EXTRA CREDIT IIE MEETING UPS
The Institute of Industrial Engineering hosted a very interesting speaker on Thursday March 20th. He is an IE from UPS who talked about new projects and technologies being utilized in UPS as well as the kind of work an industrial engineer would encounter in the company. Among the new technologies he emphasized on two of them: the Orion software and the utilization of natural gas in future trucks for the company.
The speaker explained there are many standards being measured for a UPS driver. They carry out motion studies and many different techniques to find out “how to reduce time” and therefore cost. In the past they have been going by the idea that right turns are the way to deliver since left turns take time. This has not changed, however, in the past the routes used to be air packages first (need to be at destination by 10:30 AM) and then all the ground packages. The Orion algorithm detects circles of ground customers that are near air locations takes into account the number of packages and air commitments to make and makes recommendations so that the driver does not have to return to the area. The other big change occurring has to do with the change of trucks to natural gas. He explained how this was not necessarily a saving because it involves changing trucks and natural gas is not that popular yet; however, they are company trying to go green and are doing it based on an environmental approach to business.
An interesting point he