Ups Competes Globally with Information Technology

United Parcel Service (UPS), the world?s largest air and ground package-distribution company, started out in 1907 in a closet-size basement office. Jim Casey and Claude Ryan?two teenagers from Seattle with two bicycles and one phone?promised the ?best service and lowest rates.? UPS has used this formula successfully for more than 90 years.

Today UPS delivers more than 13 million parcels and documents daily throughout the United States and more than 200 other countries and territories. The firm has been able to maintain its leadership in small-package delivery services in the face of stiff competition from Federal Express and Airborne Express by investing heavily in advanced information technology. Over the past decade, UPS has spent more than $1 billion a year to boost customer service while keeping costs low and streamlining its overall operations.

Using a handheld computer called a Delivery Information Acquisition Device (DIAD), UPS drivers automatically capture customers? signatures along with pickup, delivery, and time-card information. The drivers then place the DIAD into their truck?s vehicle adapter, an information-transmitting device that is connected