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D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

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SpacePhoenix
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D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by SpacePhoenix »

Has anyone heard anything about how the D+4 product will actually be implemented, ie who'll run what and at what time? I would have thought that the DSA will have to be run after the Plan 1 has finished being run. Only then could the wave 2 walk sort/sequencing be run
paulus103
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by paulus103 »

Is this the wholesale thing?
Last I heard they were still working on how it would work.
They are restarting machines in offices where previously they were turned off or had transferred the operators to mail centres.
I was only in 1 of the meetings but I got transferred and this was about 6 weeks ago so I'd expect more has been sorted out
I vaguely remember a deadline of June for getting it all sorted
SpacePhoenix
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by SpacePhoenix »

paulus103 wrote:
08 May 2021, 15:14
Is this the wholesale thing?
Last I heard they were still working on how it would work.
They are restarting machines in offices where previously they were turned off or had transferred the operators to mail centres.
I was only in 1 of the meetings but I got transferred and this was about 6 weeks ago so I'd expect more has been sorted out
I vaguely remember a deadline of June for getting it all sorted
I've heard that the "mothballed" CSS machines have been cannibalised so much that they can never be brought back into use, so if it's going to rely on extra CSS machines then RM are going to have to buy some new ones
Steve_claret
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by Steve_claret »

Its called DTS - Delivery To Specification and it will be batch sorted with the DSA mail in the MC.
DTS mail which is not due delivery the next day will be sorted to 2 dedicated stackers on the CSS and then stored in the MPU overnight and then rerun the following day. It will only be sequenced to a walk when there are other items for the same delivery point.
SpacePhoenix
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by SpacePhoenix »

Steve_claret wrote:
09 May 2021, 17:27
Its called DTS - Delivery To Specification and it will be batch sorted with the DSA mail in the MC.
DTS mail which is not due delivery the next day will be sorted to 2 dedicated stackers on the CSS and then stored in the MPU overnight and then rerun the following day. It will only be sequenced to a walk when there are other items for the same delivery point.
Unless every batch gets changed to cut down on the number of DPs and/or walks on each batch, that ain't going to happen. There's no spare stackers on any batch, all 19 are needed (stacker 20 obviously being the rejects/overflow stacker). It might mean that every batch needs cutting down by a 1/3 in DPs and I'm not sure that we'd have enough space on our iLSMs for the extra selections needed. Having extra batches kept waiting to be done next to the machine is also not an option as the space next to the machines (at the end), is already in use. Moving what's currently being done next to the CSS isn't an option as there's no free space to move it to

Unless the CSS machines get reprogrammed it'll have to chuck them out on the 2nd pass as the CSS machine won't know which DPs already have got mail.

It won't be able to be run again on wave 2 as most of wave 2 will have been run by the time the iLSMs have finished running plan 1.
paulus103
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by paulus103 »

SpacePhoenix wrote:
08 May 2021, 19:50
paulus103 wrote:
08 May 2021, 15:14
Is this the wholesale thing?
Last I heard they were still working on how it would work.
They are restarting machines in offices where previously they were turned off or had transferred the operators to mail centres.
I was only in 1 of the meetings but I got transferred and this was about 6 weeks ago so I'd expect more has been sorted out
I vaguely remember a deadline of June for getting it all sorted
I've heard that the "mothballed" CSS machines have been cannibalised so much that they can never be brought back into use, so if it's going to rely on extra CSS machines then RM are going to have to buy some new ones
Talking to engineers on Friday they took engineering staff out of offices and now they need to send engineering staff back to the same offices - this is proving problematic he said but didn't elaborate.
paulus103
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by paulus103 »

