UPS, the world's largest package delivery company, today announced it has completed the installation of technology that will significantly reduce the number of miles driven by its familiar brown package cars on Sacramento roads, subsequently reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
SACRAMENTO, California — UPS, the world's largest package delivery company, today announced it has completed the installation of technology that will significantly reduce the number of miles driven by its familiar brown package cars on Sacramento roads, subsequently reducing fuel consumption and emissions.
The new technology, which UPS calls package flow technology, consists of software and hardware that enable the company to map out shorter and more efficient routes for drivers. The new technology already has been implemented in UPS's Shore Street facility.
Each year, UPS drivers log more than 4.5 million miles on Sacramento-area roads. Based on initial results, package flow technology will reduce the number of miles driven each year in Sacramento by as much as 265,000 miles, saving more than 30,000 gallons of fuel and emitting 288 fewer metric tons of CO2.
"Reducing fuel consumption and vehicle emissions is especially critical in Sacramento because the American Lung Association ranks this area as one of the most ozone-polluted cities in the country," UPS District Manager Chris Martin said. "This is one of the many ways UPS is operating our business in unison with our environmental objectives."
Package flow technology leverages the tidal wave of digital information produced by scanning UPS "smart labels" on nearly all of the 14 million packages moving through the company's global network each day. Consequently, delivery route planners know the night before what packages will need to be delivered to Sacramento residents and businesses the next day. By "pushing" this data into a software program that plans driver routes, UPS can map out routes that require the fewest number of miles to complete.
The technology also helps decrease the number of missed deliveries, thereby reducing the need to drive back to an address a second time to deliver a package. This results in less fuel used and fewer CO2 emissions. UPS is implementing package flow technology at more than 1,000 package centers throughout the United States. Deployment is scheduled to be completed in 2007.
Additionally, UPS's Sacramento fleet includes 112 of the company's compressed natural gas (CNG) alternative fuel delivery vehicles. UPS operates one of the largest alternative fuel fleets in North America with over 1,700 such vehicles including fuel cell, hybrid electric, electric, propane-powered, liquefied natural gas and CNG.
Sacramento's Mather Airport also is only one of two airports in the nation currently testing the effectiveness of continuous descent approach (CDA) when landing rather than stepping down altitude. With CDA, planes use idle power to glide down, which makes less noise, burns less fuel and creates fewer emissions.
UPS is the world's largest package delivery company and a global leader in supply chain services, offering an extensive range of options for synchronizing the movement of goods, information and funds. Headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., UPS serves more than 200 countries and territories worldwide. UPS's stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange (UPS), and the company can be found on the Web at UPS.com.
Source: CSRwire, Business Wire, UPS
