delivery

Process
Logistics
Delivery
Optimised Mail Preparation
Benchmark trip update
Parallel Ops
26 June 2015
Strictly Confidential June 2015
1
Joint RM:CWU visit to Norway and
Sweden for Optimised Mail Prep
• Looking at Outdoor method opportunities
linked to re-engineering indoor prep methods.
• Informing what the Outdoor aspect of
Optimised Mail Prep could look like
Oslo, Norway
Uddevalla, Sweden
Background
• Current OMP terms of reference cover trialling indoor
methods
to avoid re-handling sequenced letters
• Also include reviewing our Outdoor methods
and proposing approaches to try
Key enabler to re-engineering indoor work is to deliver from multiple
bundles outdoor, to minimise merging indoors
• Benchmarking visit made to Norway (Oslo) and Sweden
(Uddevalla)
two posts who are delivering multiple bundles on extended outdoor
spans
Observing the operation
Talking to the participants in the change
Trip delegates
CWU
• Bob Gibson – Assistant General Secretary Outdoor Dept
• Tony Bouch – PEC member Outdoor department
• Peter Sinnott – Outdoor department – working on OMP
• Tony Hayes – Area Safety Rep – working on OMP
• Kerry Haywood – Unit Rep – Walsall (OMP Pilot unit)
Royal Mail
• Gary Burgess – Delivery Excellence Director
• Mark Follows – Optimised Mail Prep Director
• Craig Challenor-Miles – Optimised Mail Prep – Outdoor project manager
• Adam Clowes – Delivery Sector Manager (including Walsall)
• Matthew Lawlor – Head of Outdoor Design
Why Norway and Sweden?
• Although smaller in population than UK, and lower population density on average, they have
similar density in towns and cities.
• Oslo similar to urbanised area of UK 650k in City Centre and 1.5m in Metropolitan area, and
similar density to Newcastle and Guildford
• Uddevalla similar to Newbury or Harpenden in size. Lower density than Oslo.
Why Norway and Sweden?
• Deploying multiple bundle delivery for
some time.
• Don’t put sequenced mail into a prep
frame
• Deliver some parcels (eg packets) with
mail, but don’t have fully combined
delivery of parcels in urban areas.
• Similar rates of volume decline to UK
since 2001
• Try to implement change without
Industrial conflict and through cooperation
• They don’t have alternate day delivery
model for 2c (Denmark and Netherlands
do). Not attractive to UK because DSA is
single day product.
PostNord – covers Sweden and Denmark
Key areas of interest
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Strategy
Process methods indoor and outdoor
Equipment used indoor and outdoor
KPI impacts, cost quality and safety and employee
Change management, including Industrial relations approach
Unaddressed mail
Workplan and mail mix
Role of the delivery prep location and the delivery ‘base’ where people
start their delivery
Supplementary areas of interest
• Management approaches
• Gender mix and diversity
• Estate facilities
Norway headlines
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25% reduction in delivery cost base
60% reduction in units performing indoor work
5% reduction in total bases
Gradual consistent strategy over the last 7 years (10 year plan set out in 2010)
Heavy investment of time with Director and National union leader – permanent conversation
Some key objectives defined for both parties
Solutions adjusted to meet shared or agreed objectives, both before and after deployment
Preparation for around 700 routes is performed at the Oslo Mail centre
Manual items are prepped into a vertical slot frame (one slot per stop)
Prep frames used 5 times from 00:30 to 08:30
Unaddressed mail is collated at the mail centre into sheafs for each DP. Large volumes.
