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Australia Post: A lean, mean mail-delivery machine with ARIS
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Functions
- Logistics & Transportation
- Warehouse & Inventory Management
Use Cases
- Inventory Management
- Supply Chain Visibility
Services
- System Integration
- Training
The Challenge
Australia Post faced a significant increase in online purchases, up by 170% year-on-year, leading to an increase in the volume of deliveries and parcel sizes. The company had insufficient staff numbers and equipment to handle these increases. Additionally, the reduction in passenger flights resulted in delays to some regional delivery areas. The company had to respond quickly and make better use of its resources. It needed to set up processing sites quickly and leverage the information that was already in the system. There were many new employees, so Australia Post had to be able to communicate with them to show them how to use the virtual agent software to read codes, sort and process pallets.
About The Customer
Australia Post is the successor of the Postmaster General's Department, which was established at federation in 1901 as the successor to colonial post services. In 1975, when the department was abolished, its postal functions were taken over by the Australian Postal Commission. In 1989, the organization was privatized as a publicly owned corporation. Today, Australia Post has nearly 7,000 retail outlets and around 80,000 employees, serving 10 million Australian addresses. In September 2015, the corporation announced its first loss in 30 years; parcel delivery then accounted for over half of total revenue. A year later Australia Post returned to profit on the back of strong parcel/courier performance and restructuring. However, mail performance had reached an all-time low.
The Solution
To manage the transition, the Enterprise Safety Team decided to leverage the process repository and review standard operating procedures across the many parcel facilities as a “lean” program. The Lean Safety Initiative relied on its existing process repository as foundation for a design that allowed it to consider safety impacts as well as operational efficiently. Australia Post chose Software AG’s ARIS to establish its own process repository, including mobile technology (QR codes) and documentation management, for a single source of process quality. The Post stores a catalogue of all its operational risks in the repository, where it can see the processes and roles exposed to each risk and make sure it has adequate controls for compliance. As a process repository, ARIS keeps all safety operating procedures for the Enterprise Safety Team. Using simple visual diagrams in ARIS, managers can see if workers are behaving in the correct manner. If there is an issue, they scan a QR code which brings up the relevant SOP document. Workers can see the step- by-step instructions on their mobile devices, which local managers can then check for compliance.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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