UPS capitalizes on outsourced work

By Arielle Kass

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Up to 800 times a day, the phone rings at a Toshiba repair depot here. About 200 emails come through. So do thousands of computers.

But instead of Toshiba employees picking up the phone, hitting reply or examining a motherboard for issues, it is UPS workers who are tasked with being the face of computer repair for the Japanese company.

They fix, pack and ship computers that need to be rehabbed. For other companies, they assemble cameras, build home-school kits, imprint credit cards, program telephones and fill prescriptions for medical supplies. And their paychecks come from UPS.

UPS’ supply chain solutions business is more than 12 years old, but the company is seeing more big wins -- and more opportunities -- as the economy remains troubled and businesses continue to look for efficiencies and ways to keep costs low.

For decades, businesses have outsourced payroll, janitorial services and legal work. But with UPS and other third-party providers, they are increasingly outsourcing work that would be considered critical to a company’s operation, and its image.

In Sunday’s newspaper, the AJC takes a deep look at how UPS has benefited from other companies' outsourcing. It’s a story you’ll get only by picking up a copy of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution or logging on to the paper’s iPad app. Subscribe today.