1 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Postal Service Industry
The postal service subsector includes the activities of the National Post Office
and its subcontractors operating under a universal obligation to provide mail
services, and using the infrastructure required to fulfill that obligation. These
services include delivering letters and small parcels. These articles can be
described as those that can be handled by one person without using special
equipment. This allows the collection, pick up, and delivery operations to be
done with limited labor costs and minimal equipment. Sorting and transportation
activities, where necessary, are generally mechanized. The restriction to small
parcels distinguishes these establishments from those in the transportation
industries. These establishments may also provide express delivery services
using the infrastructure established for provision of basic mail services.
The mail or post is a system for physically transporting documents and other
small packages, as well as a term for the postcards, letters,
and parcels themselves. A postal service can be private or public, though many
governments place restrictions on private systems. Proof of payment is often in
the form of adhesive postage stamps, but postage meters are also used for bulk
mailing. Modern private postal systems are typically distinguished from national
postal agencies by the names "courier" or "delivery service".
Postal authorities often have functions other than transporting letters. In some
countries, a postal, telegraph and telephone (PTT) service oversees the postal
system, as well as hasa authority over telephone and telegraph systems. Some
countries' postal systems allow for savings accounts and handle applications
for passports. The Universal Postal Union (UPU), established in 1874, includes
192 member countries and sets the rules for international mail exchanges.
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1.2 Background of Post Office Organization
Pos Malaysia Berhad is Malaysias premier postal service provider. They have a
widespread network of over 1,000 touch points countrywide that includes Pos
Malaysia Outlets, Pos Minis, Pos24 (Self Service Terminals), Post-On-Wheels
(Mobile Outlets), postal agents and stamp agents, making it one of the most
extensive retail network in Malaysia.The organization was restructured in 1992
from being a governmental owned Malaysian Postal Services Department into a
business corporation and be one of the Government Link Company (GLC).The
history of Pos Malaysia Berhad can be traced back to the early 1800s with the
establishment of postal services first in the Straits Settlements (Penang, Malacca,
and Singapore) and gradually, it covered the entire Malaya by early 20th
century.Letters were delivered through dispatch riders or special
messengers then. Instead of postage stamps, fees were collected when letters
were handed in at the Pos office and letters posted were given a receipt.
Over the years, the evolution of technology saw the emergence of digital
media/internet and changing customer behavior. Despite the personal touch and
sentimental value attached to traditional mails, this market is shrinking, replaced
by the more popular social media and SMS.Pos Malaysia Berhad is also going
through the same evolution. No longer are we the traditional postal corner, as we
embark into the 21st century, we have and are evolving to meet the demands and
needs of our customers' changing behaviors and market place. Together with the
role of the national postal provider, Pos Malaysia Berhad has morphed into a
conglomerate, offering supply chain solutions and financial services, competing
directly and indirectly with many companies in both domestic and international
areas.
The vision of Pos Malaysia Berhad is to be trusted in the delivery of integrated
physical and digital solutions, resonates with their aspiration to stay relevant in
fluid market while reflecting their agenda. Their mission statement is to deliver
excellent customer experience customer experience and convenience in the areas
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of communications, logistics, financial services and supply chain solutions at the
highest level of reliability and integrity.
1.3 Background of Post Office Department
Pos Malaysia Berhad is Malaysias premier postal service provider. It is located
at POS Malaysia Headquarters, Dayabumi Complex, Kuala Lumpur. Pos
Malaysia provides multi-services such as postal and related services, transport
logistics, counter collection, and payment agency services for a range of financial
transactions.. The company holds an exclusive concession to provide mail
services through its network of over 850 branches and mini post in Malaysia.
Throughout the years, Pos Malaysia has grown from strength to strength and is
progressing from being a mail and postal services provider towards becoming a
dynamic communications, financial services and supply chain solutions provider.
Moving forward, Pos Malaysia will continue to transform and innovate itself in
order to maintain its relevance and competitive edge as well as continue to
connect Malaysians with the rest of the world.
