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Today's businesses are pressured more than ever before to drive down costs,
free up funds to fuel growth, streamline inventory and enhance market responsiveness.
Today's UPS can help.
UPS provides a broad foundation of expertise, infrastructure and technology
to handle elements of a customers' supply chain - including
the flow of goods, information and funds.
GOODS FLOW
Increasingly, businesses find they can maximize efficiency and contain costs
by outsourcing supply chain functions related to product movement. UPS units
support the movement of products by managing all of the activities along the
supply chain.
Transportation
UPS Supply Chain Solutions manages complex transportation networks -
ships, planes, rail, trucks - with the goal to optimize loads, minimize
costs and enhance reliability. UPS Supply Chain Solutions also taps into the
UPS air and ground networks for transportation services to enhance the needs of our customers.
Facilities
UPS Supply Chain Solutions offers a global network of facilities that
house a variety of operations: inventory and order management, product configuration,
kitting and packaging, critical parts storage, technical diagnostics and repair,
transborder shipment processing, simple subassembly, fulfillment and returns
management - just to name a few.
International Trade Support
UPS Supply Chain Solutions assists in customs brokerage, freight forwarding,
import and export documentation processing, as well as international trade finance services,
provided by UPS Capital.
INFORMATION FLOW
Industry trends demonstrate that companies are approaching day-to-day supply
chain business activity more holistically, requiring better connections with
buyers and sellers and enhanced overall visibility. UPS provides customers vital
information about their supply chains' performance, product movement, customers,
vendors, transportation providers and other trading partners.
Network Design and Optimization
Solutions teams utilize sophisticated modeling software to design
distribution facilities, transportation networks and management processes so
that supply chains can be re-engineered to improve performance based on customer
business objectives.
Supply Chain Management
Information systems help monitor the performance of the entire supply
chain, providing visibility so that delays, bottlenecks and problems can be
identified for quick remediation. These systems monitor activity within UPS
Supply Chain Solutions facilities and beyond - including other transportation
carriers, customs offices, customer departments and other supply chain participants.
Supplier and Vendor Monitoring
Performance of vendors and suppliers is captured, reported and evaluated
against pre-established performance metrics via a variety of IT systems.
FLOW OF FUNDS
Supply chain activities affect cash flow, capital utilization, income and ultimately
shareholder return. By helping companies better manage their good, UPS's business
units can help accelerate the flow of funds so that companies are paid faster
and inventory carrying costs, duties and taxes and in-transit costs are minimized.
Capital expenditures also can be minimized when assets such as distribution
centers, fulfillment operations and transportation fleet needs are outsourced.
UPS and SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS
Why has UPS expanded its services to include supply chain management?
Our customers asked us to.
Over the course of its history, UPS has become an expert in global distribution.
This includes not only the movement of goods, but also the flow of information
and finance that moves with the product.
Our customers increasingly asked to tap into this expertise, initially in the
area of transportation management and shipment processing. They also
asked us to manage inventory for them, so that they could take advantage of late
night cutoffs at our air hubs for next-day delivery to their customers. Our
tracking-and-tracing technology was seen as a valuable way for customers
to manage orders because they could see when goods reached their destination
and thus when they could reasonably expect to be paid for those goods. The scope
of our work gradually expanded to include same-day deliveries, order fulfillment,
returns management and multi-modal shipping - prompting the creation of
UPS Logistics Group in 1995.
Since then, we have added specialized postsales services, including service parts logistics,
which encompasses the management and delivery of critical parts (often within
a 1-4 hour window) and technical repair.
We have added freight forwarding and customs brokerage
in tandem with the acquisition of Fritz Companies and 11 other customs brokerage
companies around the world. We introduced financing capabilities
through UPS Capital and expanded those services with the acquisition of First
International Bank. Recently, we acquired Menlo Worldwide Forwarding and Overnite for additional capabilities.
UPS's corporate mission is to provide a broad foundation of expertise, infrastructure
and technology to handle every element of a customer's supply chain needs around
the world. This extends our services far beyond the traditional small package
business, providing new revenue streams and stronger ties with our customers.
UPS has built a reputation on providing the best possible service, and it remains the core of our business. UPS's reputation for
operational excellence has built a powerful UPS brand that symbolizes integrity,
precision, high quality and commitment to customer satisfaction.
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