SpacePhoenix wrote:
09 May 2021, 20:40
Steve_claret wrote:
09 May 2021, 17:27
Its called DTS - Delivery To Specification and it will be batch sorted with the DSA mail in the MC.
DTS mail which is not due delivery the next day will be sorted to 2 dedicated stackers on the CSS and then stored in the MPU overnight and then rerun the following day. It will only be sequenced to a walk when there are other items for the same delivery point.
Unless every batch gets changed to cut down on the number of DPs and/or walks on each batch, that ain't going to happen. There's no spare stackers on any batch, all 19 are needed (stacker 20 obviously being the rejects/overflow stacker). It might mean that every batch needs cutting down by a 1/3 in DPs and I'm not sure that we'd have enough space on our iLSMs for the extra selections needed. Having extra batches kept waiting to be done next to the machine is also not an option as the space next to the machines (at the end), is already in use. Moving what's currently being done next to the CSS isn't an option as there's no free space to move it to

Unless the CSS machines get reprogrammed it'll have to chuck them out on the 2nd pass as the CSS machine won't know which DPs already have got mail.

It won't be able to be run again on wave 2 as most of wave 2 will have been run by the time the iLSMs have finished running plan 1.
I'm not really a machine operator yet but was told it only applied to CSS machines as the IMPS were not updatable? The problem with spare stackers was flagged up by offices/operators at the meeting I attended and top brass said we are thinking about this - that was 6 weeks ago ish.
SpacePhoenix
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by SpacePhoenix »

paulus103 wrote:
09 May 2021, 21:56
SpacePhoenix wrote:
09 May 2021, 20:40
Steve_claret wrote:
09 May 2021, 17:27
Its called DTS - Delivery To Specification and it will be batch sorted with the DSA mail in the MC.
DTS mail which is not due delivery the next day will be sorted to 2 dedicated stackers on the CSS and then stored in the MPU overnight and then rerun the following day. It will only be sequenced to a walk when there are other items for the same delivery point.
Unless every batch gets changed to cut down on the number of DPs and/or walks on each batch, that ain't going to happen. There's no spare stackers on any batch, all 19 are needed (stacker 20 obviously being the rejects/overflow stacker). It might mean that every batch needs cutting down by a 1/3 in DPs and I'm not sure that we'd have enough space on our iLSMs for the extra selections needed. Having extra batches kept waiting to be done next to the machine is also not an option as the space next to the machines (at the end), is already in use. Moving what's currently being done next to the CSS isn't an option as there's no free space to move it to

Unless the CSS machines get reprogrammed it'll have to chuck them out on the 2nd pass as the CSS machine won't know which DPs already have got mail.

It won't be able to be run again on wave 2 as most of wave 2 will have been run by the time the iLSMs have finished running plan 1.
I'm not really a machine operator yet but was told it only applied to CSS machines as the IMPS were not updatable? The problem with spare stackers was flagged up by offices/operators at the meeting I attended and top brass said we are thinking about this - that was 6 weeks ago ish.
I'm not sure that iLSMs will be updateable for it either. we already can't have all sequencing batches on our iLSMs as it times out when they upload the plans
Steve_claret
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by Steve_claret »

SpacePhoenix wrote:
09 May 2021, 20:40

Unless every batch gets changed to cut down on the number of DPs and/or walks on each batch, that ain't going to happen. There's no spare stackers on any batch, all 19 are needed (stacker 20 obviously being the rejects/overflow stacker). It might mean that every batch needs cutting down by a 1/3 in DPs and I'm not sure that we'd have enough space on our iLSMs for the extra selections needed. Having extra batches kept waiting to be done next to the machine is also not an option as the space next to the machines (at the end), is already in use. Moving what's currently being done next to the CSS isn't an option as there's no free space to move it to

Unless the CSS machines get reprogrammed it'll have to chuck them out on the 2nd pass as the CSS machine won't know which DPs already have got mail.

