success stories

Created in 2002 by combining 19 companies that provide global supply chain management services, Atlanta-based UPS Supply Chain Solutions has become a global leader in supply chain management,international trade and transportation services. UPS Supply Chain Solutions, a unit of package giant UPS, offers more than 750 facilities ranging from regional logistics and technology centers to small strategic stocking locations and critical parts depots. The company has refrigerated and bonded distribution centers and is located in 120 countries. UPS Supply Chain Solutions offers transportation and freight services (ground, ocean, air and rail), freight forwarding, international trade management and customs brokerage.

About 120,000 shipments a day for 100 corporate customers leave the Supply Chain Solutions warehouses. And while employees there don’t wear the brown outfits of UPS truck drivers or help sort 900,000 air shipments a day like the package handlers at Worldport [in Louisville], the logistics workers represent a growing and increasingly important part of the UPS network.

"Supply Chain Solutions generates $2 billion a year in revenue — about 8 percent of UPS’ $33.5 billion take. It allows UPS to be a ‘single-source provider’ for a variety of business services,” said Solutions Senior Vice President Bob Stoffel. “We do much more than small package. We want the general public to think of us as a leader in global commerce,” according to The Courier Journal Louisville, Kentucky,“Logistics Unit Makes UPS More than a Shipper.” (2-29-2004)

UPS relocated its world headquarters to Atlanta in 1991 with 1,000 employees. It now boasts more than 355,000 employees worldwide.

Manhattan Associates was founded in 1990 in Manhattan Beach, California and relocated to Atlanta in 1995 with just 25 employees. It now boasts more than 1,200 employees, more than half of which are based in metro Atlanta. The company has more than 900 customers and ended 2003 with $196.8 million in revenue. When it was founded, Manhattan Associates set out to develop solutions that would help create order in a critical link in the supply-chain: managing warehouses for retailers. Over time, the supply chain has become much more complex, with the onset of global supply networks and outsourcing impacting business operations. Today, Manhattan Associates is the global leader in providing supply chain execution and optimization solutions. The company has moved well beyond warehouse management solutions to developing Integrated Logistics Solutions that manage the entire source to consumption supply chain. This includes offering distributed order management, transportation management, trading partner management, reverse logistics management and RFID solutions. In addition to its software, the company also offers services, including 24-hour customer support, hands-on training courses and hardware systems.

Manhattan Associates was ranked as one of the Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies in America, according to FORTUNE magazine (July 2003) and one of the Top 100 Fastest Growing Technology Companies, according to Business 2.0 magazine (October 2003).

Schneider National, North America’s largest truckload carrier based in Green Bay, Wisconsin, chose metro Atlanta as its Southeast Operations Center in February 2004 creating 640 jobs on 25 acres. Schneider is known as a pioneer in adopting transportation technology and was one of the first to link trucks via satellite. Schneider does more than trucking, however. Schneider Logistics handles supply-chain management services, arranging domestic and international freight transportation through a network of more than 8,000 providers, including truckload and less-than-truckload carriers, as well as air, rail, and ocean freight transporters. The company’s Schneider Finance unit sells trucks. The company is also establishing partnerships with railroads to offer more rail and truck offerings through a single point.

Enabling companies to efficiently track inventory with RFID has become a reality for companies such as LXE Inc. A subsidiary of wireless systems maker EMS Technologies, metro Atlanta-based LXE is a leading manufacturer of industrial wireless data collection and transaction processing solutions for supply chain execution applications.

Founded in 1970, LXE began as the Digital Products Group of EMS Technologies. EMS was quick to see the potential for the wider business community of the ultra-rugged and reliable technology it had developed, so LXE was born as the first company to offer wireless data products for use in supporting logistics and material handling applications.

The company’s products include rugged handheld and vehicle mounted computers, advanced auto-ID technologies, and wireless networking products. LXE also offers a full range of turnkey services, including radio integration, project and installation management, network design, technical support, and repair services.

Currently LXE has over 400 employees and in 2003 exceeded $100 million in revenue for the first time in its history.

The Logistics Institute (TLI) at Georgia Tech is the world’s largest research and education center focused on global logistics and supply chains. TLI is headquartered in Atlanta and is a unit of Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial and
Systems Engineering – a world-renowned engineering program that has been ranked number one by U.S. News and World Report for 13 of the past 14 years. Georgia Tech is a natural home for an institute like TLI, which is devoted to advancing the design and application of new logistics technology and solutions. At the heart of the center is groundbreaking research that translates into educational and industry outreach programs.

