Merkle develops logistics apps for Swiss Post
To support and accelerate the workload and for accurate tracking, Merkle has developed five smartphone apps for delivery for Swiss Post.
200 million parcels are sent in Switzerland every year - at peak times, that's one million a day. The delivery of parcels, letters and other deliveries is handled by Swiss Post's 20,000 delivery staff. The logistics process behind this is complex and time-consuming: routes have to be planned, shipments scanned and their status recorded, and delivery locations recorded.
With the help of digital solutions, Swiss Post wanted to make its employees' work easier and track the status of shipments more accurately - even when problems arise, for example, because recipients have moved. The company wanted a digital redesign of its acceptance and delivery processes.
The Swiss Post has been working closely with the full-service agency Merkle on various topics for eight years and therefore also commissioned the digital experts for this project. Merkle designed and implemented a customized solution for Swiss Post - in close cooperation with its developers. The agency relied on Scrum as an agile working method. With dailies, sprint reviews and retrospectives, flexible solutions could be created quickly and reliably.
Five smartphone apps
Merkle realized five efficient smartphone apps for Swiss Post, all of which are already in use. Each of them is intended for a specific purpose and step in the delivery process:
"Tovo" records all shipments and sorts them. This allows the delivery tour to be optimally prepared and the car to be loaded more precisely. More parcels fit inside, which saves distances and CO₂. Deliverers use "Zust" during the tour. They use it to record the delivery location, such as the place of residence or post office box. With "Back," employees scan shipments in bulk mode and store information on their status. The special app "MWGL" is used by a postal service provider to pick mailboxes.
The apps are designed to support and accelerate the postal service's workload and enable accurate tracking. They should provide a comprehensive overview of all processes and make delivery problems visible.
Further applications are being planned, according to Merkle.
