TNT

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TNT

TNT Express, the world’s leading business-to-business express carrier needed a document management system and were keen that as a business critical system, it would be held in-house. TNT worked in partnership with Fujitsu to develop a document management solution (DMS) which has dramatically shortened customs clearance processes, and will save an estimated £1.2m per year of paper handling and storage costs.

The Challenge

TNT Express is the world’s leading business - to - business express carrier. It has a clear focus on being the fastest and most reliable provider of express delivery services worldwide. Many of the packages carried by TNT each day require clearance through customs.

The process involves a variety of paperwork ranging from a simple description of content to a commercial invoice. On average there are 3.7 pieces of paper per consignment. One of the risks is that papers can get separated from parcels and if they arrive late or are misplaced this can delay delivery. TNT realised that if it could electronically forward paperwork ahead of a parcel it could not only minimise the risk of losing paperwork, it could speed up the whole process when the associated freight actually arrived. Simon Chambers, Senior Account Manager, Operations, works within the Information Systems Department that serves the TNT business units.

“We decided to start looking for a document management solution (DMS). We considered outsourcing but decided that as this was going to become one of our business critical systems we had to have it in-house. As DMS is not one of our core areas of expertise we knew that we would need a partner. We had a clear vision that the solution would have to be scalable, to allow for a growth in processing capacity; and flexible enough to cope with changes in document types. It would have to be easy for us to manage and have a look and feel that would be familiar for users. It would also need to operate over our corporate network so that we could ensure security.”

The Solution

After a competitive tender process, Fujitsu was awarded a contract to supply integrated services and project management based on a DMS solution by Meridio, a Fujitsu partner.

“We liked Fujitsu’s approach,” Simon Chambers commented. “We were impressed with the effort members of the team put in and how quickly they learnt the issues of our business and understood what we were trying to achieve. We were convinced that Fujitsu’s proposal to bring the solution in-house would reduce costs in the long term. It was also scalable as we could add more DMS hardware to our network.”

TNT decided to call the solution the Pre Arrival Clearance System (PACS). The system supports the scanning of paperwork at the collection depot into an electronic format, which can be sent ahead to TNT staff at the destination, whilst parcels are being transported. The solution provides resilience and high service availability within a small footprint. Fujitsu worked with TNT’s infrastructure experts to integrate the new DMS with other business critical systems so that it became part of an existing business process. Application testing was conducted in August 2002; a pilot was launched in September and full roll out to all locations took place in November.

The Benefits

“PACS is another example of our ability to extract time from processes,” said Simon Chambers. “We will eliminate the risk of lost or late paperwork and shorten the customs clearance process by four to eight hours. This could make a difference of a day in delivery time to some destinations. This will give us a clear advantage, keep our existing customers satisfied, attract new ones and sustain business growth. At the same time we will be reducing paper handling, facsimile and storage costs estimated at £1.2 million per year. As we will gradually take over management of the system over three years, our contractual costs will go down each year. Workloads have been redistributed as our airport based staff will be able to process paperwork continuously with no sudden rush when flights land. We also have much better audit tracking. This has all been achieved with minimal staff training.”

TNT will be able to continue improving customer service because of the way it has integrated the solution on its global network. The company will develop in-house skills through knowledge transfer from Fujitsu so that it can develop further functionality based around customer self-service and proof of delivery. Future enhancements will all be at low incremental cost.

The Expertise

TNT began an internal needs analysis and cost justification in late 2000. This was followed by the tendering process and discussion with several potential partners. By Christmas 2001 TNT had final prices and selected Fujitsu. A contract was signed in April 2002 and implementation work began immediately. Fujitsu designed and built the system, which was installed in the TNT data centre and Fujitsu began handing over to a small group of TNT staff. Both partners worked on the design and delivery of user workshops. Users call the existing TNT helpdesk with any issues and Fujitsu provides third line professional support.

“Fujitsu had experience of developing and implementing large scale projects on a global basis and they had specific DMS experience. Their expertise was one of the things that convinced us,” said Simon Chambers.