Can UPS Help Ford Delivery Time?
DETROIT, MI (2/2/2000). Ford Motor Co. and United Parcel Service Inc. have formed an alliance that hopes to cut by up to 40% the time required to deliver vehicles from Ford plants to dealers and customers in North America, Reuters reports. Ford says with the help of UPS’ Logistics Group, it will re-engineer its transportation network of rail and vehicle carriers to optimize speed, precision, and reliability of delivering Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury brands in the US, Canada, and Mexico. The alliance expects to produce a significant reduction in Ford’s multibillion-dollar vehicle transportation, distribution, and inventory costs, and result in predictable delivery times. The network will be launched in phases beginning in March, focusing first on the Western and Southwestern regions of the US, and the network is expected to be fully operational in 2001. Dealer on-line systems are expected to be completed later this year, with consumer systems on-line soon after. “When the optimized networ
