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No winners in mail dispute
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Sept/Oct 2003
Asda expands home delivery fleet, automates picking
Asda is taking delivery of 100 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis for its national home delivery operation. They have temperature-controlled bodywork by RVL, and although owned by Asda, they are being managed under a three-year contract by VIA Solutions. Some of the new vehicles are fleet replacements, but others will expand the Asda home delivery fleet, taking it to a total of 180 vehicles. The company also operates VW LT35s, and says there is "not a lot to chose" between the two makes, but it adds that for the current order Mercedes managed to combine "a highly competitive package" with a strongly supportive approach. Asda's home delivery operation is entirely store-based, and is now run from 32 locations, handling around 9,000 orders a week. Customers have access to over 14,000 food and non-food products. To manage fulfilment, the company is using a system called GlobalTrak from Lowther UK. Customer and order details from its home shopping Web are transmitted in XML format to individual stores, then sorted for picking and optimised delivery. Symbol handheld terminals are used both in the picking operation and by drivers for delivery and signature capture. The company says the number of customer complaints has dropped by half since it put in this new system.
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