The transport aid that we developed for PostNL has been nominated for a Dutch Design Award 2015. Our design is an essential part in the new mail sorting process, which handles increasingly fewer letters and more and more parcels. The ISM is a multifunctional trolley, which ensures that the new mail-sorting machines can be fed the required amount of mail, while at the same time decreasing the strain on the employees. On October 24 we’ll learn if our design is bestowed with the honour of winning the Dutch Design Award.
The jury Dutch Design Awards (DDA) 2015 selected our logistical aid for PostNL as one of five nominees in the ‘product’ category. This year’s ceremony will be the 13th time that these prestigious Dutch design awards are handed out. The jury described our design as “a smartly executed solution, which ergonomically improves working conditions”.
The ISM aid sits at the centre of PostNL’s new mail sorting process. We are all very aware of the fact that the amount of sent letters decreases while at the same time the amount of
parcels increases. To efficiently cope with this shift in the incoming stream, meant investing in new sorting machines and other aids. Mail coming from these new machines has to be collected, transported and entered for sorting again. In developing the ISM, we optimized this logistical process. It ensures that there’s always enough input to be automatically sorted. The multifunctional trolley saves time in the sorting-hub’s and makes lighter work for the operators.
The ISM looks deceptively simple, but every little detail is thought out carefully. A minimal amount of moving parts ensures invulnerability, and enables the operator to easily hook the ISM onto the sorting machine. The trolleys nest compactly when not used, is emptied automatically, is ergonomically sound and very safe. An innovative addition to the caster wheels makes sure of smooth riding and even bumps or thresholds are not an obstacle anymore. During the design process our main focus was on efficiency in the logistical process and lessening the physical workload for the postal workers.