It won't be able to be run again on wave 2 as most of wave 2 will have been run by the time the iLSMs have finished running plan 1.
We have been told that any batch which currently has more than 17 walks will have to be changed so that 2 stackers are available on every batch plan for the DTS mail so this may mean a slight increase in the number of batches required overall. If you need to add more batches then this will mean amending the current sortplans. Also the DTS mail will be pulled out 1st pass as the software will already know which DP's are not required from the data collected when the mail was batch sorted in the MC. As for lack of space that's one for your plant manager and his team to resolve.
SpacePhoenix
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by SpacePhoenix »

Steve_claret wrote:
10 May 2021, 08:25
SpacePhoenix wrote:
09 May 2021, 20:40

Unless every batch gets changed to cut down on the number of DPs and/or walks on each batch, that ain't going to happen. There's no spare stackers on any batch, all 19 are needed (stacker 20 obviously being the rejects/overflow stacker). It might mean that every batch needs cutting down by a 1/3 in DPs and I'm not sure that we'd have enough space on our iLSMs for the extra selections needed. Having extra batches kept waiting to be done next to the machine is also not an option as the space next to the machines (at the end), is already in use. Moving what's currently being done next to the CSS isn't an option as there's no free space to move it to

Unless the CSS machines get reprogrammed it'll have to chuck them out on the 2nd pass as the CSS machine won't know which DPs already have got mail.

It won't be able to be run again on wave 2 as most of wave 2 will have been run by the time the iLSMs have finished running plan 1.
We have been told that any batch which currently has more than 17 walks will have to be changed so that 2 stackers are available on every batch plan for the DTS mail so this may mean a slight increase in the number of batches required overall. If you need to add more batches then this will mean amending the current sortplans. Also the DTS mail will be pulled out 1st pass as the software will already know which DP's are not required from the data collected when the mail was batch sorted in the MC. As for lack of space that's one for your plant manager and his team to resolve.
Our batches vary from having 12 walks to iirc 20 walks. They ALL need ALL stackers.
Steve_claret
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by Steve_claret »

SpacePhoenix wrote:
10 May 2021, 08:36

Our batches vary from having 12 walks to iirc 20 walks. They ALL need ALL stackers.
Approx 8 to 10 walks is the average per batch if they are residential walks. Batches containing rurals or firms walks can contain more due to the walks containing less DP's. The national project team will already be looking at your batches so should be fully aware of what changes will need to be made.
SpacePhoenix
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by SpacePhoenix »

Steve_claret wrote:
10 May 2021, 09:56
SpacePhoenix wrote:
10 May 2021, 08:36

Our batches vary from having 12 walks to iirc 20 walks. They ALL need ALL stackers.
Approx 8 to 10 walks is the average per batch if they are residential walks. Batches containing rurals or firms walks can contain more due to the walks containing less DP's. The national project team will already be looking at your batches so should be fully aware of what changes will need to be made.
On the whole the batches are a mix of rural, urban and firms. They can only have a maximum of 4 new batches per CSS, we don't have the room for more than that on our plan 1 on our iLSMs. Average walks per batch is about 12-16 walks. They might be able to get 1 stacker on the CSSs freed up if they're lucky, there's no way in hell that they'll ever get 2 free stackers. A good few of our batches are probably getting very near the limit for DPs as it is so they need to allow room for more merged batches.
SpacePhoenix
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by SpacePhoenix »

Don't know about other MCs but I've heard that we won't be doing it. Probably a good part down to RM would have to buy some brand new CSS machines from Solystic if they wanted to implement it.
Celgar
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by Celgar »

Wouldn't it be better to run it like the old 'dead mail' concept we had years ago? In other words just carry on as we are but if at the delivery office if there is only one item of DSA in the slot for an address we leave it until there is more mail next day?
The views I express here are mine alone and do not represent the views of Royal Mail Group.
SpacePhoenix
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Re: D+4 How's it actually going to be implimented?

Post by SpacePhoenix »

Celgar wrote:
16 May 2021, 11:50
Wouldn't it be better to run it like the old 'dead mail' concept we had years ago? In other words just carry on as we are but if at the delivery office if there is only one item of DSA in the slot for an address we leave it until there is more mail next day?
How did that work with packets?