How technology delievers for UPS?

Ever thought of the technologies that UPS might be using to get the right things at right place at right time? Here is something that I found while browsing.

A truck driver of UPS in Atlanta checks out his hand held device to find out today's schedule and finds out that it's gonna be a busy day for him. 400 packages to deliver till the day ends. If he doesn't want to use some intelligence, he will have to bang the customer's door at nights also.
And in fact this was the condition until recently, but thanks to a custom-built software program that UPS began rolling out before two years. Now the driver makes up all of his deliveries before 6p.m. and comes back to his home well before the dinner.

Not so long ago, UPS drivers worked off maps, 3-x-5 note cards and their own memory map to find out the best path to deliver their packages. It was until 2005 when UPS began to implement a $600 million route-optimization system -think MapQuest on steroids. On each evening,this system maps out the next day's schedule for its 56,000 drivers. The system is said to be so sophisticated that it designs a route to minimize the number of left turns, thus minimizing the time and gas the drivers waste idling at stoplights.

This is an example of how technology helps companies to capture their institutional knowledge of the customers. Earlier when a truck driver walks out of the company's premises, leaving the job, his experience walks out with him. But now, as the information is stored in a centralized system, training someone becomes more easy.

But what about the efficiency of the system? No question at all. In November alone, the company's driver logged 3 million fewer miles than they did the year before.

The GPS ( Global Positioning System ) technology, warns a driver with a beep if they are on the wrong-way. Since the exact position of driver is known, UPS can send a the closest driver quickly after you call in for a pickup.

This is what is the real-application of technology, that makes the business grow and that too in a simpler manner.