Getting smart in the race for right-first-time deliveries

It doesn’t make the easiest of reading for the logistics and delivery sector, but research shows that one-third of all orders during peak season in the UK are either late or incomplete. Even worse, 5% of all online orders fail to make it to the right person or place.

And in today’s right-first-time climate, this could spell disaster for many delivery businesses.

But all hope isn’t lost. Smart technology could hold the answer to this costly and damaging problem. Especially when its integrated into your existing delivery sorting processes.

In pursuit of right-first-time sorting and deliveries, the first challenge is demand.

Industry research states that parcel deliveries are set to increase 69% by 2021. And with that surge in demand comes major strain on the accuracy of your sorting processes. More deliveries mean more parcels. More parcels mean more need for speed. More speed usually means more errors.

Until now.

With a smart technology solution such as Visual Sort Assist (VSA) from Panasonic and Zetes, visual technology, rugged mobile computing and specialised sorting management software combine to send sorting accuracy soaring. Because the system allows parcels to be identified far more quickly and easily, recognition time is reduced by 70% and errors are far less likely.

The next challenge is staff training. When you’re expanding your workforce to cope with seasonal spikes in demand, there can be a skills gap. Again, VSA covers the gap for you.

As the system is easy to integrate, training and upskilling are simple. So even new, part-time or seasonal staff can quickly meet and exceed service target levels. And right-first-time becomes a realistic benchmark.

Of course, VSA is just one of the possible ways to improve your parcel sorting operations. From TOUGHBOOK rugged computers to automated systems, there are a host of solutions and approaches it’s worth taking a closer look at today.