Walk sequencing machines

[markis]

We will be getting walk sequencing machines in our office next year. We've been told that F/T jobs are safe but I don't think so CWU rep says they will be because F/T will prep P/T duties but I can't see how as the machine will run everything up and we will no longer have the RM2000 Frame fittings. do management know what the expected outcome of automation will be and are they just keeping stum about it.

Markis

[kwf166]

We will be getting walk sequencing machines in our office next year. We've been told that F/T jobs are safe but I don't think so CWU rep says they will be because F/T will prep P/T duties but I can't see how as the machine will run everything up and we will no longer have the RM2000 Frame fittings. do management know what the expected outcome of automation will be and are they just keeping stum about it.

Markis

I was chatting about this today, I am part time, so I suppose this will be great for me,it be nice to come in and get quickly, but what about the full timers, would there be a need for them to be in from 5/6 in the morning, when all the mail is walk sorted? I also chatted to someone in the mail centre, and she reckon, they will probably reduced the hours of full timers, I can see trouble ahead at royal mail

[guvenor]

walk seq machines put back until 2010 anyone else heard this
apparently cant justify money spent on them until p/t = f/t 50/50
rem it only saves 10-20 min time on duties

[TrueBlueTerrier]

We will be getting walk sequencing machines in our office next year. We've been told that F/T jobs are safe but I don't think so CWU rep says they will be because F/T will prep P/T duties but I can't see how as the machine will run everything up and we will no longer have the RM2000 Frame fittings. do management know what the expected outcome of automation will be and are they just keeping stum about it.

Markis

The Frames will not go as the walk sequencing machines cant handle flats or anything not of a near standard size. The idea is that time is saved because you do not have to go from the top of the frame to the bottom all the time. The walk sequenced mail will be presented in the blue boxes and you save time by putting the mail into the frame in long runs.

Senior Management had already made their mind up that these walk sequencing machines would work perfectly wherever they are, and local Management always let Senior Management make any decision they want, and then they are left to implement it, so your Manager will have about as much an idea of how this will affect FT PT jobs as we do at the moment. In effect the Management structure in RM to me is based on not questioning the decisions made by people higher in the chain, but just to implement it come hell or high water.

[dvbuk55]

Anyone who has ever worked on an RM 2000 knows it is quicker than the old 56/64 box frames. After a couple of weeks it is like the mail is walksorted because you are throwing off by rote and barely need to look at the frame at all, which brings me to the point I have always tried to make that, whilst the mail is walk sequenced, not every house is going to be represented therefore it is not going to be quicker than an experienced officer on his regular frame without walk sequenced mail - unless of course we have people who have already tested this and found it to be be faster. However when you have double slots you are still going to have to sort front and back because I am assuming that the mail will come walk sequenced by individual tray and NOT each tray sequential to the last.

[Tman]

. do management know what the expected outcome of automation will be and are they just keeping stum about it.
They know the expected cost savings, and the level of full time/part time staffing required. How else could they cost in such a large financial expenditure?



Senior Management had already made their mind up that these walk sequencing machines would work perfectly wherever they are,
And why wouldn't they? Some area's savings may be greater than others, but they'll all work.

and local Management always let Senior Management make any decision they want, and then they are left to implement it, so your Manager will have about as much an idea of how this will affect FT PT jobs as we do at the moment. In effect the Management structure in RM to me is based on not questioning the decisions made by people higher in the chain, but just to implement it come hell or high water.
Decisions like these are taken at boardroom level, so your DOM can question all he likes, but he's too far down the food chain to matter. Do you think some DOM's opinion would alter RM policy?

[TrueBlueTerrier]

. do management know what the expected outcome of automation will be and are they just keeping stum about it.
They know the expected cost savings, and the level of full time/part time staffing required. How else could they cost in such a large financial expenditure?



Senior Management had already made their mind up that these walk sequencing machines would work perfectly wherever they are,
And why wouldn't they? Some area's savings may be greater than others, but they'll all work.

and local Management always let Senior Management make any decision they want, and then they are left to implement it, so your Manager will have about as much an idea of how this will affect FT PT jobs as we do at the moment. In effect the Management structure in RM to me is based on not questioning the decisions made by people higher in the chain, but just to implement it come hell or high water.
Decisions like these are taken at boardroom level, so your DOM can question all he likes, but he's too far down the food chain to matter. Do you think some DOM's opinion would alter RM policy?

One DOM no - but if the feedback from DOMs was honest, even if I did not agree with it, it might make a difference. It would also help combat the "Them and Us" feeling between management and the shop floor. I personally have experience of a DOM saying "I don't thinks its going to work, but we have to implement it." - The rep asked "have you spoken to area" the DOM said "No its not worth it". If that's the prevalent way of thinking in RM management, its no wonder some if us think the big bosses are out of touch.

