Fedex Corporation: Company Profile
FEDEX CORPORATION: COMPANY PROFILE
FedEx Corporation previously known as FDX Corporation is an American company involved in global courier delivery services with major products being post-delivery, express mail, freight forwarding and third party logistics. The company with more than 300,000 employees worldwide is headquartered at Memphis, Tennessee. The total revenue reported for the company in year 2015 was US$ 47.45 billion while the net income for the company stood at US$ 2.57 billion. FedEx is structured into different operating units based on the portion of service they cover and are identified by difference in color of ‘Ex’. These units are namely FedEx Express (Orange colored ‘Ex’), FedEx Ground (Green colored ‘Ex’), FedEx Smart Post (Grey colored ‘Ex’), FedEx Freight (Red colored ‘Ex’), FedEx Trade Networks (Yellow colored ‘Ex’).
A typical ordering process at FedEx involves the placement of order by the customer either online or on phone. After the payment is received the orders are immediately packed, scanned and shipped through FedEx Ground which act as feeders to other parts of the shipping units. Depending upon the location the order is then delivered to the consignee. Besides, FedEx maintains a wide range of other services to keep its customers informed about their deliveries and to address to any grievance the customer might have. The operations at FedEx can thus be broadly segregated under 5 heads viz. Collection, Scanning, Transportation, Delivery and Customer Management.
FedEx was one of the first express logistic companies to reap the benefits of technology. The company pioneered the first automated customer service center in 1978 which was just 5 years since it began its operations.
In as early as 2003, FedEx operated one of the worlds most extensive computer and telecommunications networks and thousands of mobile computers that were used to record and track shipments. FedExs data center processed more than 20 million transactions daily which was way larger than any other US company.
FedEx has mostly used technology for enhancing the value to the customer, rather than merely on remaining competitive. FedEx has continually developed innovative technologies to provide the time-definite service to the customers. FedEx has smartly used both old and new technology to achieve its company’s goal to provide a fast-paced, efficient and reliable service that benefits both the business and its customers.
The information systems used at FedEx can be categorized into the following systems:
Transaction Process System:
This system collects and stores data about the transactions and also sometimes about the decisions made against the transaction. The elements of data collection under this system are scanners, volume and weight calculators, segregator,