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| In the mid-19th century, the state of the art for express delivery
of urgent messages was the pneumatic tube. The first such system
was installed in London in 1853, connecting the telegraph office with the
stock exchange. Within a few years, pneumatic tubes that carried individual
letters were installed in cities around the world, including Prague, Milan,
Rio de Janeiro, Munich, and Paris. The tubes were capable of delivering
messages from post offices in one part of the city to another in a matter
of minutes. Most were abandoned in the 20th century as the penetration
of telephones and other modern communications media grew. Paris,
however, developed an elaborate network for its "Poste Pneumatique,"
which survived into the 1970s.
Coincidentally, in 1971, the Federal Express Corporation was founded in Little Rock, Arkansas. Two years later, in 1973, the company began operations, delivering 186 packages to 25 U.S. cities, and launching, in the firm's words, "the modern air/ground express industry." After a rather rocky start, FedEx Corp. (the name of the parent firm was officially changed in 2000) has grown to a $20 billion company. It moves about 3.3 million packages and letters each day, delivering 2 million items in the United States overnight. The firm has a fleet of 667 airplanes and 54,000 trucks and reaches 211 countries. And while FedEx may be the best known express company, there are many others in the industry, including DHL, UPS (United Parcel Service), TNT, and Airborne Express. These services make it possible for other industries to operate without large local inventories of specialized parts. They are also an essential component of e-commerce. But how do FedEx, UPS, and the others move such huge numbers of packages so quickly? The answer lies in their systems of distribution hubs. In the case of FedEx, for example, starting at about 10:30 p.m., 150 to 160 planes arrive in Memphis every few minutes carrying packages from all over the world. The shipping containers they carry are unloaded in minutes and brought inside the facility to be unpacked. The individual items, labeled with bar codes, are scanned and sorted repeatedly through heavily automated webs of conveyor belts. By 2 a.m. sorting is generally completed and the packages are placed in containers which are then loaded onto planes routed to their destinations. FedEx's Memphis facility is capable of sorting 160,000 packages and 325,000 letters an hour. Information is transmitted to FedEx's web site in real time, so customers can keep track of their packages as they move through the system. Express services combine the speed of air travel with robotics, optical scanning, containerization, and computer and Internet technology in a highly efficient mix. Of course, FedEx, UPS, and DHL have not really replaced the tubes pneumatiques for getting letters or small packages across town in a hurry. That niche has been filled by a technology that is considerably more low-tech--the bicycle messenger. |
|
 = highly recommendedOvernight delivery resources--a set of links from About.com.
"Memphis, Tenn.," by Carol Pickering, Business 2.0 (January 2000). A bit more on FedEx's Memphis hub. The Memphis Region's own perspective on its transportation and logistics assets.
"The Siemon Cabling System Helps UPS Deliver," a case study describing the role of Siemon cabling at UPS's Louisville, KY, hub, including a good description of the operations of that facility. "Behind the Scenes at UPS," a tour of UPS's Louisville, KY, hub from CNNInteractive, December 16, 1997. "Join CNN's Jeff Flock and crew at UPS' main air hub in Louisville for a look at what happens to your package after it leaves your hands." (Requires VXtreme/IPIX plug-in, which can be downloaded through the site.) "Posting FedEx," by Paul Page in Air Cargo World (February 2001). News article describing a deal with the U.S. Postal Service under which FedEx is carrying up to 3.5 million pounds daily of Express Mail, Priority Mail and First Class Mail for the Postal Service. The article notes that FedEx has gotten so large that it is able to absorb this additional load without adding any new planes to its fleet. Hub Controversies:
"Price of Development," Steve Inskeep discusses a plan to move an entire neighborhood away from Louisville's airport (and its growing UPS hub) on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition," (November 5, 1998). In Real Audio. "Kentucky Lands UPS Mega-Hub," a press release from the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development (March 4, 1998)."The Pneumatic Post of Paris," by J.D. Hayhurst O.B.E., edited by C.S. Holder (1974). Published by the France & Colonies Philatelic Society of Great Britain. The best description in English on the web (and perhaps elsewhere) of France's tubes pneumatiques. Deliver-It--worldwide directory of bicycle messenger services and IFBMA, the International Federation of Bike Messenger Associations. |
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