UPS relies heavily on railroads to keep the giant Chicago Area Consolidation Hub on schedule - Progressive Railroading
Some facts about the CACH (pronounced "catch") are just as impressive as its size:
1,300 docks for loading and unloading trailers and containers;
80 acres of paved areas with staging space for more than 4,000 trailers;
a dizzying array of conveyor belts and rollers that would stretch 65 miles if laid end to end;
a NASA-like control room that manages 80,000 separate systems to control the flow of packages, each of which needs only about 10 minutes to travel from an inbound door to an outbound door via mostly automated handling equipment; and
a staff of 5,700 employees and 100 mechanics.
On a typical day, the hub sorts, consolidates and distributes 1.3 million to 1.5 million packages. During the peak season — from late September through the holidays — the CACH processes 2.5 million to 2.7 million packages daily and employs as many as 6,300 people.
The coordination, communication and collaboration required between UPS and the railroads to meet CACH's stringent rail needs is akin to a ballet, says Ken Buenker, vice president of UPS' corporate transportation services, who is responsible for rail transport company-wide.
Some facts about the CACH (pronounced "catch") are just as impressive as its size:
1,300 docks for loading and unloading trailers and containers;
80 acres of paved areas with staging space for more than 4,000 trailers;
a dizzying array of conveyor belts and rollers that would stretch 65 miles if laid end to end;
a NASA-like control room that manages 80,000 separate systems to control the flow of packages, each of which needs only about 10 minutes to travel from an inbound door to an outbound door via mostly automated handling equipment; and
a staff of 5,700 employees and 100 mechanics.
On a typical day, the hub sorts, consolidates and distributes 1.3 million to 1.5 million packages. During the peak season — from late September through the holidays — the CACH processes 2.5 million to 2.7 million packages daily and employs as many as 6,300 people.
The coordination, communication and collaboration required between UPS and the railroads to meet CACH's stringent rail needs is akin to a ballet, says Ken Buenker, vice president of UPS' corporate transportation services, who is responsible for rail transport company-wide.
