Aug/Sept 2007

DHL Global Mail is one of the carriers that has moved into the business-to-consumer mail market, and it is using Wire 3 vehicle tracking to control its enlarged operation

Deregulation of mail delivery in the UK has had a massive impact on many aspects of the operations run by the companies involved, but one of the factors emerging as critically important has been the need to track delivery vehicles and monitor their location at all times.

This has been very much the experience of DHL Global Mail. The organisation has held a UK licence for business-to-business mail pickup and delivery operations for some years, but in January 2006 DHL also entered the business to consumer mail market.

The change increased the scale of its mail operations substantially, and also pointed up the need for an effective and reliable fleet management tool.

According to Stuart Mylchreest, DHL's head of UK operations: 'We needed a tracking system that could work across our entire nationwide fleet with complete reliability, and give us the precise information we wanted, when we wanted it.

'We needed a system that could handle a constant flow of traffic,' he says, 'since our vehicles are always on the move, and it was important that it should be able to allow us to add new vehicles seamlessly to the fleet as and when we needed to.'

He acknowledges that cost was 'an issue', but adds: 'So too were operational excellence of the equipment and after-sales service.'

DHL has chosen the Sat3 tracking and management system from Wire3 Technologies. This uses GPS satellite tracking GPRS communications, and is able to track the entire DHL Global Mail fleet in real time and relay this information to the support teams at each depot. The system updates vehicle positions automatically every two minutes as standard.

Wire3 has been building a strong market position for itself in recent years, and has become particularly well established in the tipper and construction markets, in which it now has a large number of customers. However, the company points out that its technology is equally suited to a wide range of other transport operations, including the kind of parcel business run by DHL. In practical terms the equipment and modus operandi are the same in both markets.

DHL certainly seems more than happy with what it has bought. 'The Sat3 system has exceeded all our expectations,' Mylchreest says. 'We are able to monitor all aspects of our operation including delivery times and vehicle usage, and of course employee performance.

'The tool allows us to control the external part of our delivery network with the same degree of confidence that we would an internal operation.'

He says the installation process proved painless and efficient, and that the quality of Wire 3's after-sales support confirms that DHL has chosen the right system. 'The equipment itself is easy to use and offers a number of strict controls over a mobile fleet of vehicles and workers.