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Tailoring parcel delivery to the modern lifestyle
Monday, March 11th, 2013
James Cartledge speaks to KEBA’s business manager Walter Gritzner about the latest innovations in the world of automated parcel terminals.

Their main rivals may have been hogging the headlines recently with rapid geographic expansion plans, but automated parcel terminal manufacturer KEBA has been making progress of its own in expanding to new market areas and developing the concept of the self-service parcel collection point further.

The Austrian company has arguably the most established global network of parcel terminals, which allow consumers to pick up their e-commerce purchases 24 hours a day from a bank of secure lockers, thanks to its work providing DHL with its network of 2,500 Packstations across Germany since 2001, along with machines in its native Austria and more recently networks in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.

After installing 400 of its “KePol” machines worldwide in 2011, the company says it installed about 250 last year, with its total installed network now numbering around 3,000 machines, and more than 250,000 individual parcel lockers.

Since January, KEBA has added an extra 5,000 square meters of manufacturing space at its site in the Industriezeile area of its home city of Linz, through a EUR 500,000 investment programme. The company has also reorganized its production so that electronics production takes place in its headquarters site in the Gewerbepark area, while the manufacturing for the terminals, along with other KEBA products like banking machines and vehicle charging stations, is focussed at the Industriezeile site.

KEBA, which currently employs about 270 people in its Austrian production activities and 806 people in total worldwide, said its reorganization leaves ample space for future expansion.

In recent years, the key innovation for KEBA in its established parcel terminal concept was making the machines modular. Operators were given the ability to install parcel terminals in any available space, using different modules of parcel lockers sized as S, M, L, XL and XXL units.

The company’s next innovations are a development of the modular concept tailored more towards smaller packages, and a new lightweight base that makes the parcel terminals more suitable for locating within indoor locations.

Dualbox
Although larger purchases such as clothing are becoming more and more popular around the world through Internet stores, the majority of items bought online are small, and sent as packets rather than parcels.


The new “dualbox” module provides double the number of lockers, catering to small packagesKEBA has now developed a module for its KePol parcel terminal system that caters specifically to this tendency for e-commerce purchases to be small. Offering smaller lockers, the new “dualbox” module contains 26 lockers compared to the usual 10.

The manufacturer suggests that effectively, this could mean postal and logistics operators getting more value for their investment – optimising the ratio between floorspace (i.e. location rental costs) and the total number of lockers available.

“Our research showed that among others, two interesting trends are pushing the increase in small parcels,” says Walter Gritzner, the head of KEBA’s KePol Logistics Solutions unit.

“On one hand, big online retailers – especially those in China – are reducing shipping costs so what before was sent in bulk is now sent in smaller separate shipments. On the other hand, retailers seem to be trying to reduce their packaging use, such as Amazon’s ‘Frustration Free Packaging’, which also leads to smaller parcels.”

“Even though KePol offers ultimate flexibility in number and size of the compartments to almost totally cover the specific parcel traffic of every location, there was room for optimization in case of smaller parcels,” Gritzner says, adding that a doubling of the number of compartments for the same footprint would mean “significantly” helping customers reduce their total cost of operation.

There is some additional cost in opting for the dualbox module instead of a standard module, but Gritzner says that with a 50% higher cost for the module, doubling the number of lockers still offers better value for small packages.

As with its standard modules, KEBA says its new dualbox module does come with the same security features including the integrated alarm system, KePol LockSecure.

Indoor location
The other new development for KEBA terminals reflects the increasing desire by operators to place automated parcel terminals as conveniently as possible for consumers to fit in with their busy lifestyles.

While the original model for the KEBA parcel terminal was an outdoor machine where customers could access their parcels 24 hours a day, the company has now come up with a lighter-weight steel foundation for its KePol machine that allows for indoor installations.

It means parcel terminals no longer have to be out on the street, but can be fitted within shopping malls, convenience stores and post offices, where retailers can benefit from increased foot traffic, and consumers can collect their parcels while they shop.

Gritzner says KEBA’s original system had a “strong focus” on being “truly outdoor-proof machines” from the beginning, with its 10-year lifespan and tolerance of extreme temperatures and weather. But he says the company is now seeing growing demand for indoor installations, with the steel foundation a response to that demand.

He says along with the lighter weight, the new steel foundation also comes with the added benefit of making installation easier and means there are fewer environmental and regulatory requirements for locating a parcel terminal.

“With our customers, the ratio between outdoor and indoor machines is roughly 80:20 so the main focus is still on the outdoor area,” he reveals. “Nevertheless optimising the product for indoor use could open important new opportunities.”

Market competition
“For the customer who sees parcel terminal networks as a strategic asset, building up the infrastructure makes sense”It’s been a big year for automated parcel terminals, with the technology expanding from its origins in Europe to as far as the Americas and the Far East.

Gritzner says Europe is still “by far” the most developed world region for parcel terminals, but notes that “the word has spread” worldwide. KEBA is now involved in pilot projects in the United States and China, attracting interest from postal and logistic companies there.

Many of the headlines in the last 12 months have been made by some of KEBA’s rivals in the parcel terminal sphere, most notably Poland’s InPost, which has ambitious plans to roll out 16,000 parcel terminals in Europe over the next few years, and has also won key contracts testing out machines as far afield as Australia and Chile.

Gritzner says InPost differs from KEBA in that it tends to lease parcel terminals rather than sell them.

“It is true that our main competitor came up with a totally different business model, taking much of the burden of investment from the customer, which surely attracts some companies, and this approach is being taken seriously by us,” he revealed.

“In the end the discussion about which business model to choose is very similar to the question of whether to buy a house or rent it. For the customer who understands parcel terminal networks as a strategic asset, building up the infrastructure totally makes sense, since that is the only way to be 100% in control and be able to shape the system to whatever requirements they have, and be quickly and easily able to adapt to changing markets and customer demands.”

InPost is currently claiming to have installed 3,400 parcel terminals worldwide, compared to KEBA’s 3,000, and the Polish company certainly has plans to expand considerably further.

But Gritzner says KEBA will continue with its own approach to the market, emphasizing quality and reliability with the customisation the modular nature of the KePol machine allows.

“KEBA will stick to its values, providing our customers the best solution for their specific requirements, outstanding quality, reliability, support and consulting, and therefore safeguarding the investment and provident them a leading edge with regard to their competitors,” he says.

Source: James Cartledge, Post&Parcel

Tags: B2C parcels, ecommerce, KEBA, parcel terminals

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