UPS building USD7 million air service center

United Parcel Service Inc. is building a $7 million, 90,000-square-foot air
>service center, where the package-delivery giant will track its aircraft
>all over the world.
>Construction began last month on the two-story facility located just east
>of Louisville International Airport. UPS plans to relocate 625 workers from
>its current air service center in its air park on Grade Lane when the new
>building is completed in March or April of next year, according to Shawn
>Crowder, project engineer for the company.
>The new air service center will be located on 13 acres at 825 Lotus Ave.,
>Crowder said.
>The property is owned by the Louisville Regional Airport Authority,
>according to information on the Jefferson County Property Valuation
>Administrator's Web site.
>UPS is leasing the land from the airport authority, but the company will
>own the building, both parties said. Terms of the lease were not disclosed.
>New facility frees up space for other uses
>Crowder said the relocating employees work in four general areas: aircraft
>maintenance control, flight control, crew scheduling and contingency, which
>makes alternate arrangements for aircraft in cases of emergency or
>inclement weather.
>The four groups collaborate to meet "any emergencies or urgent needs that
>come up," Crowder said. "They can work together and make the flights
>happen."
>UPS will use the space it is vacating at 911 Grade Lane to house crew
>services and a rest area for pilots, including a lounge and cafeteria,
>according to Crowder and UPS public relations supervisor Travis Spalding.
>Spalding said equipment from the existing air service center will be moved
>to the new one.
>The facility will meet the package handler's growing needs in a modern
>environment, he added.
>Crowder said UPS has outgrown its current air service center, prompting the
>need for the coming facility. In the new location, the company also has
>enough property to expand.
>Louisville's Sullivan & Cozart Inc. is the general contractor for the
>construction project. Bayus-Evola Architects, also of Louisville, is
>handling the design work.
>"This type of operation is not restricted to an airport facility," Crowder
>said. "You could have it really anywhere. We wanted to get those people
>outside the air park, free up some of that … real estate for the other
>critical functions that need to be inside the fence."
>Move to benefit UPS, airport authority
>Rande Swann, public relations director for the airport authority, said the
>new UPS building is a positive for the community.
>"Whatever's good for UPS is good for the airport authority," Swann
>explained. "This is a state-of-the-art facility for UPS to control all of
>its aircraft movements worldwide. (That) makes it operate more efficiently,
>which further entrenches it in its Louisville location."
>UPS, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol UPS,
>opened its $1.1 billion, 275-million-square-foot Worldport air hub in
>Louisville in 2002.
>The Atlanta-based company is the area's largest major private sector
>employer, according to the Business First list published Aug. 8.
>The company had 20,424 local employees in 2003, the list said.
>May 4, 2004 — (ComputerWeekly.com/Daniel Thomas) — UPS mail system packs
>in GPS and Bluetooth: Delivery firm UPS is planning to roll out to the UK
>the fourth generation of its Diad (delivery information access device),
>which, it said, offers improved accuracy and flexibility. UPS is piloting
>the Diad 4, which can be used by the company's delivery workers to record
>signatures and delivery times when they drop off packages. Providing the
>pilot is successful, UPS plans a company-wide roll-out later this year. The
>latest device, developed by Symbol Technologies, supports wireless standard
>Bluetooth. It also includes built-in global positioning by satellite and
>infrared and can be supplied with a GPRS or CDMA 1X radio. Graham Nugent,
>strategic IS manager for Europe at UPS, said, "Including GPS will allow us
>to accurately lock-in the pick-up location, while adding Bluetooth will
>give us greater flexibility." However, UPS is unconvinced by third
>generation mobile technology. Nugent said, "We are not thinking much about
>3G at the moment. At an industry roundtable recently, no one could think of
>a killer application." l UPS has launched a web-based tracking service for
>small and medium-sized companies in 22 countries, including the UK. The
>Campus Ship service, which is supplied free of charge to existing
>customers, allows users to control the cost of shipping centrally and
>supports mobile workers. The system is hosted by UPS and does not require
>any IT involvement or software installation.