Swiss post orders 100 self-service scales from Bizerba/Pesa

Post Expo 2010: The solutions provider from Balingen is lending the implementation of the "Post beim Partner" ("Post at the partner") concept a helping hand

Balingen/Zürich, 20th September 2010 – Swiss Post, the Swiss postal service, has contracted Bizerba/Pesa for the delivery of 100 self-service scales for its "Post at the Partner" concept. These scales will enable customers in the so-called "postal agencies" to weigh and frank their letters and parcels themselves.

As communication activities are increasingly shifting to the virtual world thanks to emails, text messages and online banking, Swiss Post has recorded considerable volume decreases at its counters. Many post offices are no longer proving to be profitable, which in turn leads to shorter and, for the customers, unattractive opening hours.

Against this background, the Post will examine around 420 locations until the end of 2011 to see if there is an alternative to the branch located there. The post agency model in particular has proven itself: this model has been implemented in over 300 villages and quarters since the beginning of 2007. The self-service scales are one of the core elements of "Post at the Partner".

"The customer can weigh a letter or parcel, determine its size and print out a franking barcode by simply pushing a few buttons. This will then be paid for at the till of the agency partner, in most cases a retailer, which have long opening hours", explains Reto Gianotti, Director Sales Logistic at PESA Waagen AG.

Everyone's a winner with the postal agencies: the customers still have a local post office and profit from service range of the partner when they send their letters and parcels. The infrastructure in villages and quarters is strengthened and the agency partner adds a second string to their main business, which in turn enables the partner to use synergies. In order to further ensure a higher quality of service, Swiss Post trains the agency staff, who are, just like postal staff, sworn to postal secrecy, in their new tasks and supports them during the start-up phase. "We are happy to be able to use our technologies to make a small contribution to the preservation of a modern, all-encompassing postal service", continues Gianotti.

Reliably weigh your parcels even on the highest mountain peak

The self-service scales consist of a scale platform from Bizerba's subsidiary company, Pesa, a touch screen for operator guidance and a label printer. The scales themselves are, according to Gianotti, technologically unique: "The mass encoder works by a special oscillating string technology. A string will be brought through an exciting current in a magnetic field to its own natural oscillation. During the weighing process, the power of the object changes the tension of the string and thus changes the frequency. Using an additional string makes mass comparison possible".

A decisive advantage is that the sensors can be used around the world without having to be adjusted - independent of the local changes in gravity at different altitudes of the measuring points. "Theoretically, this technology puts Swiss Post in the position to install a self-service scale on the peak of the Jungfraujoch, 3,471 meters high, without having to go through any complicated adjustment processes", concludes Gianotti.

About PESA

PESA is a internationally successful manufacturer of weighing technologies. Along with dynamic and static weighing technologies, the company also specializes in the production of mass encoders. Above all, PESA provides OEM partners and key accounts with hybrid load receivers, static platform scales, dynamic in-motion scales and systems. The focus of the solutions portfolio is dynamic in-motion scales with special designs for logistics businesses. The mass encoders with the oscillating string technology developed and patented by PESA make it possible to use this technology in the most difficult of surroundings, regardless of gravity, as well as to implement systems for multiple range and multiple interval applications. The PESA 2 string mass encoder is based on a few, high-quality individual parts which function precisely and will not need any further service coverage for years after they have been built. PESA's five point service promise consists of customer-orientated service, on site advice, project planning, installation and service.

Pfäffikon/Zurich is the headquarters of this business, which was founded in 1972 and has around 24 employees. In 2007 PESA was incorporated into the Bizerba Group and was finally made a 100% subsidiary in 2009

About Bizerba

Bizerba is a leading, worldwide-operating Solutions-provider offering professional system solutions in scale, label, information and food service technologies, in the retail, food industry, producing and logistic segments. Sector-specific hardware and software, high-performance network-compatible management systems as well as a wide selection of labels, consumables and business services ensure transparent control of integrated business processes and high-level availability of Bizerba-specific performance features.

Worldwide, Bizerba is present in over 120 countries – with 41 shareholdings in 23 countries, as well as 54 country distributors. The company’s headquarters, with a staff of 3,000, is located in Balingen, Germany. Further manufacturing facilities are located in Meßkirch, Bochum, Vienna (Austria), Pfäffikon (Switzerland), Milan (Italy), Shanghai (China), Forest Hill (USA) and San Luis Potosi (Mexico).

For enquiries, please contact:

Bizerba GmbH & Co. KG
Claudia Gross
Director Global Marketing and Communication
Wilhelm-Kraut-Straße 65
D-72336 Balingen
Germany
Telephone +49 7433 12-33 00
Fax +49 7433 12-5 33 00
E-mail: claudia.gross@bizerba.com

nic.pr
network integrated communication
Patrick Schroeder
Coburger Straße 3
53113 Bonn
Telefon +49 228 620 43 84
Telefax +49 228 620 44 75
E-Mail: patrick.schroeder@nic-pr.de

This release was published on openPR.