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21
Mailroom furniture
Neopost meets mail
collection challenge
Valumail delivers for CMS
Manchester Metropolitan University
(MMU) is the largest campus-based
undergraduate university in the UK.
It has two campuses – one in central
Manchester close to the city centre
and another 36 miles away in Cheshire
– and a total student population of
more than 37,000.
Each year, academic and
administrative staff receive nearly
200,000 letters and parcels, which the
central mail team would deliver to
academic buildings and staff offices.
In order to reduce costs and make
better use of its resources, the facilities
department decided to replace mail
deliveries to people’s desks with self-
collection from a post-room in each of
CMS Network London (CMS), a provider of
professional document distribution and
delivery services, has relocated to larger
premises in Bermondsey, South London.
A co-founder of The Delivery Group, a
top three operator in the industry and the
only provider of an integrated end-to-end
mail delivery service, CMS meets the needs
of businesses in all sectors that still have a
requirement to distribute hard copy documents.
Its new premises are made up of three linked
buildings designed for the efficient, high speed
flow of incoming and outgoing postal and
courier material. The design facilitates seamless
overnight deliveries of tens of thousands of
items across London via a dedicated fleet of
satellite-tracked vans and uniformed drivers.
Efficient workflow is supported by specialist
mailroom fittings and furniture fromValumail,
made in the UK with health and safety and
personal comfort in mind.
Core products include:
n
Wire sorting frames
– 1.8 metres, high
heavy duty, adjustable and plastic-coated;
n
Tables
– available in two lengths (1.5 and
1.8 metres) and two heights (750 and 900mm),
with a smart yet practical impact-, scratch- and
moisture-resistant light grey finish; and
n
Sealed pouches
– several hundred tough,
vivid orange, re-usable, sealed courier pouches.
CMS Managed Mail is a one-stop-shop
solution with a bespoke billing system for all
mail and courier requirements. It offers blue–
chip clients guaranteed cost savings and peace-
of-mind by removing the need for franking
equipment and freeing up costly office space
and staff time.
CMS attained ISO 9001 and 14001
accreditation in tandem with its Ofcom licence
granted in 2005.
the University’s eight faculties.
The new arrangement was first
implemented in MMU’s newly built
Faculty of Business and Law, part of the
University’s £350 million investment in
buildings and facilities.
Assistant Facilities Manager for Mail
LeeWillcocks asked Neopost to create
a design for the self-collect mailroom,
which would need to be secure and
include racked space for both letters and
parcels.
He said: “The Faculty of Business and
Law was nearing completion and we
needed to install the self-collect post
room in the new building as soon as
possible. As we have a good relationship
with Neopost, we asked them what they
could propose.”
Following a site visit and consultation,
Neopost created a computerised 3D
image of the proposed design and
specified furniture with extra strong steel
frames and hard-wearing, laminated
worktops to withstand heavy use.
Staff access the mailroom using a
key card-based secure entry system and
retrieve letters and small parcels from
their post trays. Larger parcels are placed
beneath the racking unit and a note
placed in the recipient’s in-tray.
Since the initial installation,Willcocks
has rolled out the mail collection service
to other faculties across the University.
“We now have 13 self-collect
mailrooms across the University’s
campuses, which has led to improved
efficiency in terms of costs and
human resources. Following the initial
installation, I have designed the
layouts for the subsequent collection
points myself. It’s quite easy and
straightforward using Neopost’s
templates,” he said.
Staff access
the mailroom
using a card-
based secure
entry system
Find your comfort level
Work-related back pain is reaching endemic levels in the UK,
with 12.3 million days lost each year due to back pain and
injuries. To ease the problem for mailroom staff, Neopost
has brought out electronically height-adjustable tables that
can be set at the optimum height
for each worker at the touch of a
button. Specifically designed to
support the stable and comfortable
operation of franking machines,
address printers and folder inserters,
the tables allow staff to switch
between a sitting and standing
position.
