02-03-2010
Brussels, 3 March 2010 — The IPC Future of Mail by Air Initiative (FoMbA) developed into a remarkable, cross-industry partnership, where posts and airlines are collaborating to successfully integrate processes and systems. The result is increased transparency, streamlined data exchange, and improved customer service and planning processes.
IPC, working together with the Universal Postal Union (UPU) and the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has developed a set of standards and technology that helps posts and airlines coordinate the exchange of key data to enable near real-time tracking of mail in transport. Using Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) messaging, posts and airlines can send and receive advance notification of expected mail volumes, which allows posts and airlines to better manage revenues and operations, meet quality targets, improve efficiency and reduce costs.
To help both industries better understand the EDI messaging process, IPC and the FoMbA participants spearheaded an effort with its partners at IATA and the UPU to create a detailed cross-industry brochure that explains the process for exchanging EDI messages, the benefits of participation and how to join the EDI community of users. The brochure provides decision-makers with key information on the benefits of using EDI messages, and it provides operations and product experts, who normally only focus on a very particular aspect of the messaging system, a broader overview of how their specific aspect of the system fits in with the overall, end-to-end visibility provided to the mailer.
“Before EDI messages were implemented, the status of airmail during transport was not readily available,” said Luc de Munck, Transport Manager for Belgian Post International. “We now know where the mail is, when and where unforeseen events occur and when the mail actually arrives at its destination.”
The close collaboration with IATA and UPU has been invaluable for IPC, the IPC members and the FoMbA participants as it is sending a strong global message to all posts and airlines that EDI is the tool to help achieve true business partnership between the industries, according to Jorgen Van Mook, responsible for coordinating the IPC Future of Mail by Air Initiative. “The increased use of EDI technology supports the integration of the postal and airline operational processes and systems,” he said. “Our goal is to provide increased visibility and automation to international mail throughout its life cycle, and to create more efficient and paper-free business processes.”
According to American Airlines manager, Terrill Richardson, “Any time we use electronic messaging to interface with government agencies, airlines and customer, it is a good thing. Not having to work with paper documents reduces errors caused by manual data entry, saves resources required for paper-based handling and expedites processing, which allows us to deliver a superior product.”
You can download a copy of the promotional and reference brochure “EDI – Providing end-to-end airmail visibility” here and read more about EDI and other IPC programs on our Web site.
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For further information, please contact:
Jorgen van Mook, Manager Operations Planning, International Postal Corporation: +32 (0)2 724 72 4, email: jorgen.vanmook@ipc.be. You can find more information about IPC's Future of Mail by Air, EDI and other IPC Services on our Web site.
About the International Post Corporation
The International Post Corporation, (IPC) is the cooperative association of 24 member postal operators in Europe, North America, and the Asia-Pacific region. Over the past 20 years, IPC has collaborated with its members to upgrade quality of mail service by developing technology systems that bring transparency to the mail processing system and delivery chain. It also manages the system for incentive-based payments between postal operators, and creates business intelligence for its members, by providing a range of platforms for member CEOs and senior management to exchange best practices, discuss strategy, and engage in industry research.