UPS saves $30M and goes Green with new HP printing and scanning handheld

UPS partnered with Hewlett-Packard on the new sp400 All-in-One wireless handheld laser barcode scanner combo that can print directly onto packages, which saves paper and streamlines UPS's shipping processes.

With all of the news of major corporations losing vast amounts of money and laying people off, it's always nice to hear about solutions that companies are rolling out that not only allow them to keep their employees working, but also are saving them real dollars. I recently was briefed by Hewlett-Packard on a new vertical market integrated printing and scanning solution (click for video) which is going to help UPS -- your friends in the big brown trucks -- save $30M over the course of the next four years, as well as make the company greener -- as in environmentally.

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United Parcel Service is one of the world's largest shipper of packages -- and as such, has complex and very high volume processes for sorting and moving packages through its shipping and distribution centers. One of these processes currently involves the use of a PC workstation and shipping table equipped with a laser barcode scanner and  a thermal impact printer which creates a sticky label that is affixed to the package, as so:

With HP's new handheld and wireless solution, however, UPS workers can be mobile within the shipping centers and scan right from the package and print directly onto the cardboard:

What's the end result of all of this?  UPS estimates it will save 93,000+ hours of worker productivity, over 1.3 KILOTONS (1,300+ tons) of paper and reduced carbon emissions by 3.8 KILOTONS (3,800+ tons)  each year by switching to this process. It also vastly reduces the chance of misrouted packages because it simplifies what a worker has to do -- which in the old system, requires bringing the package to a worker, scanning the shipping label, printing a routing label, and slapping it on the package. In the new system, it's all done in one quick motion. UPS will be deploying 850 of these mobile devices in 55 of its shipping centers by the end of 2008, and expects to process over 3.1 million packages per day using this system by the end of 2010.

Do you foresee the use of direct to package or direct to paper labelling in your company? Talk Back and Let Me Know.