Skip to main content

Advertisement

Advertisement

New pilot scheme to streamline delivery of goods to malls

SINGAPORE — A new high-tech method to coordinate deliveries and reduce congestion at malls has helped to shave average waiting time by 70 per cent for drivers loading and unloading goods.

The facade of Bedok Mall. TODAY file photo

The facade of Bedok Mall. TODAY file photo

Follow TODAY on WhatsApp

SINGAPORE — A new high-tech method to coordinate deliveries and reduce congestion at malls has helped to shave average waiting time by 70 per cent for drivers loading and unloading goods.

The pilot of this In-Mall Distribution scheme was done at Tampines Mall and Bedok Mall in June and September respectively. A dock scheduler and a queue management system were used to allow logistics companies to book specific timeslots to deliver goods to the malls. Operators were stationed within the unloading bays at each mall to receive and consolidate deliveries from suppliers before distributing to retailers. 

This resulted in average waiting time being cut from 24 to seven minutes.

In the past, the delivery personnel had to take or transport the goods to the shops and wait for retailers to verify the items, resulting in congestion, long idle periods and delivery lead times. 

This new scheme is managed by the Info-comm Media Development Authority (IMDA, formerly IDA and MDA), enterprise development agency Spring Singapore, and CapitaLand Mall.

IMDA is also working with Internet of Things (IoT) firm, Ascent Solutions, to develop smart locks that track goods at their source, allowing for a seamless handing-over process and minimising the need for recipients to verify the order by counting piece by piece. 

About 10 per cent of retailers in both malls are now taking part in the pilot, which will be expanded to Bukit Panjang Plaza, IMM Building, JCube and Westgate from January next year. 

For these four malls, goods to be delivered will first be sent to the same off-site consolidation centre, before being transported to the respective malls based on a schedule indicated by the participating retailers.

If the In-Mall Distribution scheme is run at all malls here, the efficiency in truck utilisation is expected to increase by 25 per cent and carbon dioxide emissions reduced by million tonnes yearly, while annual savings on manpower is projected to be about S$65 million.

The efforts to enhance the delivery of goods in recent years have led to the launch of self-collect kiosks, such as SingPost’s POPStations that allow the delivery and pick-up of items round the clock, to get around the time restrictions of courier delivery. Starmall Property Management also plans to roll out such a self-collect centre at Jurong Point sometime next year, to take advantage of its location in the vicinity of a transport node.

Read more of the latest in

Advertisement

Advertisement

Stay in the know. Anytime. Anywhere.

Subscribe to get daily news updates, insights and must reads delivered straight to your inbox.

By clicking subscribe, I agree for my personal data to be used to send me TODAY newsletters, promotional offers and for research and analysis.