Intelligent Mail and Address Quality

1
MTAC Briefing

• Intelligent Mail and Address Quality
• August 5, 2003

IMAQ
Charles Bravo, Sr. Vice President Intelligent
Mail and Address Quality Gary Reblin, Manager
Intelligent Mail Planning and Standards
2
Agenda
Intelligent Mail and Address Quality

• Overview Charles Bravo
• Strategy
• Ongoing Activities/Accomplishments
• Code Consolidation Gary Reblin
• Letters and Flats
• Parcels and Bundles
• Unit Loads

3
Intelligent Mail Corporate Plan (Internal
Completed)
Intelligent Mail and Address Quality

• A comprehensive strategy for implementation of
  Intelligent Mail and OneCode Vision (per mail
  type)

Vision
Strategies
Program Roadmap
Vision The Postal Service and its customers
will place an information-rich
code on all mail, aggregates, and
business forms enabling end-to-end visibility
into the mail stream.
4
Intelligent Mail Strategies
Intelligent Mail and Address Quality

• Develop and Deploy Enabling Infrastructure

• Uniquely Identify Mail and Aggregates

• Enhance Address Quality

Code
5
Activities / Accomplishments
Intelligent Mail and Address Quality

• Uniquely Identify Mail and Aggregates

• Mail Technology Study Underway
• Mailer / USPS ability to convert to
• new coding symbologies
• Mail Technology Strategy Council
• USPS and industry technologists discuss the
  ramifications of new technology on the mailing
  industry
• Confirm Procedure Standardization
• Common Stakeholder Training

Code
6
Activities / Accomplishments
Intelligent Mail and Address Quality

• Develop and Deploy Enabling Infrastructure

• Award contract for Phase 1 of Mail Processing
  Infrastructure
• Upgraded Computer Wiring at 62 sites
• Phase 2 in the Spring
• Scanner Standardization
• Common specification for 17,000 Phase 3 POS
  terminals
• MDCD replacement
• Award contract for BMC Integrated Data Servers
• Collect mail piece data at BMCs

7
Activities / Accomplishments
Intelligent Mail and Address Quality

• Enhance Address Quality

• New OCR readable Change of Address (COA) form
  issued in January
• Initiative underway to make COA form more user
  friendly today frequent errors
• Ongoing initiative to increase Internet COA usage
• Lowest cost and best accuracy
• Usage is up 56 from last year
• Anticipated, over 3 million this year

ICOA
NCOA
8
Agenda
Intelligent Mail and Address Quality

• Overview Charles Bravo
• Strategy
• Ongoing Activities/Accomplishments
• Code Consolidation Gary Reblin
• Letters and Flats
• Parcels and Bundles
• Unit Loads

9
Letters and Flats
Intelligent Mail and Address Quality
2-D

• Determining capabilities for mailers and USPS to
  move to a new code
• Mail Technology Study
• Analysis of potential 4-state coding alternatives
  
• Length, characters available, error correction,
  and height
• Programs to consolidate codes
• Planet ACS (pilot by end of calendar year)
• 4-state in place of planet (pilot winter 04)
• Enabling Mail Processing Equipment
• WFOV Cameras and AFSM 100
• Read, process, and track using 2-D and 4-state

E.g., Data Matrix, PDF 417
Height Modulated
E.g., 4-State Barcode
Specific symbologies used here for illustrative
purposes only
10
Parcels and Bundles
Intelligent Mail and Address Quality

• Validation Testing for mandatory conversion to
  UCC/EAN Code 128 on Parcels
• Testing conducted at 2 BMCs (Greensboro and
  Pittsburgh)
• Mailer and postal produced labels tested
• Test also included concatanated codes
• Develop requirements and modify SSP, POS One, and
  Click-N-Ship to support new standard label
• Define Code for Bundle Tracking to support new
  Parcel and Bundle Sorter

Width Modulated
E.g., Code 128
11
Unit Loads
Intelligent Mail and Address Quality

• Replace the current tray and sack labels with an
  Enhanced Distribution Label (EDL)
• Uniquely identifies trays and sacks
• Completed in-house barcode readability testing
• Label is part of surface visibility pilot
• Developed and tested new label production
  application
• Deploying new on-demand printers for MPE
• Container placarding program testing also planned
  as part of pilot testing

12
Intelligent Mail and Address Quality
Summary

• Migrating to a One Code vision by consolidating
  existing identifiers where possible
• Many efforts underway
• Working to upgrade infrastructure to provide near
  real time information
• Identifying and upgrading infrastructure, but
  changes to infrastructure takes time
• Studying customers business needs and
  capabilities.