Presentation by Lyall Cresswell, Courier Exchange - title: 'Innovation in the Independent Sector''. June 13th 2012, London. Courier Exchange is the leading online exchange for the express and time-definite delivery sector, with operations in the UK, Europe and USA.

1. Innovation in the Independent Sector
June 2012

2. Our Background

3. Some of the things we do…
Freight Exchange
Accreditation & Compliance management
Transaction management inc ePODs and eBilling
Subscriber management inc feedback, technology,
community & peer group advice.

4. Independent Sector in UK
Approx. 3,000 companies plus owner-
drivers offering:
 sameday,
 overnight parcels & pallets,
 international
 special services ie., refrigerated, chilled,
'white glove', technical courier,
hand carry (still!), cross dock.

5. What’s driving innovation?
 Increasing input costs & price sensitivity
 Need to differentiate in a mature, commoditised market
 Regulation
 Sustainability and CSR initiatives from clients
 Sheer availability of new innovative technologies, at an
affordable price
 Response to new market opportunities
e.g., sameday e-commerce
Two key areas for innovation:
 new or improved service offerings
 operational excellence

6. Case Studies in Innovation
New service offering - myparcelcentre.com
Operational enhancement - Delivery Direct
Regulation drives change - Mission Despatch
Plus - the coming wave of the mobile apps!

7. Micro Consolidation Centres
Business: myparcelcentre.com
Grant aided project – Technology Strategy
Board ‘Intelligent Logistics’ competition
Innovation: pilot project for ‘micro consolidation
centre’, with home delivery by electric vehicle
(or customer collects).

8. Background
Essex County Council was charged with CO2 reduction –
workshops identified consolidation centres for parcels & construction
Basildon: 2,000 B2C parcels / day, 15 – 30% first time fail rate
Abby Couriers – est 1993, £3.5m turnover. Work for all major parcel
companies as well as own clients (sameday, time definite, light haulage)

9. Deliveries – Consumer
Preferences
Delivered to home or work Delivered to consolidation centre
A substantial percentage is interested in consolidation centre pick up
399 interviewed people

10. Actions
Portal built – residents signing up, can use any carrier,
nominate the delivery point.
➪First 3 electric vehicles purchased - 500kg payload
➪Aimed at all categories – shippers, carriers, consumer
➪Discussions with carriers – ‘co-opetition’ so micro
consolidation centre can work with all carriers
➪Micro area – hoping to roll out more centres
➪Charges: £1 to consumer to collect up to 5 parcels or
£2.95 to deliver up to 5 parcels
➪Customer can select timed delivery

11. How it works?
DELIVERED TO HOME or WORK £2.95 COLLECTION
£1.00
Consumers Consumers My Parcel Centre Consumers
register for order online Informs the then login to
FREE and get a And provide the Consumers My Parcel Centre
Personal Retailer / Etailer When their goods and picks a delivery
Membership With the local have arrived by date and time to suit
ID My Parcel Centre SMS & Email their lifestyle
address for delivery
7 Days A Week
7am till Late
Abby Couriers are one of the first independent courier services
to operate Eco Friendly ELECTRIC POWERED
delivery vehicles

13. Operational Enhancement
Dual Purpose Vehicle
Business: Delivery Direct Logistics
Innovation: 4th generation dual compartment
temperature-controlled vehicle
Delivery Direct: Based Taunton, Somerset.
Provide temp controlled & ambient dedicated vehicles
Specialise in food sample and pharmaceuticals
Built in close collaboration with the manufacturer

14. A truly flexible solution
 Carries combinations of temperature-
controlled freight from -25ºC to +29ºC in
either front or rear compartments at the
same time. Movable bulkheads to
accommodate different freight sizes
 Huge flexibility to combine jobs without
compromising critical temperatures
 Reduction in carbon footprint and increase
in productivity by doing work of two vehicles
with one

15. The future
 3 more new vans being built, with further improvements
➪ 3 temperature probes in load area and 1 probe mounted externally to show
ambient temp
➪ Connected to live tracking system for live and historical data including temp
data – proves the cool chain
 Significant investment in innovation has involved some pain as the ‘guinea pig’
 Forthcoming tightening of the temperature chain in the medical and
pharmaceutical sector puts the company in excellent position for the future

16. Congestion Charge
Drives Innovation
Business: Mission Despatch
Innovation: Regulation drives
change in fleet choice
 Est 2005, £1.5m turnover, based
Brentford, West London
 Vans go into London Congestion
Charge zone every day - £45 a
week each!
 Cars emitting <100g/km of CO2
go FREE
 Began evaluation of low carbon
vehicles – Citroen v Ford Fiesta

17. Re-balancing Economics
 Reviewed need for small ply-lined vans – found central London work
could be done in low CO2 car – chose Ford Fiesta <99 g/km
 Saving £450/week with fleet of 10 Fiestas
 Plus – 7.5Tonne fleet – chose Mitsubishi Canter –
weight saving aluminum chassis – carry load of 3.5T v 2.7T
for traditional steel chassis
 Conclusion: government regulation drove change in company behaviour by
re-balancing economics, plus switchover to more innovative vehicle
manufacturers which offer higher payload capacity and fuel economy.
 http://www.couriers-london.com/

18. Mobile Apps – poised to
change the sector
Innovation: smart devices, low cost, high levels of
take-up and acceptance means an app for everyone
in the extended supply chain!
Background: recent survey of UK transporters
found that:
75% purchased their current phone within the last
two years
46% have downloaded an “app” on their
smartphone
23% use their mobile phone for social media, such
as Twitter or Facebook
So – irrespective of enterprise solutions, drivers
have ready-made, always on device!

19. The Impact of the Smartphone
Revolution
Growing number of apps for Android and iPhone,
some examples:
 Document scanning and send back to web
 Barcode scanning
 Driver hours and vehicle compliance
 Pick up requests and pricing tools - Courier
Exchange mobile app - Always on, real time
availability status, loads sent to drivers based on
geo-fenced location.

20. In Conclusion
Innovation is alive and kicking in the independent sector
Lyall Cresswell
Transport Exchange Group
BV2 The Perfume Factory
140 Wales Farm Road
London, W3 6UG
www.transportexchangegroup.com
0844 225 3500