read the following case study and answer the question : how did automated package sorting change operations and decision making at UPS?

This chapter's Interactive Session on Technology likewise are heavily automated, especially its described how UPS investments in information warehouses, which feature driverless forklifts and technology are helping it remain competitive robots that bring shelves to workers. in the package delivery market. Unfortunately UPS About thirty miles from Mesquite, UPS's Fort. has not been as competitive as it could be because Worth facility illustrates UPS's efforts to catch up. critical aspects of its operations are saddled with out- There boxes are scanned, sorted by destination, Although much of UPS's IT infrastructure is six-sided scanners, employees do not need to worry leading-edge, not all of it is. UPS moves millions of about which side is up. UPS employees in an air- packageseachdayusing80,000drivers.Untilre-cently,abouthalfwereprocessedthroughautomatedconditionedcontrolroomviewawallofflat-screenmonitorsdisplayinglivevideofeeds.Thecomputer facilities, the rest being handled using 30-year-old detects jams and other malfunctions, and workers equipment and manual processes. can reroute where the conveyors send packages. For example, in UPS's Mesquite, Texas package- There is no human element in rerouting a package sorting facility, a 30-year-old analog control panel in the Fort Worth building. A few workers walk green lights informs workers when something alongside the belts to replace any package that on the facility's web of conveyor belts goes awry. the sorting network is software that helps manage The sorting process begins with boxes being un- package flows, including those between automated loaded from trucks onto conveyor belts. A worker facilities and older ones. The technology can divert read the delivery label on the front, top, or one by volume. This automated 750-worker facility side. The packages move inside to a line of about can process the same number of packages daily 50 workers. There are nine conveyor belts, three as can Mesquite with 1,170 workers. Automation directly overhead. A human sorter picks a package, also generates data to help the company optimize quickly deciphers the label, and then places the delivery routes using fewer miles, less fuel, and package onto the correct belt. A worker around less equipment and also provide better forecasts of scanners would read a package's destination and In contrast 96 percent of competitor FedEx's use equipment called shoe pucks to push packages FedEx discarded outdated equipment and manual downtheproperchute.Atanolder,lessautomatedfacilitysuchasprocessesyearsago,andnewrivalAmazon.comneverhadtodealwithoutdatedsystemsatall. shipping and warehousing facilities, including seven of UPS, employing more modern technology and "super hubs," which can sort packages 30 percent operating procedures. It doesn't have to grapple with more efficiently than standard facilities. retrofitting automation into facilities with older ways In the past, most of the shipments handled by UPS of working. went to retailers and business corporations. Today, According to UPS, unionization has not heavily more and more of these shipments are destined for impeded company efforts to spend more on automaindividual households who have purchased an item tion. The cost of new machines to automate an older or two online using the Internet. UPS now delivers facility has become low enough for UPS to both retrohomes. Numerous deliveries to far-flung suburban In some instances, new automated package sorthomes are more costly to UPS than delivering and ing facilities have helped UPS create new jobs. For picking up multiple packages at large businesses or example, a new automated UPS package delivery offices. Although some of UPS's management worried and part-time jobs. The 238,000-square-foot center about so much company business going toward added 300 trucks to the company's delivery fleet in lower-margin deliveries, the company knew it had to the Houston area. embrace e-commerce. According to UPS spokesper- FedEx, which has spent $10 billion on its network sonSteveGant,thereis"tremendousopportunity"indeliveringe-commerceordersevenamidstformi-of37groundhubssince2005,isnowtryingtoslimdown.Someplaces,suchasthe$259millionFedEx dable competitors who at the moment appear to be Indianapolis ground hub, are being closed. FedEx tion of some large ones that travel short distances, ity uses only one-third of a building's space and has throughautomatedhubsby2022.Tryingtouseoutdatedshippingtechnologyandproceduresinthenewe-commerceenvironmenthadcausedUPStolosebusiness.Bottlenecksfrombeingoverwhelmedattimesbyonlineorderscre-ateddelaysthatdrovesomehealthcare,industrial,andothercorporatecustomerstoswitchtoFedEx.Amazoniscreatingitsowndeliverynetworkofroomtoexpandwithadditionalequipmentonshortnotice.ThisarrangementenablesFedExtoadjustitsnetworktoaccommodatemorevolatileflowsofonlineorders.UPSisalsoimplementingothertechnologiestocomplementautomatedpackagesorting.In2017itstartedplacingwirelessBluetoothreceiversinsidedeliverytruckstoreducethelikelihoodofmisloaded trucks,vans,andplanestohandlemostofitsonlinepackages.Wirelesssignalsarepassedbetween orders,especiallyincitiesandsuburbs.UPSwilldefinitelybeaffected.BluetoothbeaconsandthescanningdeviceswornonworkershandsandhipstoreadUPSpackagela- UPSisunionized,FedExground-operationworkersarenot.Hasthatmadeadifference?Thebels.Thebeaconsbeeploudlyifaworkerplacesapackageintoadeliverytruckthatisnotheadedto International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents the package's destination. A different beep confirms 260,000 UPS drivers, sorters, and other workers, when packages enter the correct truck. Before deand it wants UPS to hire more full-time workers to ploying this technology, UPS did not perform a final The union has opposed technology such as drones truck. Drivers had to drive out of their way to deliver and self-driving vehicles and is concerned about these packages or find a supervisor to transfer them changesthatcanperformthesameworkwithfeweremployees.AsSeanOBrien,aBostonTeamsterstothecorrecttruck.Besidesreducingdelays,theBluetooth-drivensys- employees. As Sean O'Brien, a Boston Teamsters Besides reducing delays, the Bluetooth-driven syseliminates jobs. Once jobs are replaced, "it's pretty upcoming deliveries. When packages are scanned toughtogetthemback."FedExhasnounionizedworkersinitsgroundinthemorning,thedateupdatesUPSsserviceforsendingcustomersemailsshowingthestatusoftheir network, so it doesn't have to deal quite as much shipments. Customers signed up for this service rewith opposition from organized labor. Additionally, ceive a message about the package's arrival date and FedEx's ground delivery network is newer than that estimated delivery time. Another Bluetooth enhancement informs seasonal workers about where to direct outbound packages that UPS vehicles pick up during the day and bring to the company's sorting facilities. UPS hires nearly 100,000 seasonal workers from November through January. In the past, these workers would have to memorize hundreds of zip codes to know where to place parcels. UPS started outfitting some of these seasonal workers with scanning devices and inexpensive Bluetooth headphones that issue one-word commands for "Red," "Green," or "Blue," designating specific conveyor belts for transporting packages to locations for further processing. New technology makes it possible for UPS processing facility managers to know exactly how many undeliverable packages they must process each night and when they will arrive, which helps them plan work shifts for rerouting the packages. The information is displayed in real time on managers' Samsung smartphones in the form of graphs showing the number of incoming packages, how quickly they are being processed, and which worker groups are busiest, so staff can be allocated where demand is highest. In the past, UPS managers had to rely on historical data and radio Conversations with drivers to estimate how many undeliverable packages they would have to handle each night