DHL 1999 Annual Report Download - page 50

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Mail
55
Corporate Division
54
By using state-of-the-art
technology w e achieve transit
times unparalleled by other
European service providers.
Today, approximately 85 percent of all standard letters
we handle are processed by automated systems, com-
pared to some 80 percent in 1998.
Our dynamic transport planning system accommo-
dates the rapid growth seen in the direct mail field
and the increasingly flexible deployment of transport
vehicles. Using this system, we were able to reduce our
daily night-time airmail tonnage by approximately ten
percent in 1999. Our transport costs fell markedly as a
result. Handling expenses will also be trimmed since
loading and unloading activities at the airports have
been reduced correspondingly.
We were also able to improve our IT systems substan-
tially in 1999. Thanks to the introduction of a coding
and sorting software that is unique in the world to date,
our mail sorting centers can now adjust their flow of
operations online. It is also possible to automatically
“reroute” the mail of customers who have moved to a
new address, making it possible to deliver their mail
without any delay, even if it was mailed using the old
address.
The outlook – Launch of new products and serv-
ices and the introduction of new technologies
The year 2000 will be shaped by growing competition in
Germany and abroad. Our efforts to expand our market
position will revolve primarily around increasing
customer satisfaction,optimizing processes,introducing
innovative full-service products and launching new
offerings in the advertising market and the e-Business
field.
In the Direct Marketing business segment, we plan to
develop customized products on the basis of extensive
customer need analyses.Special attention will be paid in
the future to developing corresponding package solu-
tions in the Mail,Logistics and Direct Marketing areas.
Inaugurated in February 2000, our Trust Center was set
up to meet the special needs involved in written commu-
n
ication in e-Commerce and electronic transactions in
the Internet. Trust centers serve as validation and de-
positary offices for “signatures”used for effecting payment
transactions in the Internet. Deutsche Post World Net’s
Trust Center is operated in accordance with the stringent
standards laid down by Germany’s Digital Signature Act.
The introduction of the Euro is necessitating changes in
our franking procedures. It also presents an opportu-
nity to streamline and standardize these procedures to
enable the use of optoelectronic OCR systems in the
future. Modern electronic equipment will also be intro-
duced among most of our customers who use franking
machines.Deutsche Post is pushing this introduction of
new technologies because we will benefit from the
increasing accuracy of these new systems. The use of
new technologies in the mail sorting area will also help
increase overall productivity and quality.
Working together with Royal Mail, Pitney Bowes and
Neopost, Deutsche Post has developed and tested an
entirely new standard for the interface between the
sender and the post office in its REMPI (REengineering
the Mailer Post Interface) project, further confirming
our role as Europe’s technological pacesetter.