Radio control wraps up parcels operatior
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Several express service operators are tuning up for two-way radio, reports Davic Wilcox. But it can't be installed overnight, as TNT discovered
WO-WAY RADIOS may be suitble for taxis and other local ehicles but they're not really iractical if your operation spans ne length and breadth of the ountry.
Or are they?
When TNT launched its )vernite express parcels service 3st May the company already nvisaged using radioontrolled vehicles to help proide the level of service it was ffering. Because TNT Overnite ets out to be just about the fastst delivery service around.
It's a door-to-door service rom any address in the country any other address. It accepts ny size of consignment from a 3tter to half a dozen pallets. And, nost importantly, it earns the .ame Overnite by guaranteeing D deliver the next working day, ven if the parcel is collected in 'enzance and is bound for Gies:ow. Such off-shore islands as he Isle of Wight and Jersey are Is° given a next-day service. Only the Highlands of Scot3nd on the mainland are ex:luded from the Overnite next day guarantee, The guarantee is meaningful — TNT would refund your carriage charges in the event of it failing to deliver on time.
_ Now, TNT already had InterCounty Express which offered a standard parcels delivery service. This provided the necessary operational base — Overnite shares the 24 InterCounty depots and almost half the combined fleet of 200 trailers, 120 tractive units and 550 boxvans are in Overnite livery. But as well as merely speeding up the movement of parcels for Overnite, something extra was needed if TNT's boast of "Absolutely Positively Overnite" was to be upheld.
TNT Overnite general manager Alan Jones told me that although he had initially planned radio control for Overnite it took time to materialise. "You can't just snap your fingers and have nationwide radio control. It's not so easy as that."
So when Overnite started, the vehicles were not equipped with two-way radios. Instead, the drivers would make their deliveries in the morning as normal but during their collections in the afternoon they would phone into their depot for last
minute collection requests. This might entail three or four phone calls because a surprising amount of Overnite traffic is made up of these late consignments. Typical of the sort of items being carried are highvalue articles like cameras and VOR car parts, urgent medical supplies and so on.
This phoning-in system worked reasonably well and TNT could still fulfil its Overnite promise, but it had a number of drawbacks. Primarily, the direction of communication was wrong; most messages were instructions from the depot to the drivers, whereas the phone system worked in the reverse direction, relying on the drivers phoning the depot for late collections. Drivers, therefore, had to rely on phone boxes or borrowing customers' phones which could be a costly, lengthy and aggravating business.
So, in the meantime Alan Jones and his team tackled the task of choosing and installing radio control. A variety of different radi equipment was examined an tried. TNT's resources came i here; the company is enormou in its Australian homeland an has extensive radio-control e) perience over there and in othE countries.
What was Alan Jones lookin for when choosing a system "Quality and reliability mainly, he said. "We guarantee thes with the Overnite service and s, the radios we were going to f: had to match up to these star dards.
"The problem was that w wanted a system that coul more or less cover the whol country. This was a tall orde: Range and operating condition vary so much that the syster that's best in one area is hopE less in another."
The alternative was the Pos Office (British Telecom) pagin, system with the drivers carryin: a bleeper that bleeped whe: their depot wanted to contac them. This was a fairly inexper sive and simple option but TN' Overnite rejected it because still depended on the drivers ability to get to a phone to reply.
So Alan Jones remained faith ful to true radio control, tacklim its installation on a depot-by-de pot basis.
The radio control system tha TNT finds most widely effectivl is made by Storno, and most o the 24 Overnite depots use . multi-channel version of till Stornophone 5000 VHF/UHI radio-telephone. "We found tha this gave us the best all-rounc performance and that as a corn pany Storno reacted fastest which was important. Havinc. decided on radio control WE wanted to get it in quickly." saic Alan.
Operational range of thE Storno equipment varies accord ing to the aerial site and the sur rounding terrain. TNT finds tha reception is often acceptable aE far as 50 miles from the depot The ideal circumstances arc where the surrounding terrain is
ry flat but the depot is on a hill jht in the centre of its operatg territory. In this case, the Tial can be sited on the depot ,of, which would be high lough to give complete covege from the depot.
Alas, this perfect situation rely exists. Instead, it's quite ely that the landscape is wellIntoured, the depot is not in a irticularly high area and it's in e corner of the territory.
So the base station aerial is ten built away from the depot la nearby hill and a landline is d to link the aerial to the base ation in the depot. The laying these landlines has been one the most costly and time-con'ming aspects of the installa)n. Stoma was responsible for is and also for the erection of e aerials. To reach the furthest )ints in the depots' territories lay aerials are often necessary overcome the ups and downs the landscape.
