How to Read
Our Annual Report
2000 Highlights
Letter from
the Postmaster General/CEO
2000 Year
in Review
Delivering
the Future
The Governors
of the Postal Service
Audit Committee
Financial
Section
How to Read
Our Financial Statements
Quick
Find index
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2000 Annual Report
- page 39 of 70
Equipment
We plan a total of $7.4 billion, or 42% of our capital spending
plan, for equipment projects. Of this, $1.3 billion is for the 2001
capital plan. By automating an increasing number of functions, we
will trim costs and improve performance. Automated equipment not
only saves work hours and associated indirect costs but also delivers
faster, higher-quality service. Our investments in automation and
mechanization are essential to our goals of strengthening our financial
viability by managing costs and increasing revenues. Automation
also allows us to gather data that we can use in future information-based
services. For example, we will be able to integrate Tray Management
Systems with the Next Generation Sorting Machine that utilizes optical
character readers and video encoding to process over 17,000 pieces
of mail per hour. We will continue to invest in the Delivery Bar
Code Sorter Input/Output Subsystem (DIOSS), a universal modification
kit that will be installed on existing Delivery Bar Code Sorters
(DBCSs) to improve the capacity, speed and accuracy in which letter
mail processing equipment reads, processes and sorts mail. We will
install the Parcel Sorter Singulator Scan Induction System on all
Bulk Mail Center parcel sorters to improve the capacity, speed or
accuracy in which parcel mail processing equipment reads, processes
and sorts mail. And our Automated Flat Sorting Machines (AFSM 100)
will improve the processing of periodicals and oversized envelopes.
Facilities
Over five years, we will spend $5.6 billion, or 32% of the capital
plan, in the expansion or construction of delivery/retail facilities,
processing and distribution facilities and building improvements.
For 2001, we will spend $1.1 billion on facilities. These improvements
are necessary to keep up with increasing population, mail volume
and changing delivery points, as well as to repair or replace aging
facilities. However, we optimize the use of our present space, to
avoid new buildings, whenever we can.
Infrastructure
Our five-year plan calls for $2.2 billion, or $13% of our
capital spending, for infrastructure projects. Of this amount,
$610 million is for 2001. Infrastructure consists primarily
of the data collection and management systems that provide
the day-to-day support necessary for our employees to perform
their work. For example, our plan contains over 50 projects
to improve our retail accounting, payroll data collection,
productivity information management, International Dispatching
systems and the network connecting our post offices.
The five largest projects in our plan include the purchase
of approximately 200 machines for our Mailing Evaluation Readability
and Lookup INstrument (MERLIN) system, which reads addresses,
verifies meter amounts, and weighs and measures the thickness
of mail. Another project, the Surface-Air Management System,
will incorporate all transportation information into one system.
Our Structured Wiring project will provide a scalable, comprehensive,
state-of-the-art data wiring system for all of our equipment
and processes in our plants. We are also replacing our Delivery
and Operations Information System, which is the computer software
that provides our delivery supervisors with the data they
need to make their daily workload decisions. And we are developing
our PostalOne! System, which will allow business mailers to
electronically interact with our systems.
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We design special tools,
such as this cart,
for easily moving
large amounts of
mail so employees
can be more
productive.
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