Prepped manual is containerised and the palletised with other streams for each route
Plastic pallets are conveyed to the delivery “base”
Depending on space/ yard access there may be one start time eg 0900, or staggered start times eg 0900, 0920/0930
Equipment is loaded with the multiple streams in route order
Delivery takes place from multiple bundles
Average age 52; Observed 70:30 M:F and 1 employee with disability
Range of equipment – electric trolley, electric buggy, trike (not observed) and van
Around half of the people use a vest to carry the 2nd and 3rd bundles, with the sequenced mail in the hand
At each stop the mail has to be sorted to the range of addresses and people at that point
They deliver to name and address, so if person not registered at an address it is returned
Larger parcels are delivered to the Post Office for collection, not final mile unless a high additional premium is paid
Lower levels of competition
Transformation: Number of routes
and bases
Outdoor-only duties reduce the variability on
these roles, reducing the pressure on flexibility
approaches
Total
Bases =
406
But spec of
the bases
reduced where
they are only
pick up points
Specialist indoor roles
Specialist outdoor roles
Rationalisation of bases doing sorting
Norway – prep at the Oslo mail centre
• Highly automated mail centre
• Materials handling
• Logical flow
• Manual preparation of non-sequenced
mail undertaken on 150 frames for 750
routes ie 5 preps per frame
• Duties from c00:30 – 08:30, do 77% of
working week for full week’s pay instead
of night allowances
• Mail sequenced to the “stop” level
(possibly several DPs)
• Are experimenting with some sorting
aids
• Produces pallets of work for each route
or of each mail type
Norway – mail arrives at the delivery
base
• 71/2 tonne type delivery
• Tray dollies for sequenced
mail
• Plastic pallets of manual prep
and packets
• Waist belt tail-lift control
• Pallet trucks to unload
• No sorting done here
• Take away empties
Norway - Segregation to routes
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Clear signage
Segging activity of sequenced mail trays
Whole pallet of manual work and collated D2D
Where space limited then routes start at staggered times in waves
In the DO we visited they had 2 waves c30 mins apart
Tray inserts
to enable
vertical
large letters
Norway – equipment portfolio
• Range of equipment
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eHCT – espresso
eTrike (Swedish) – high capacity
eTrike (DXP) – not observed
Paxter – electric golf buggy
Alternative electric buggy – not observed
Conventional CDV – with passenger mail
rack
PostVest – compartmentalised vest to
enable multiple bundles
Equipment facilitates delivery from
multiple bundles
Electric options are expensive
compared to van
Norway – loading equipment
Norway - delivery
Operate from multiple
bundles
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Does involve some additional tasks
outdoor (but avoid lots indoor).
Initial 20mins given for outdoor tasks.
This allowance was later removed
once full evaluated after initial
deployment
Posten shared their lessons learned
Achieved through:
• Clear, explicit 10
year strategy
• Permanent
conversation with
union explaining,
and refining
detail
• Exploring and
building on
common ground,
and different
objectives
• Enabled the need
for change and
the detail of the
change to be sold
• Full time outdoor
only roles
emerged from
employee request
during evolution
KPI impacts - safety
• Injuries/ accidents
H1 = injuries with
absence
H2 = injuries
without absence
KPI Impacts – ill health
This relates to exit
onto Government
sponsored welfare
programme. Probably
closest to a measure
of Ill Health
Severence for Royal
Mail
KPIs - Employee satisfaction
Question: I am
proud to work for
Posten Norge
Out of 6
5.7 = 95%
Sweden headlines
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Introduction over last 2 years. Designed to reduce real estate.
Preparation for around 50 routes is performed at the Uddevalla Delivery Office
Average age c50; Gender balance c60:40 M:F and 1 employee with disability
Manual items are prepped into a vertical slot frame arranged by postcode
Significant 2c volume. The manual is primary sorted the previous day in the DO, and some prepped
for the first routes to use the prep frames.
The prep frames run in a line, reducing demarcation between routes
First wave of prep is for outlying bases
Second wave of prep is for the routes that start at the DO
Unaddressed is collated into sheafs for each DP at the mail centre. Large volumes. Have had some
collation since before 2009.
Prepped manual is containerised and the palletised with other streams for each route
Plastic pallets are conveyed to the delivery “base”
Base aims to be within 600 metres of the delivery in urban areas. Typically 3-10 people.
Perform one route in the morning and one in the afternoon
Sometimes alternate equipment type between morning and afternoon eg cycle, then electric golf
buggy, or van. Aiming to increase variety and reduce fatigue.
Large proportion of kerbside boxes and drops for multiple mail boxes at one stop mean delivery
through van window and from bicycle without dismounting are possible
Deliver to registered names at address
Larger parcels are delivered on a parallel network in town areas. Combined
in rural areas.