Because establishing a neto:k of this scale takes time, and Overnite isn't too accusmed to waiting, Alan Jones Id me that he is using a tempory back-up system in some de).ts which supplements the orno radio. These secondary 'stems vary according to the cal circumstances.
I visited the TNT Overnite de)t at Cannock and saw the set) there. The Storno equipment as used for most of the cornunications while the other system relied on a commercial radio control service in the Midlands which related messages via its base. The Storno set in the drivers' cabs received both types, but back at the depot there was a different set for each. The Storno base station set on the depot is exactly the same as the set in the vehcle.
In most depots the radio is in the traffic office and any of the traffic staff can use them, but some depots find they are using the equipment so much that they are considering establishing a separate radio room with a full-time operator. When a customer phones a TNT Overnite depot (they are all Freefone numbers) with a consignment for collection, the traffic operator will check his daily chart for the vehicle that should be nearest the customer's address. He then goes to the Storno set, presses the transmit button and calls the appropriate vehicle's fleet number which also doubles as its call sign. This raises a warbling sound, called a "squelch signal," in the drivers' cabs. The driver in question hears his call sign and presses his transmit button to respond, talking into the hand-held microphone.
Having heard the details of the collection, all being well, the driver can be outside the collection address within 30 minutes of the customer phoning.
Other Overnite drivers will also hear the message and so if any of them can do the collection more easily they can interject and volunteer — it earns them more bonus.
If a drive doesn't answer his call sign the depot assumes he is away from the vehicle in a customer's premises and so will try again in a few minutes.
I asked the Cannock depot traffic staff how much they really used the radio in their work. Is it an essential tool of the trade or just a luxury that's nice to have up your sleeve?
In practice, a surprising amount of the driver's collection are passed to him during the day via the radio. When I was there one driver had nine extra collections radioed to him, and it was only 2.30pm! Most drivers had at least four or five extra calls relayed to them during the day.
Since the Storno radios have been installed, TNT Overnite has found more and more uses for them. Obviously, speed of response is the greatest benefit of radios — within minutes of the customer phoning the depot the van can be at his door, which must be an impressive start to any express partels service. And with this faster response TNT Overnite can accept collection requests later in the day and still get the goods on the night trunk for next-day delivery.
Equally important is that the radios help improve the whole efficiency of the driver's day.
Said Alan Jones: "The earlier the driver knows about an extra collection the better he can plan his route. He can put his collections in the best order so there's less doubling back and retracing his steps. This saves fuel, mileage and time and so generally makes his day more productive."
Drivers often use the radios to contact the depot rather than vice versa to check customers' addresses and so on. Hearing this type of inquiry, drivers can help each other out over the radios if they know the exact location of a particular customer because they've been there before. This exchange of informa
tion must usually go via the depot radio base but in some reception conditions drivers can talk directly to one another.
There is also a spin-off in thE event of a breakdown. Instead ol trying to find a phone box the driver can simply radio in and have a fitter or replacemen1 vehicle coming out to him in a few minutes.
The installation of the Stomaphones in the 550-odd TNI Overnite boxvans has taken jus1 under four months and is novs. virtually complete. Although thE fitment of the radio iE straightforward (it's on a simplE bracket and needs a power inpu• and aerial connection) Stornc was responsible for installing_ the radios.
The only point to watch out foi was that the vehicle's voltagE matches the radio's — thE Overnite fleet of boxvans in dudes a lot of 71/2-tonners tha have 12-volt systems rather thar the 24-volt systems of the large, vehicles.
In the early days of the project TNT Overnite drivers were naturally a little wary of thE radios, thinking of the "spy ir the cab" implications. But as thE first few were installed, and driv. ers found that the radios bene fited them as well as the cus turner and TNT Overnite, the were keen to have them fitted ir their cabs. The company did no have to pay any form of specia bonus to have the radios — thE bonus came naturally with thE greater number of collection: that a driver could do.
The Storno system will even tually be the only system tha TNT Overnite uses and th( secondary systems will bE phased out. This is possible be cause more relay aerials are be ing erected to increase the rangE and coverage of the Storno phones.
Cost of the whole project in cluding the supply and installa tion of radios, aerials and lam lines has been around £500,000.
Is it worth it? Alan Jones: "0 course it is. Although the radio: do actually save a little money ir mileage and fuel that's not wh, we wanted radio control. WE didn't approach the project will a payback in mind. We see thr radios as an internal operationa refinement which help us to pro vide the Overnite service WI guarantee. Radio control make it easier for us — it gives us thE edge."
TNT Overnite is well awan that other express parcels car riers are currently considerim adopting two-way radio which is why Alan Jones wasn' giving out too many detail: about frequencies and channels