Sandd leads the way with new sorting module from HintTech

30 September 2008 - In just seven years, newcomer Sandd has grown into the second biggest postal company in the Netherlands. Sandd stands out from its competitors by presorting the address file of the mail to be delivered in a highly efficient way. This efficiency drive is the reason for Sandd’s swift success. With the new version of HintTech’s sorting module Sandd can now organise the logistical process even more intelligently and is ready for further growth.

In just seven years Sandd has grown from 14 million to around 400 million items of mail per year. 12,500 delivery staff deliver the mail twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays, with 100% coverage of the Netherlands. The secret of Sandd’s success lies in the smart way in which it uses ICT in the logistical process of delivering mail. That process begins with the delivery of a digital address file by the customer. This file is presorted and bundled by district and provided with a unique code containing information about the delivery day, depot and district. Sandd stands out from its competitors with this method.

“Presorting the digital address file is crucial”, says ICT manager Miquel Geelen. “That tells us exactly how big the mailshot is, how heavy the items are and hence how many pallets, delivery vans and delivery staff are needed. Thanks to this efficient approach we are able to deliver the items of mail on just two days a week, precisely on time and to the right address.” New functionalities have been introduced in the new release of the sorting module, developed by software supplier HintTech, and a number of existing functionalities have been further optimised.

Besides the new sorting module, HintTech has also expanded the scheduling and payment module with a leave module. This shows which staff are on holiday when and when extra staff need to be hired, over the timescale of a year, so that the mail delivery does not come under pressure even during the holiday period and a mailman is always assigned to a district.

Apart from efficiency, Sandd also stands out by delivering quality. A sample of customers is telephoned to check whether the mail was delivered on time and to the right address.
With its advanced use of ICT, Sandd always succeeds in responding flexibly and dynamically to the fast-changing market. And with the new sorting module, Sandd is ready for the future.

About HintTech

HintTech is a specialist in the area of repulsor technology (.Net™, Java™ platform, Tridion) and IT projects. The company was founded in 1997 and employs innovative and proven technologies and methodologies to develop high quality customised solutions for its clients. HintTech is both a consulting and an executive partner for Tridion, Microsoft, Sun J2EE™ and IBM WebSphere. HintTech counts Shell, Nuon, Fortis, ING and KLM among its clients. HintTech currently employs 113 staff and has offices in Delft, San Francisco and Novi Sad (Serbia). For more information, see www.hinttech.nl.