[Midge]

Over the next two years, to 2010, Royal Mail is going to introduce over 500 Walk Sequencing Machines (WSQMs) across the country. In the Mid-Yorkshire Area 3 were planned to be introduced in Bradford South Delivery Office, and 3 in Harehills Delivery Office (Leeds), in October and November this year. But this has just been shelved. There is now to be a national pilot / "trial" at Gatwick. But beginning next January, they have a contract for 6 of these machines to be introduced each week until around September 2010.

Each machine will need 3 trained operators (or 4 including reserves), who will be full-time. That’s the good news.

However, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and Royal Mail is not introducing these machines just to make all our jobs easier. They know they will make massive savings year after year from using these machines. The plan is that 3 machines will eventually sort and prep mail for 4 Delivery Offices or more, depending on their size.

The effect of these machines will be, according to Royal Mail, roughly:

• 85% of mail will be walk sorted, leaving 15% as manual (mostly packets, with other non-machineable items)

• This 85% will then be prepped by machines into delivery order, leaving 15% to be prepped manually

• Current IPS (Primary) and ISS (Secondary) manual sorting workload will be reduced by up to 2/3, or if your duty has 1.5 hours IPS per day in it now, then this could be reduced to 30 minutes

• Walk preparation workload will be reduced by around 50% per walk, or if your duty has 1.5 hours prep time per day in it now, then this could be reduced to 45 minutes

• Royal Mail's plan is to move town last letter to 3pm and rural to 4pm, Monday to Saturday. So deliveries would start around 11am at the earliest, Monday to Saturday.

Royal Mail is also introducing Flats Sorting Machines into Mail Centres, which is reducing the amount of manual sorting of flats, and so will reduce the number of duties in Mail Centres, and the amount of flats sorting IPS work in Delivery Offices.

It should be obvious that the potential effect of Walk Sequencing on duties in Delivery Offices would be to reduce the number of full-time duties, and the size of part-time contracts (more so if full-timers prep more than one walk, then part-time contracts could be reduced to doing no mprep at all). Although Royal Mail has not yet attached any savings targets to the introduction of Walk Sequencing Machines, they will do at some stage. Particularly from April 2009 onwards.

That is why it is vital that the CWU is fully involved in negotiating any changes to duties, or office revisions. So we can make sure that we defend full-time duties, as well as make sure that members are properly consulted and the and wishes of CWU members direct the negotiations around new duty patterns.

It is also vital that the CWU leadership gets its act together to push for a proper reduction in the working week, with no loss of pay. It is CWU 2008 Conference policy to campaign for a 35 hours Gross working week (i.e. a full-time 7-hour day, including paid meal reliefs). This would safeguard full-time jobs, and boost the hourly rate of pay for part-timers who might be on fewer hours in future.

At the moment the CWU has been trying to get Royal Mail to agree proper Terms Of Reference, which will spell out exactly how the CWU will negotiate with Royal Mail on any new duties package. At present, as far as I know, Royal Mail have not yet agreed to those terms.

Meanwhile, I have drawn up a list of questions that Reps and members might want to ask their managers in Strategic Involvement / Resourcing meetings or Work Time Learning sessions.

Questions on Walk Sequencing:

1. Is our office getting any Walk Sequencing machines? If so, then when?

2. If our office isn’t getting any machines, then which office will be Sequencing our mail? What affect will this have on our office?

3. What savings will Royal Mail make in our office by introducing Walk Sequencing?

4. How many Full-Time jobs will our office have after Walk Sequencing is introduced?

5. What contracted hours will a Part-Time duty have after Walk Sequencing is introduced?

6. Does Royal Mail plan to make all delivery duties Part-Time? How will Royal Mail maintain Full-Time duties?

7. What start and finish times will delivery duties have after the introduction of Walk Sequencing?

8. What about Saturday attendances? What time will duties start and finish?

9. Will our office still be open after Walk Sequencing is introduced?

10. How many Delivery Offices will Royal Mail be closing in the Bradford Area due to Walk Sequencing?

11. The CWU wants to introduce a 35 hour gross Shorter Working Week without any loss of pay. This would help maintain Full-Time jobs and Part-Time earnings levels. What has Royal Mail got to say on that?

