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  • Essay / UPS Supply Chain Systems Case Study - 1121

    Shipping more than 15 million packages per day with more than 390,000 part-time and full-time employees, UPS is the world's largest shipping company , both in volume and in turnover. With so many packages, you have to ask yourself how does a package get from point A to point B? In this section, we'll talk about how long a shipment lasts as it passes through UPS's supply chain and freight service. When UPS receives or picks up its last package from one of its 154,000 points of entry such as drop boxes or customer centers at 6 p.m. each business day (Monday through Friday), the shipment is delivered by truck to a local hub. The local hub is one of 1,800 operational facilities worldwide and is used to pre-sort packages. Once pre-sorted, workers load the packages onto trucks to be shipped locally via ground UPS or onto planes if they need to travel across the country or internationally. The planes then deliver the packages to WorldPort, which is the heart of their operations. (UPS, 2013) Worldport is located in Louisville, KT, just 2 hours or less from 75% of the US population. This suits them thanks to the overnight transportation service they launched in the 1980s to compete with competitors who offered the same service. The short journey in time also allows them to satisfy their customers thanks to the speed of receipt of their package (Schactman, 2012). Once the planes arrive at Worldport, that's where the magic begins for UPS. This plant is so time efficient that it is even capable of coordinating the landing of planes at 2.5 minute intervals. This is important especially during peak seasons and to save money on jet fuel. There are 44 loading/unloading terminals that planes can taxi to. Once there, the company emp...... middle of paper ...... and shippers did so so as not to have to stop package handling to scan. To an outsider looking in, this company does very well at managing their technologies used in how they do business. For company managers, there is always room for improvement in order to stay on top of the industry. Although UPS is fast when it comes to shipping, they can be. There have been discussions within the company about reducing additional delivery time by spending $70 million on sensors for their trucks that measure engine RPM, oil temperature, seat belt sensor , reversing sensor and many more to monitor how drivers use trucks and the weather. . This system will also include a key fob that will start/stop the engine and lock/unlock the overhead door. This, combined with the ability to walk 2.5 steps per second, will save the company 6.5 minutes per driver per day..