THE POWER of the cellphone is now in the hands of the delivery man. An innovative notification system has been launched by DHL Worldwide Express which enables clients to receive delivery information in a matter of minutes. Previously it could take up to four hours.
The system, Mobile Checkpoint Return (MCR), was developed by DHL in the UK and has been introduced as an air express industry first in South Africa, where the company has installed it throughout the major centres in its network.
Now each DHL courier is equipped with an imported, state-of-the-art cellular telephone. This is connected to a scanner, which the couriers use to store delivery information. Prompted by the scanner at 20 minute intervals, the cellphone downloads the stored information in the scanner and automatically dials a central DHL modem from where the information is immediately accessible to customer service agents.
Previously information of this nature could only be accessed two to four hours after delivery as the scanners would be downloaded once the couriers had returned to their bases after completing their delivery rounds
MCR also offers the significant advantage of eliminating data bottlenecks, which occur when too much information is downloaded at the same time, says Ina Knoesen, DHL South Africa's MCR project manager. This causes lengthy delays in accessing this information.
The implementation of MCR is in line with our belief that the need to relay delivery information runs parallel with the need to adhere to shipment delivery deadlines.
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