Board of Directors of Pos Malaysia are Non-Independent Non-Executive
Chairman is Tan Sri Dato Sri Haji Mohd Khamil bin Jamil, Senior Independent
Non-Executive Directors is Dato Ibrahim Mahaluddin bin Puteh. Independent
Non-Executive Director are Dato Sri Che Kahtib bin Mohamad Noh, Abdul
Hamid bin Sh Mohamed and Datuk Puteh Rukiah binti Abd. Majid. Non-
Independent Non-Executive Director are Datuk Mohamed Razeek bin Md
Hussain Maricar and Eshah binti Meor Suleiman. Pos Malaysia employs more
than 16000 people over 1000 physical outlets nationwide comprising more than
700 Post Offices more than 300 Pos Mini.
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The vision of Pos Malaysia Berhad is to be the trusted leader in the delivery of
integrated physical and digital solutions, resonates with their aspiration to stay
relevant in fluid market while reflecting digital agenda. Correspondingly, their
mission statement is to deliver excellent customer experience and convenience in
the areas of communications, logistics, and financial services and supply chain
solutions at the highest level of reliability and integrity. The form of Pos
Malaysia Berhad is establishment of postal services first in the Straits
Settlements in which it would cover the whole Malaya by early 20th century
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2 CHAPTER 2
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
2.1 Introduction
A post office is a customer service facility forming part of a national postal
system and the most popular of postal service in the world. Post offices
offer mail-related services such as acceptance of letters and parcels; provision
of post office boxes; and sale of postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post
Office needs to continue providing efficient services to remain a key player in a
highly competitive industry. This project had used simulation models to assist in
evaluating operations within postal service system. A simulation model was built
that used customer in order to take number, queuing methods for waiting time
service provided, choose counter available and receiving their service.
2.2 Problem Description
In order to get the service, customer has to take number and wait for their service
in one of the three servers that available at Post Office, Arau. At some point,
customer has to wait in a long queue to get the service. Longer queue show that
the system is less efficient. It also may lead to customer dissatisfaction.
2.3 Objective
The objective of this study is to determine the efficiency of queuing system at
Post Office in Arau by examining waiting time for service provided.
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2.4 Scope of Study
Data has been collected on Wednesday, 20th April 2016 at Post Office, Arau.
Data was collected through observations of 3 hours during peak hours (9.00a.m
to 5.00 pm). This research only collected during 2.00 pm until 5.00 pm on that
day.
2.5 Analysis
Simulation Process
Define Problem
Introduce important variables
Construct simulation model
Specify values of variables to be
tested
Conduct the simulation
Examine the result
Select best course of action
Figure 2.1 : Simulation process of the post office service counter at post office Malaysia Arau
Define problem- customer has to wait in a long queue to get the service. Longer
queue show that the system is less efficient. It also may lead to customer
dissatisfaction.
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Introduce important variables- Divide into two variable, input and output
variables.
Construct simulation model- Draw a flowchart of the operation in Post Office
organization.
Specify values of variables to be- From the primary data that has been collected,
the data such as arrival time, start service, types of counter, service time and end
service was used to create a simulation model.
Conduct the simulation- This study used Arena software to run the simulation
model.
Examine the result- From the Arena Software output, the information such as
average waiting time, average service time and other information about time
interval when simulation model was used.
Select best course of action- From the analysis, this study will suggest the best
model to improve efficiency of the organization.
Variables
Input variables:
Inter- arrival time of customer- Time between two successive customer
arrivals
Number of counter- Bills and others and parcel delivery
Service Time- Time taken when customer received their services
Output variable:
Staff Utilization
Number Customer get serve
Average waiting time (min)
Average queue waiting time (min)
Average customer take queue number
Average customer take queue number(min)
Average Customer Total Time
Average customer waiting time for the service
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Simulation Start
Customer Arrive
Customers take
queue number
Customer waiting
for service
Whichcounter?
Counter 1(Bills and Counter 2 (parcels
others) delivery)
Service start Service start
Service end service end
Simulation End
Figure 1.2: Flowchart of the post office service counter at post office Arau.
Steps involved in the process of acquiring service:
1. Customer arrives at post office Arau.
2. Customer takes queue numbers.
3. Customer waits in the waiting area to get served.
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4. Customer go to the counter that be called either counter 1 or counter 2.
5. Customer gets served once service is finished and leaves the server.The above
cycle continues for next customer in the queue at any server.