Professional development and executive education courses on logistics-related topics are offered throughout the year at Georgia Tech’s new Global Learning and Conference Center. Since 1992, more than 6,000 logistics professionals, inclusive of 600 international attendees, have participated in TLI conferences, seminars and short courses. Georgia Tech’s School of Industrial and Systems Engineering also offers the Executive Masters in International Logistics (EMIL), a fully accredited masters degree program offered in a unique part-time format for high potential logistics executives.

Overall Georgia Tech offers the most comprehensive curriculum of logistics-oriented engineering degree and certificate programs in the world. These Georgia Tech graduates provide technical and executive leadership to the world’s logistics companies, consulting firms and government agencies. TLI also places significant emphasis on industry outreach and economic development activities. With programs like Leaders in Logistics and Supply Chain Executive Forum, TLI is partnered with more than 25 corporations and government agencies. Through these sustaining relationships, TLI sponsors a wide range of field-based research projects and industry conferences. Since 1999, TLI has also partnered with the Government of Singapore and the National University of Singapore to operate The Logistics Institute Asia Pacific in Singapore. They recently established the Sino-U.S. Global Logistics Institute in Shanghai, China in partnership with Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

A Gateway to World Commerce

What began as a dirt racetrack less than a century ago is now the busiest airport in the world. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport is consistently cited as a key attractor for corporate relocations and expansions into metro Atlanta. In 2004, Hartsfield-Jackson ranked first in the world for passengers operations. Also during the last couple of years Hartsfield-Jackson has expanded and improved its cargo operations as demonstrated by an impressive nine percent increase in cargo the last year alone. It is now moving goods as rapidly and efficiently as it does passengers.

40 Airlines offer Passenger & Cargo Service Directly from Hartsfield-Jackson

Metro Atlanta’s largest employer, Delta Air Lines, is headquartered in Atlanta, which is its largest hub city. More than 40 additional domestic and global airlines ship passengers, cargo, or both to and from Atlanta via Hartsfield-Jackson. More than 80 percent of the United States population market is within a two-hour flight of Atlanta; nearly 100 percent within four hours. Nearly 200 domestic and international cities are served by a total of more than 2,400 flights from Hartsfield-Jackson on an average day – a large majority of these flights being direct non-stop service to more than 180 destinations. More than 9,000 flights leave Atlanta weekly for 184 destinations in 29 countries.

ATLANTA IS A MAJOR AIR CARGO GATEWAY

With more than 30 cargo carriers serving the airport, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson is increasingly becoming a major world port for air cargo. Already ranked tenth-busiest airport in the United States for total air freight tonnage, Hartsfield-Jackson has seen a 31.3% increase in cargo handled in the last decade and a nine percent increase in the last year alone. Atlanta is the home to the U.S. Cargo Sales Joint Venture, a sales consortium of five major cargo carriers, as well as a major cargo hub for the 7-cargo carrier world alliance-Skyteam Cargo. With more than 25 additional independent cargo carriers serving the airport and a new expansion at the airport slated for completion in 2006, the airport is positioned to increasingly grow its cargo business.

MOST EFFICIENT AIRPORT IN THE WORLD

Already ranked the most efficient among the world’s 50 leading airports based on productivity measures, according to the June 2003 issue of Airline Business magazine, the new expansion plans calls for even greater effectiveness. Airlines serving Atlanta are expecting to benefit from the master plan improvements with reduced operating costs that will further enhance Hartsfield- Jackson’s position among the world’s most elite airports. More information on the improvements in the airport’s Master Plan is available at www.atlmasterplan.com. For more information on Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport visit www.atlanta-airport.com.

Georgia Department of Economic Development

Atlanta’s ambitious $5.4 billion expansion of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will increase capacity by a third, adding a new runway and a new international terminal. It is the largest public works project in the history of the state of Georgia. Economic impact studies suggest the financial effect of the airport’s business revenue — already $17 billion a year will reach $32 billion annually by 2015.

When the airport’s expansion program is complete, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport will be one of the few airports in the world designed to accommodate more than 100 million passengers annually.