LTB 336/17 – Table of Success Joint Statement – Extension of the Route Excellence Trial

No. 336/2017

19 June 2017

For the Immediate Attention of All:

Postal Branches

PFW Regional Organisers

PFW Representatives

TABLE OF SUCCESS

JOINT STATEMENT – EXTENSION OF THE ROUTE EXCELLENCE TRIAL

Dear Colleague

In late 2015 the department was approached by Parcelforce Worldwide in relation to the competitive challenges they faced in the market place and their desire to fulfill ever increasing customer demands for better information. Therefore the business wished to trial a system called Route Excellence, which they believed could address the issues concerned.

A Terms of Reference was agreed and endorsed by the Postal Executive to enable the trial to commence at 10 PFW depots and since that time extensive activity has taken place to assess and refine the system, in order that it met PFW requirements to provide notification of expected delivery time to customers via SMS messaging. In addition the development of the system has also recognised the need for a more user friendly experience for drivers that would allow the ability for individual knowledge to be factored into route planning.

The trial activity has however been limited and to some extent hindered, due to the inability to test the programme with the new PDA’s and as such to date the programme has had to be run with drivers utilising paper manifests.

The trial activity has been overseen since its inception by the Table of Success Route Excellence Working Group, who have reviewed progress, overseen significant amendments to the system to take account of driver feedback and have reported regularly into the National leads in respect of progress.

Recent discussions with the business have now confirmed that the new TC75 PDA’s are expected to arrive imminently and as such it has been requested that the Route Excellence trial activity be extended. The department believes that it would therefore now be appropriate to agree a limited, phased extension of the trial activity.

This extension of the trial will be deployed in two phases.

Phase 1

  • An immediate roll out of the REX activity to all drivers, including Owner Drivers (OD’s), based at the ten existing REX trial sites. The Joint Working Group will monitor progress and compliance rates amongst the OD population post deployment.
  • Ahead of the roll out to the 10 additional depots a full review of the current OD routes at these sites will take place, to ensure that they currently meet agreed operational standards.

Phase 2

  • Subject to the successful deployment of Phase 1 the trial activity will be extended to a further ten depots:
  • Basingstoke
  • Cambridge
  • Stoke
  • Deeside
  • Lincoln
  • Oxford
  • Inverness
  • Poole
  • Leicester
  • York
  • Given the potential timescales involved preparation for familiarisation training and deployment will commence at the 10 additional trial sites and will be overseen by the JWG, while the Phase 1 activity at the existing sites is underway
  • Once the JWG is confident that the necessary arrangements have been completed deployment dates for each site can be agreed
  • Deployment at each site will include all routes, including Owner Driver routes

To enable inclusion of additional depots however the department has insisted that any extension to the trial activity can only take place subject to certain criteria being met, i.e.:

  • Each site has sufficient Broadband to support the program
  • Each site has a CWU Representative.

Colleagues will also note that prior to any extension of the trial a full review of the current OD routes at the additional sites will take place to ensure that they meet agreed operational standards.

Equally, a National breakdown on the number of Leave Reserves across the depot network will also take place to assess and address the current number of Leave Reserves at each depot and whether this matches the 1:7 criteria. The breakdown will also assess whether any Leave Reserves are performing in the capacity of a Reserve of if they are covering a route on a permanent basis.

A copy of the Joint Statement is attached for the information of Branches and representatives which provides full details of how the trial is to be progressed.

It should be clarified that there is no agreement for the use of the REX programme outside of the terms of the attached Joint Statement, i.e. the existing and additional trial extension sites, which are listed in the attached Joint Statement. You are therefore requested to notify the department immediately if you become aware of any activity taking place at any other sites in relation to the REX trial.

Any deployment of the REX system beyond the scope of this Joint Statement and the roll out of the new PDA’s will be subject to discussion and agreement at National level.

Any enquiries in relation to this LTB should be addressed to Davie Robertson, Assistant Secretary, email: dwyatt@cwu.org or shayman@cwu.org quoting reference number: 132.07.

Yours sincerely

Davie Robertson

Assistant Secretary