Quality management and competition in the parcel delivery industry - Essay Example

Conveyor belts and packet sorting machines were pressed into service in big cities by parcel management companies by the time of World War II. Now parcel delivery management too grown from a one based on simple modal operations to a series of complex computer aided and monitored systems. Parcel Management has undergone a lot of experimentation and evolution in more than century of its existence. There was a time when parcel delivery management was based on two simple linear functions of fast delivery at as low a price as possible.

Jim Casey, the founder of UPS used the slogan: "Best Service and Lowest Rates." (www.ups.com) .Now the parcel delivery companies offer a choice of multiple speeds of delivery that vary in direct proportion to the cost of delivery. The higher the speed of delivery, higher is the transportation cost. Parcel companies advertise in advance about the exact timings at which time bound parcels can be picked up so that they go into the sorting and delivery mechanism of the company at the earliest possible.

A parcel company has multiple parcel management, collection and distribution hubs that are equipped with high speed conveyors and mechanised sorting machines. In areas, where volumes of parcel are low, manual sorting and distribution is practised. The delivery and collection channels emanating from a hub are called the spokes. A large parcel delivery company has multiple hubs and spokes. To integrate land and air operations parcel management companies have established ‘air hubs’ that serve as the air ‘spokes’ of the companies.

This integration of air and land in a parcel delivery operation is also called a multi-mode activity. The hub and spoke system serves to cut down on needless road and air journeys and optimisation of operations thus saving a lot of overheads for companies. Due to pressing costs