APC Overnight has invested over GBP 1/4 million in extending its existing facilities and purchasing additional high-tech equipment for its National Sortation Centre at Essington near Wolverhampton. Following a sustainable construction approach, the new hub developments boast a new football-pitch sized mezzanine floor (80 X 30 metre) giving a 50 per cent larger sorting area, with five specially designed lifts that transport parcel cages to the mezzanine in less than 40 seconds. The investment has boosted APC Overnight’s capability and will offer significant improvements in customer service during peak times.

With the additional resources, APC Overnight is able to streamline and accelerate its sorting processes by allocating distinct areas for each type of business. This includes a dedicated section called the M Sort area for the 10,000 parcels a night the hub handles for local Midlands destinations. This streamlined method of specialised sortation also improves the capacity of the main sorting systems.

“This investment allows us to create a dedicated area for MailPacks and CourierPacks, which makes perfect sense for the entire operation. These consignments are often the most time sensitive, so now we can segregate them on arrival and take them straight up to the mezzanine to be processed,” says Ivor Skinner, APC Overnight Director.

The Security Freight System is now also based on the new mezzanine and this handles valuable items such as laptops. These items travel in separate sealed cages, isolated from other traffic, and are hand scanned using an innovative camera-based system on arrival before being sorted and resealed into cages for delivery.

In addition to the mezzanine extension, APC Overnight has also installed a massive 1,400 square metre weatherproof canopy over its unloading bays. This offers maximum protection for parcels and staff in all weather conditions making it easier to operate in the hot sun or during the heaviest rain storms.

“In adverse weather we used to have to stop unloading vehicles, so the search was on for a solution! We selected a German company who designed and constructed the new roof. This was a challenging project as the canopy spans a huge area and had to be free of vertical supports so that vehicles and staff could move around freely. The company also had to ensure that the structure was lightweight yet flexible enough to withstand extreme windy conditions,” says Mike Dewick, APC General Manager.