Swiss Post has opened its regional parcel center in Buchs in Switzerland, after a 15-month planning and construction phase.
The company invested approximately CHF15m (US$15.4m) to convert the site from a warehouse to a parcel center where 175 employees will process up to 5,000 parcels an hour for the area covering greater Aarau, Lenzburg, Seetal, Suhrental and Wynental in Switzerland. The regional center is intended to enable the company to sort parcels in the region where they are to be delivered, thereby reducing transport routes. With this expansion, Swiss Post has created 60 jobs in Buchs.
Swiss Post says its spiral conveyors make optimum use of the available space as they raise the parcels to the sorting machine at a height of approximately 3m.
In addition to the parcel sorting center, Buchs is home to the delivery point for parcels. From here, the company’s mail carriers spread out across the region every day. They were previously based in Härkingen and Mägenwil. After Rümlang, Buchs is the second regional parcel center that Swiss Post has put into operation in 2022. In 2023, the company will also move the Aarau letter delivery point – along with around 100 employees – to Buchs.
In recent years, Swiss Post has invested around CHF250m (US$257m) in the expansion of its sorting and delivery infrastructure. The company has also opened regional parcel centers in Vétroz (VS), Cadenazzo (TI), Untervaz (GR) and Ostermundigen (BE). The new regional Rümlang parcel center was added to the logistics network this spring. Two more locations for parcel sorting are expected to follow in 2023: a regional parcel center in Pratteln (BL) and a parcel department within the Härkingen (SO) letter center.
Johannes Cramer, head of logistics services at Swiss Post, said, “We are delighted with the successful commissioning of the regional parcel center. It enables us to strengthen our roots in the region and continue to expand our capacity for sorting and delivering parcels. This technology is so far unique at Swiss Post. By investing in state-of-the-art technology like this, we can continue to meet the needs of our customers in the future. Because people’s needs have changed. They want to order online today and find the goods in their mailbox tomorrow. So we have to be able to process growing numbers of parcels more and more quickly. This is only possible if we and our technology are innovative.”
Dieter Egli, Buchs cantonal councilor and director of economic affairs of the Canton of Aargau, said, “Swiss Post is an attractive employer in Aargau, employing almost 2,500 people from the region. I’m delighted with the new logistics center as it means they have committed to us as a business location.”
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