Intelligent Delivery Platform

Sutton Council launches intelligent platform to rapidly scale delivery efforts to vulnerable residents during the Covid-19 pandemic.

07:44 05 June 2020

Sutton Council has recently partnered with ViaVan to launch an intelligent delivery platform amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The scheme, which is funded by Innovate UK, aims to take advantage of the firm's demand-response transport technology to speed up the delivery of essential goods to more than 1,000 vulnerable residents in Sutton. 

 

ViaVan uses an intelligent delivery platform designed to automate operations behind parcel distribution at scale. With support from volunteer drivers, the firm's technology ensures reliable routing and delivery of emergency parcels to those in need. 

 

Councillor Ruth Dombey, Leader of Sutton Council, said: "The Council made a commitment to deliver food and essential items to those who need them most during these times. Given the scale of the challenge, we quickly realized we needed to change how we work to deliver what was needed." 

 

"Using ViaVan's technology has helped our staff and volunteer deliver food parcels to residents more efficiently. Our delivery of the food parcels is working during this demanding period and we are sending out 700+ parcels a week to those in need throughout the borough. We know residents receiving their weekly provisions are extremely grateful for this service." 

 

Chris Snyder, CEO of ViaVan, said: "We are pleased to be able to help our communities in times of need. Our partnership with Sutton Council demonstrates how dynamic and digitally-enabled solutions can utilise existing infrastructure to support new needs, in this case, the movement of critical goods. This model represents an opportunity for cities and towns across the UK to look to technology to rapidly scale and optimize operations for delivery services for those in need."