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Andy Yeates, lead delivery manager at Parceiforce Worldwide, is having
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a busy Christ ma& • If you would like to feature in Working Week please fax your details to features editor Patric Cunnane or NkIty Clarke on Nei SWIM or phone DM 652 5678.
MONDAY
It's Monday already. Lip, breakfast—can't do without my morning coffee fix—and in to work by 7am. It's an early start but that's the nature of the distribution business; we have to work all hours in order to ensure that customers get their parcels at a time convenient to them. With the Christmas rush on things here are busier than ever. During the run-up to the festive period Parcelforce Worldwide deals with some one million packages every working day—that's double the normal daily traffic volume. Still, everyone seems in good form for a Monday morning. At our weekly team briefing we talk through the implications of Parcelforce Worldwide's new dispatch manager system on our depot. We agree it will make our lives easier: the new Windows based system allows many of our major customers to use their own computers to gain direct access into our tracking system to monitor the progress of their parcel consignments.
TUESDAY
The volume of Parcelforce Worldwide's Next Day traffic has gone up by some 20% over the past year. This is great news for the business, and for me it means organising which parcels go out first and on what van. My depot alone deals with some 41,000 deliveries and 30,000 collections in an average week. Finally, all 96 vans go out on schedule. Thankfully I will be getting 10 extra vans to add to my own depot fleet—that should make my logistical headache a lot easier. I get home at 6.30pm, just in time to catch the match on television.
WEDNESDAY
Some new uniforms have arrived today, with military precision. They are from Parcelforce Worldwide's logistics centre in Swindon which, as well as being the distribution centre for all the Post Office's internal supplies, handles the warehousing and distribution needs for key customers, including Viking Direct and stationery firm Neat Ideas. The staff love the uniforms but I realise I've put on a few pounds since I last had to wear one
THURSDAY
have been sent to Coventry, but it's not as bad as it sounds—my colleagues are still talking to me. I'm taking part in an away-day information visit to Parcelforce Worldwide's new twin-hub distribution centre at Coventry airport. These giant hubs make my depot in Bristol look tiny by comparison. The hubs will be capable of handling 60,000 items an hour, and the national hub has 100 bays for 40ft trailers to dock in. The M5 was not too bad for traffic for a change; got back home at 6pm and am still impressed by what I saw.
FRIDAY
Busy sorting out staffing levels on the weekend shifts as normal—the parcels industry is a 24-hour business these days. Had to take one of the delivery vans off the road this morning for repairs after one of our transport managers spotted a problem with an indicator during a routine safety check. It meant one of our other drivers had to go out twice with deliveries, but with a nationwide fleet of some 8,000 vehicles, it's vital to take safety seriously. Spent the afternoon checking that our delivery process was operating efficiently. Our commitment to home-shopping means we aim to make it as simple as possible for our customers to specify when and where they would like their parcels delivered. That means liaising with our customers to identify alternative delivery arrangements where necessary—and we accept express parcels right up until 23 December for next-day deilvery or Christmas Eve. Phew, that's it for another hectic week. It's 5pm and I'm off. Can't wait for that lie-in tomorrow. Oh no, I've just remembered I promised to take my wife lastminute Christmas shopping. Oh well...