Simulation
In this research input analyzer in ARENA had been used. The data collected has
been analyzed to obtain the best fit distribution for each working hour shift.
Three different simulations have been run 2 hours each for 3 shifts, which
accounts for 6 hours of operation in a day. The ARENA model was depicted
below.
Figure 2.3: ARENA Model
2.6 Summary
Simulation model of the queuing system in post office Arau had been set up. All
the important variables had been defined and identified. The simulation was run
by using computer software, ARENA. Results of the simulation will be discussed
in details in chapter 3.
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3 CHAPTER 3
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Introduction
Based on chapter 2, simulation process occurs by using the input data that have
been obtained by collecting the inter-arrival waiting time, customer taking
number, waiting time for service and waiting time for receiving the service. The
data have been collected for each time of taking sample during peak hours on
2.00p.m until 5.00 p.m. This chapter will discuss how the simulation process by
using ARENA software can determine the efficiency of queuing system at Post
Office in Arau by examining waiting time for service provided.
3.2 Findings
All the results shows in this section have been obtained by using ARENA
software. Each input data of waiting time been fixed to extract the expression
values that have been used to as the input values. The expression values for each
time of taking sample for every shift have been recorded in Table 3.1.
Table 3.1: Expression values for each time of taking sample
Expression (minutes) 2 pm -5 pm
Arrival Time -0.5 + GAMM(1.07, 1.68)
Customer Take Queue Number EXPO(0.25)
Service Time for Bills and Others 0.5 + GAMM(1.34, 1.78)
Service Time for Parcel and Delivery 0.5 + GAMM(2.23, 1.21)
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The expression values in Table 3.1 have been used to simulate the process for
Customer Arrival, customer take queue number, service time for bills and others
and parcel and delivery . By generating the simulation process, the results of
waiting time have been obtained. These results are shown in Table 3.2.
Table 3.2: Results of waiting time by using simulation process
Counter Bills and Counter Parcel AND
Result Output
Others delivery
Staff Utilization 99% 44%
Number Customer get 21 7
serve
Average waiting time 6.9649 .46806
(min)
Average queue waiting 8.1004 1.2711
time (min)
Average customer take .19711 .19711
queue number
Average customer take .24548 .24548
queue number(min)
Average Customer Total 9.0469
Time
Average customer waiting 4.8007
time for the service
In Table 3.2, the evening sample taking time in post office Arauwhich is between
2pm until 5pm.However, the server utilization for counter bills and others sample
taking time shows the highest percentage. It shows that counter bills and others
have done their job in fully conditions, the total waiting time of customer still
longer compared to the other counter. It is because counter bills and other have
various service rather than counter parcel delivery which is parcel delivery
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counter only have one service. Based on data collected on Wednesday, 20April
2016, the number of customer is the highest at 2pm until 5 pm since it is a peak
hour. At the same time, parcel delivery counter shows the waiting time for that
counter is shorter than other counter since the service time not takes too long.
The customers need to wait about most likely 4 minutesbeforestart their
service.Due to those problem, it can be said the existing system is still not
efficient for counter bills and other since it take too long wait time and service
time of customer.
3.2 Recommendations
Based on the findings of the study, the following is a list of recommendations
deemed favorable based on the outcome of this study.
i. Firstly, Post Office should divide another counter that specific for bills
and others to reduce waiting time for customer service. Previous counter
usually used to renew licence rather than paying bills which is taking a
long time for customer received the next service. By dividing that
counter, it will be more focuses on specific service provided to customer.
ii. In addition, we recommend for parcel delivery should be done by drive-
thru service to reduce total waiting time for customer service. Moreover,
it can save the time for customer to deliver the parcel.
3.3 Conclusion
As the conclusion, the existing system for queuing system of Post Office Arauby
examining the waiting time of customer is considered as not efficient due to the
waiting time for customer is the longest at counter of bill and others rather than
counter parcel delivery\ by using our observation data from 2 pm until 5 pm.
Many customers need to wait at a long time to receive their service at counter of
bill and others.
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REFERENCES
Retrieve from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pos_Malaysia.
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APPENDIX A
INPUT ANALYZER
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APPENDIX B
RESULT OF ARENA MODEL
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