges between the IT functions of postal organisations.

Although postal organisations are more than ever in competition with one another in largely liberalized markets, at this meeting of experts cooperation on the technical challenges is the focus. It is seen as a means of promoting the development of new postal IT solutions, leading to the marketing of member companies proprietary technologies. The Round Table is also viewed as a platform for establishing internationally applicable standard key performance indicators and initiating regular benchmarking processes.

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Northrop Grumman to provide postal automation systems for La Poste and Royal Mail

Posted by | May 22, 2007 | |

Northrop Grumman Corporation announced that its postal automation subsidiary Solystic has been awarded contracts with La Poste (France) and Royal Mail (UK) for the supply and installation of 40 TOP2000 high-performance sorting machines for oversize mail. Each of these state-of-the-art machines will be capable of automatically sorting 38,000 flat mail pieces an hour.

“Postal operators today face increasing volumes of oversize mail from catalogues to magazines and advertisements. The competition that will result from the liberalisation of the European postal market in 2009 will create a demand for greater levels of productivity, reliability and flexibility,” said Pierre-Andre Barriere, chairman and CEO of Solystic. “The TOP2000 machine offers a sorting device that fully meets the market’s requirements, based on tried-and-tested technology, reliability and performance. These contracts position the company as a leading supplier in the industry.”

The 20 TOP2000 machines ordered by Royal Mail are part of its Flats Automation Project (FAP) and will augment the 11 machines already in service. Each piece of equipment will consist of two entry lines and between 264 and 312 outputs and will include a self-diagnostic system. The first of the new machines is expected to be delivered by November 2007.

La Poste has also ordered 20 TOP2000 machines following the successful trial with a pilot system. The devices will be equipped with two entry lines and 480 outputs. The first six machines will come on line by late 2007. Installation of the 20 new TOP2000 machines represents an important step in La Poste’s “Cap Qualite Courrier” modernisation programme.

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Lockheed Martin to add services to Royal Mail program

Posted by | May 22, 2007 | |

Lockheed Martin UK announced Monday that it will provide additional address recognition services to Royal Mail as an extension of the current Address Interpretation program.

Under the extended contract, Lockheed will provide the address recognition services for 20 Flats Sorting Machines and also develop, deploy and support new FSM recognition solutions to enable the machines to interact with Royal Mail’s latest hardware and operating systems.

The technology serves to decipher printed or handwritten addresses and exemplifies Royal Mail’s ongoing modernization strategy.

Lockheed provides Integrated Recognition Platform technology to postal authorities worldwide.

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