12. Is Royal Mail negotiating with the CWU over how these machines will be used, and their affect on our duties?

And a couple of questions to ask CWU HQ:

1. What are you doing about defending full-time jobs from the effects of automation?

2. Where is the campaign for a 35-hour GROSS shorter working week? (CWU Conference policy 2008)

[Midge]

Anyone who has ever worked on an RM 2000 knows it is quicker than the old 56/64 box frames. After a couple of weeks it is like the mail is walksorted because you are throwing off by rote and barely need to look at the frame at all, which brings me to the point I have always tried to make that, whilst the mail is walk sequenced, not every house is going to be represented therefore it is not going to be quicker than an experienced officer on his regular frame without walk sequenced mail - unless of course we have people who have already tested this and found it to be be faster. However when you have double slots you are still going to have to sort front and back because I am assuming that the mail will come walk sequenced by individual tray and NOT each tray sequential to the last.

Sorry mate. But you appear to be getting the wrong impression.

ALL addresses WILL be input into the Walk Sequencing Machines' computer programme, based on A Plus information, used by the Geo-Route walk planning tool. All machineable mail for each individual address on a walk will be sorted into delivery order.

All Walk Sequenced mail will arrive at Delivery Offices in bundles sequenced into delivery order. Any un-machineable items will need sorting into prep fittings, and will then have to be added to the bundles (and letters turned for packets, etc.), but that is all the prep that will be needed.

[BELIAL]

Best start looking for new jobs then what with the mail practically delivering itself,cant live on £15 a week

[markis]

Our Office is definetly getting a Walk Sequencing machine,I have been informed it will also do the mail for at least four DO's in the area so the impact on hours and jobs will be massive. Again the RM2000 frame will disapear in our office to make way for the "machine", have not been told what type of frame will replace it. There's even talk about the future where P/T'swill not need to even come into the office because their delivery will be bagged up for them and dropped off at there delivery start point in a battery powered trolley that holds up to 180kg, you know like what they use in London, again this is about cost cutting and not common sense, because in there eyes it will save money by not getting bags dropped off and also packets ( as they will fit into the trolley) so there goes driving/conveyancing jobs, but what about getting the trolleys back to the DO and charging up of battery. Ironically managerment informed me that "there will be more F/T jobs created because of the walk sequencing machine, i.e. operating it, doing the runs to other DO's " !!!

[24601]

As the subject of Walk Sequencing is getting more critical now I've copied and pasted some info I posted last November.Things haven't changed much since then except they want to shift our hours from Midnight-8am over 5 nights to Midnight-10am over 4 nights.

They also plan to what they call "make the machines sweat" meaning push more mail from local offices through them and in the process probably kill off a couple of machine operators from sheer exhaustion.

Anyway here's the info

Here in Taunton we usually have around 12-16 trays for each batch when we start our shift at midnight.It then takes around 30 minutes to seg the trays into batches as it all arrives in yorks as mixed batches or 2 batches per york.

After that each lorry arriving from the mail centre brings one further york of 20 trays which amounts to about 2 or 3 trays for each batch.

The last lorry arrives at 7 usually carrying 2 yorks or 40 trays.We finish at 8 so obviously with a full batch of 5000 letters taking around 35-40 minutes to sequence most of this mail gets walk sorted or put on the ips to be hand sorted.

With 2 machines,if the mail arrived in 2 waves,one when we arrive and the other one around 4am we could easily sequence up to 80,000- 90,000 items per night but the problem is with the erratic arrivals from the MC.

Our reject rate is nothing like as bad as 10-15%. The bad quality of the printed bar codes is the main reason for rejects and we tend to think that using ageing LSM's in Bristol to service brand new machines in Taunton is not the brightest of ideas.

in Kirkcaldy "Apparently there is only one person staffing each machine,which is completely contrary to our agreement" - walk sort machines are staffed by one person.

The machines are not crap,just do the maths.The mail has to go through an LSM,get trayed up and loaded onto a lorry.It is then driven 50 miles to be unloaded and segged.It then takes 35-40 minutes to sequence 5000 letters giving 8 to 10 walks 1 tray of mail. This saves each delivery officer around 5 minutes prep time per tray.

Also any rejected letters which have been through a machine process 4 times ends up being sorted by hand.

[dvbuk55]

Best start looking for new jobs then what with the mail practically delivering itself,cant live on £15 a week

I hear the council are recruiting for road sweepers so you could combine the two jobs. Where would I put the brush I hear you ask: answers on a postcard to the CWU who will negotiate your terms and conditions - toilet breaks are out for starters.

[BELIAL]

Thats just daft, where would I put the lightbulbs then?

[axeman]

and when it's sequenced in the wrong place do you just deliver it to that address ? after all a machine is never wrong is it
as far as i'm concerned i'll just post it , or bring it back for next day delivery not my problem is it ? lets see the figgures after the introduction of the said super machines