A
Royal Mail project to build an advanced automated international
mail sorting office near Heathrow is over budget and behind
schedule because of a series of technical problems.
The new
centre is due to handle all international mail into and out of the
UK and replace nine separate sorting centres. However, the core
technology from supplier Siemens Dematic has consistently failed
performance tests.
Operations
at the centre were scheduled to begin in January 2002. The Royal
Mail now hopes it will start accepting mail on a “phased” basis in
October and go fully live in late 2004.
The
original budget of £150m for the centre and a further £156m for
staff relocation and redundancies and for changes to the Royal
Mail’s operations network has now risen to £367m.
A
spokeswoman for Royal Mail denied the Siemens Dematic technology
was flawed but admitted there had been “refinements” to the
technology and further refinements were being undertaken.
“There
have been problems with the technology in acceptance testing but
that doesn’t mean the technology isn’t working,” she said, adding
that Royal Mail had “absolute” faith in the Siemens
technology.
However,
it was “not up to the standards we need to meet customer
expectations”, she said.
The Royal
Mail attributed delays to the complexity of the project. “This is
the most technically advanced mail centre in the world - or at
least it will be when it’s finished,” the spokeswoman said. “There
have been delays. It’s not about a quick fix - this is about
investing in the future.”
A spokesman for the Communication Workers Union (CWU), which
represents Royal Mail staff said, “We always warned them that it
would be difficult to achieve, but they were completely confident."