Royal
Mail Group plc Insources to The Interchange Group
More
than 200 000 employees
Second
biggest IT infrastructure in the United
Kingdom
Over
3000 locations
A
logistic infrastructure even including
its own underground system
A
global reach
Royal
Mail Group plc has access to everybody
who lives in the UK. The brands Post
Office (TM) Royal Mail and Parcelforce
Worldwide are trusted by business
and consumers alike.
No
other network can collect, process
and deliver 82 million items to 27
million addresses each day, playing
a vital role in communities throughout
Britain.
Previously
the business had a number of external, unconnected
support contracts with manufacturers to provide
the level of service needed to fulfil its own
business objectives. Over 13,000 units are currently
in use and therefore they needed to be sure a
change in process would not result in disaster.
The
decision was taken to effectively "insource"
the requirement. This enabled a much tighter control
of issues such as quality and simplified the logistics
involved, and by using a single "in-house"
supplier additional benefits of security and quality
assurance were identified. They turned to Interchange
for the resource and expertise.
Cliff
Pemberton, contract manager for Royal Mail Group
said that "As part of the fundamental objective
in providing improved value for money, Interchange
was required to deliver a trained workforce within
a 7 week time frame. This was a major task which
was achieved along with component management,
again a vital constituent."
Royal
Mail Group has followed the award of its first outsourcing
contract to the Interchange Group by selecting the same
company to provide a managed insourced repair facility.
Interchange Group, a leading supplier of information
management solutions, are The Post Office "IT Supplier
of the Year" for 1995/96 and a Gold Service award
holder.
The
outsourcing contract provides a repair centre by the
introduction into Royal Mail premises of a self contained,
technically able workshop facility based within an old
mill in the Chesterfield area. It was awarded to Interchange
because they had previously demonstrated their ability
to work with customers and suppliers to provide quality
solutions in partnership.
The
facility will undertake the repair of a number of vital
portable pieces of equipment used in the tracking of
packages.
“Royal
Mail Group plc needed a supplier it could trust to
deliver. Interchange delivered as it had done on previous
occasions"
Interchange
were able to provide the expertise and manpower
for the provision of the service. Royal Mail provides
the premises, capital equipment and logistics
to make the service effective.
The whole implementation took place over a period
of 7 weeks providing a component level workshop
facility with new staff repairing 23 new product
lines, in new premises. World-wide sourcing, intensive
recruitment and training, and contract negotiations
were undertaken to enable the service to commence
by April 1st. A very tough task, but as Mr Pemberton
explained he believed in Interchange from past
experience.
Royal Mail needed a supplier it could trust to
deliver. Interchange delivered as it had done
on previous occasions," he said.
These deadlines were met and the high level of
project management applied to the process has
ensured a seamless and efficient transition. This
commitment to provide high level resource will
continue and should ensure the facility brings
additional benefits through improvements in reliability
in the future.
The personnel now in place bring to Royal Mail
a variety of skills and abilities which, while
fulfilling the current contract, will also be
able to assist them in other areas of support
as and when required.
A vital part of the smooth running and operational
efficiency enjoyed has been the introduction of
OptimService, an Interchange software solution,
which was installed to provide a high level of
management reporting and process control which
augmented the control process Royal Mail had in
place.
Copyright
2001 - 2008 Interchange Group Limited - All Rights Reserved
Copyright
2001 - 2008 Interchange Group Limited - All Rights Reserved
