If you’re considering moving from manual parcel or mail processing, or adding additional automation systems, you’ll want to take these steps to ensure a smooth and successful transition.
Get your team leaders and supervisors from multiple departments together and discuss the pros and cons of moving to automation. Include your operations team, finance, IT, logistics, marketing and sales, all the way up to senior leadership. The idea is to gain insight from across departments, clearly identify important requirements, and stave off any potential obstacles that may hinder the success of the transition. Remember to consider data requirements, as automation allows the ability to capture piece and processing data at much lower cost than manual methods, and having the date requirements defined early reduces the cost of adding it later to the automation.
Your automation needs will not only be based on your average daily throughput volume, but should factor in spikes around busy times of the year. If volume increase in November and December that could justify the investment in automation even if the system is underutilized the rest of the year. You should also consider future growth to determine if a scalable system is right for your business.
Evaluate your existing process to determine the cost benefit of not only reducing certain expenditures, such as labor and shipping costs, but also the potential for gaining the ability to process larger volumes of orders, eliminating lost time when errors occur, improving the quality of processing, reduced delivery time, and the ability for you to more accurately track packages and have data for each piece processed.
Moving to automation can be a daunting task. Seek out a partner that can not only develop the system, but one that will be there with you through every step of the process, including after installation. ID Parcel & Mail Solutions works closely with you from the start by first analyzing your specific needs, provides creative options on how to meet your business goals for automation that balance capital requirements with savings and productivity, and then delivers solutions designed to meet them. We are also there for you after installation with full system training and hand-holding, service and support, as well as years later when technology changes require upgrades or business needs require changes to the automation.
