In the more recent years there is a significant drop in regular mail deliveries and an explosive increase in parcel deliveries. This generates a fierce competition in the postal industry compelling organizations to commit to their public service obligation. This requires a custom process with high service levels to meet the customers wishes:
Supply chains need to be transparent, so it is easy to monitor products and information at all times. Visibility should also include regular scanning of products, from entry throughout its whole route up to customer delivery.
The creation of a data-integrity culture and standardization processes are essential. It is about quality of information and making sure all data, numbers, sizes, and locations are reliable. Lean methods are required as with millions of transactions per week, even a 1-2% gap or omission in information can be disastrous and dissolve profit-margin.
Companies who put the customer at the heart of what they do are 60% more profitable, and this type of thinking should be part of the company’s culture and strategy.
Online retailers today offer a greater variety of choice beyond the traditional products. This, combined with the increased volumes, brings in the need for automation of sortation and processes. Automation has become a pre-condition, not a nice-to-have, in a world where sorting systems, robots and smarter material handling equipment use barcodes, QR codes, RFID and scanners of all kinds to trace packages. Automation creates visibility for customer-service employees and managers alike.
Supply chain visibility, data integrity and integrated automation systems in a customer-centric culture with happy employees are key enablers for a positive customer experience. The magical chemistry between operations excellence, culture and customer service will allow your business to grow.
Opticon developed compact, ergonomic barcode companion scanners for the postal industry which are highly successful and proofed itself. Opticon also plays a significant role in the more recent demanded postal scanning solutions. Its products have grown to include advanced companion scanners (real-time), GPS devices and smartphones. Opticon products keep the workforce in touch with the back office and enterprise systems. Opticon products also require minimal training to use because their design is similar to consumer products.
Opticon offers modern postal scanning solutions that can facilitate tasks in the field. Mobile solutions keep the field workforce on the move while being connected to the enterprise database. Depending on the tracing needs of the mail flow, field service engineers can look up, add, delete and edit the status of multiple activities; or just send a report. Communicating field data to the enterprise database can be realized by infrastructures like Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Global Positioning System (GPS). So, you can trace operators and their deliveries at any location, and quickly provide this information to the customer.
Real-time locating solutions reduce the response time between the movement of goods and the information supply in the system, improving the reliability and accuracy of routing data. The system can accurately report completion time with proof of delivery. Mobile technologies enable the process to be coordinated from a central location, eliminating paperwork and delays.
Mobile tracking and tracing provide real-time, cross-border information, which enables accurate traceability of goods and ensures postal authority reliability.
Many valuable local post office operations have been moved to retail locations. Smaller retail counters are flexible, adaptable and provide a wide variety of services, which makes postal scanning operations efficient and productive.
The move to smaller retail counters leads to an increasing demand for smaller, flexible data capture systems. Retail counter staff need to provide detailed data processing. The adoption of barcode-based solutions for the postal industry ensures efficient and productive process automation. Identifying mail tracking numbers at the post office counter provides track and trace information for both the sender and receiver.
Versatile enterprise activities such as stock inventories, pricing and financial transaction reports can be arranged electronically. Scanning barcodes eliminates manual processes, which improves efficiency and saves time.
Track & Trace is the commonly used term for determining the current and past locations of items via standardized reference numbers or dedicated barcodes. Barcodes on mail and parcels enable complete on-route tracking of the products. Opticon mobile devices with integrated scanners quickly and efficiently capture barcode data about quality, cost, and time. Ideal for firms in the postal industry.
Opticon’s lightweight barcode companion scanners have a fast scan rate. They also collect scanned data for the entire day and save it to memory, so that you can use the postal scanners all day.
The worldwide Global Positioning System (GPS) allows your workforce to easily find their destination. More importantly, GPS lets you connect business application data to absolute GPS times and real-world coordinates. Opticon devices with integrated GPS allows operators to record their geographical location separate from other registrations and scanned data. It also provides customers live on-route tracking.
There are growing click-and-collect parcel volumes due to the continuous growth of e-commers and there is a lot more need for a reduced contact delivery solutions as a result of the Covid-19 crisis. This requires practical and easy to use parcel lockers at the retail and parcel carrier pick-up points. These automated pickup facilities demand reliable and fast scanners to meet the high expectations of its customers in terms of cost, reliability, and service.
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