Introduction
Operations Management is a vital and fundamental key to any successful business. This form of management helps a company become more efficient, effective, and most importantly, customer satisfying. For our groups Business analysis, we studied the operational tools and ideas implemented by United Parcel Service (UPS). UPS is the world’s largest package delivery company and is always on the cutting edge of efficient delivery. Within our research of UPS, we studied aspects of facility layout, logistics, and demand management. Along the way we relate what we found with our classes’ operations book.
History
Now a billion dollar company, UPS had a very humble beginning. In 1907, a young man in Seattle, Washington named James E. Casey borrowed a $100 from a friend to create The American Messenger Company. James, along with his brother and friends, delivered packages, letters, and even food to restaurants locally. Since cars were still limited at this time, the deliveries were made by foot or bicycle. Even though the company was young, it thrived because, “Jim Casey´s strict policies of customer courtesy, reliability, round-the-clock service, and low rates” (United Parcel Service, 1994-2010). These are the very same principles that the company operated by today. In 1913 technology began to have its place in the company, when they purchased their first car, which was a Model T Ford. They also changed their name from The American Messenger Company to Merchants Parcel Delivery, resulting from a merge with a competing company. The simple name change foreshadowed what the company would be known for from then on. The new name “reflected a shift in the primary focus of the business from messages to packages” (United Parcel Service, 1994-2010). The company kept purchasing delivery vehicles and finally was able to expand out of Seattle. In 1919, the company once and for all adopted its present name, United Parcel Service, and expanded to Oakland,