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National opens first computerised depot
Page 6
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THE FIRST of National Carriers computerised parcels depots was opened in Birmingham last week by Under Secretary for State Kenneth Clarke MP.
NC has modernised its 35year-old Lawley Street depot to incorporate a computerised loading and sorting system designed by Sandvik (UK) Ltd, and based on similar installations in Japan and France.
The company sees this as a way of increasing productivity and extending its next-day delivery service to link all major conurbations in the country. Already the depot has a 2.2-day average delivery time to all parts of the country, and it aims to improve on this.
Work on the new depot equipment began earlier this year, following several months' planning, and staff were put through a rigorous training course to meet the disciplines of the micro-electronic system.
Parcels arriving at the depot are marked with a two-digit code, weighed and measured automatically, and are passed on to an operator who keys the parcel code into a minicomputer.
They then travel at speeds up to 133 metres per minute across a network of conveyor belts, and are delivered automatically to one of the 29 chutes which connect with the loading bays.
Whereas the traditional system operated at Lawley Street was capable of handling 11m parcels a year, the new system processes that number in three months. An automated documentation system has been created to work alongside the loading and unloading equipment.
According to National Carriers, only around 20 jobs have been lost in the region as a result of the modernisation. That includes the closure of a small depot at Leamington Spa, and the company points out that efficient operation, rather than fewer jobs, was its main aim.
It anticipates that the £0.5m investment in the equipment will be recouped by 1985, and says it expects the machinery to remain in use -for a long time". Japanese installations, which were built before the arrival of the microprocessor, have been in operation since 1974.
National Carriers are spending around E4m on another seven such depots, and say it expects the next to be in Manchester.
Parcels are directed on to 29 delivery chutes, and travel at up to 133m per minute.