Post Nord (Sweden) Uddevalla
Delivery Office
Sweden – overview of indoor process
• Uddevalla delivery
office performs the
preparation for its own
routes and those at
surrounding delivery
bases
• 2 waves of manual
preparation
• (Red labels and yellow
labels)
• Manual associated with
Unaddressed and
Sequenced on pallets
in loading area
• High proportion of 2c
enables sorting around
lunchtime of 2c for
tomorrow’s delivery
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Wide aisles – c3.5metre
Frames arranged by postcode
Tall frames accommodate letters and large letters comfortably
Unaddressed doesn’t go into frame
Fatigue matting
Custom trolleys to consolidate streams for a route
Inward sorting and preparation
• Backless frames for primary
sort, small lip at back
• High proportion of 2c which can
be sorted in day for following
morning
• Can also be prepped for 1st
route of the following day
• Small parcels into cage rack
Inward sorting and preparation
• Prep to name as well as
address
• Heavy users can also
occupy multiple slots
• Redirection flag
• Magnetic slot labels
• Distant bases prepped first
• Routes starting from the
prep site done second
• Intermediate racks enable
secondary sort of heavy
postcodes, or missorts or
large users etc…
Sweden –the delivery ‘base’ – a basic
base! Pick up point or transfer station
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Small number of routes
Petal shaped delivery routes
Break at the base
Swap method
Sweden – equipment loading
• Delivery from multiple
bundles – sequenced mail,
manually prepped and
unaddressed
• Equipment loaded with each
bundle
• Additional volume loaded in
stream consignments
• Same principles for each
equipment type
Sweden – equipment portfolio
• Bicycle (electric assisted) –
plus trailer option
• Electric golf buggy
• Electric trike – high capacity
• Car derived van – 2 side
doors and rear doors
Sweden - delivery
• High proportion of co-located customer
mail boxes at one “stop”
• Steering wheel on “passenger” side – to
enable easy access to pavement (path
side boxes), delivery through window
and avoid getting in and out in road
• Natural task lighting in
cab of van and golf
buggy
• Delivery from multiple
bundles
Observations and learning points for
the UK
• Delivery from multiple bundles was seen to work effectively
Appropriate equipment key to making the job easier
Keep different bundles to hand
• People performed Outdoor only routes with extended spans and were comfortable with
this, although before deployment they had concerns
Appropriate equipment seemed to help with avoiding fatigue
“your buggy is like your own office”
• Operating prep from the mail centre in Oslo gives them a longer manual prep window
and saves space and enables easier resourcing to workload
• If small volume of manual items arrive from the network after your route has been
prepped then you get a handful of manual items to deal with. (Norway has very
concentrated population meaning distant volumes are low)
• Clear strategy to achieve big goals was pursued. Fine details were discussed with Union
to seek a co-operative path
• Equipment also helps with the bulk of unaddressed mail
• Integrated working with union reps at national and local level and lots of explanatory
communication was essential to landing the change
• Many of the frontline people were explaining to us how the change was quite radical, but
necessary
Operational Design Strategy
• Benefits reported by Norway of c25% of their cost base and 25% reduction in FTE in
Oslo and >15% overall.
• Estate opportunity was prime aim in Norway (but starting point 400+ bases would be equivalent
to us having 4000, so had more smaller units before)
• Reinforces consideration of indoor operation concentrated on fewer sites, avoiding
sequenced mail (and other streams eg Door to Door) in prep frames, and multi-use of
equipment and people on more than one routes’ mail
• Indoor work managed separately enables focus on flexibility
• Opportunities to retain full time roles with indoor workload decline through Outdoor only
roles with a long span with appropriate equipment
• Both Posts used high volumes of unaddressed to profitably stabilise call rates and
reduce workload volatility.
• Achieving a single-minded direction
Consistent general direction
Flexible on some details which can evolve and where there are options
Deliberate pace – not rushed. To achieve a good result with engagement
• Opportunity for alignment with CWU to progress at determined pace in a new direction
• Significant people impacts – potentially more significant than “methods” in work content
• Potential to release some DO sites, but need to define the “base” near the DPs and the
indoor method, equipment and workplan
Next steps and links into OMP project
plan
Immediate from the trip:
• Development of joint observations from the trip
• Capture of perspectives and viewpoints
OMP
• Incorporate elements of what was observed into scope for outdoor
experimentation through OMP
• Links and overlaps with 5 concepts in Outdoor Design paper
Vest
Prep from CDV
Lightweight Trolley
EHCT
HCT
Plus a desire to re-engineer the prep-station as part of indoor innovation
• This fits with the current “Equipment Review” project being done between Ops
Strategy/ Delivery Design and OMP project with CWU involvement
• Explore the people impacts and strategies to manage the change