Is it a Hub or a Center? - Brown Cafe

bubsdad · 04-04-2009, 02:28 AM

What determines if a building is classified as a Hub or Center? I was told that if a bldg generates loads it is a hub but if they just sort loads and deliver them on package cars it is a center.

UpstateNYUPSer · 04-04-2009, 03:00 AM

That sounds about right to me. Ours is a center as our outbound freight is sorted either to Albany or Syracuse and our inbound directly to pkg cars.

over9five · 04-04-2009, 05:22 AM

I believe it was Hoax (one of our most knowlegable and good looking members) who said Hub SLICS end in 9.
What's your SLIC, dude?
Mine's 0189.

Jones · 04-04-2009, 05:42 AM

click

Entire article here.

feederdriver06 · 04-04-2009, 08:28 AM

Hubs have a night sort and centers do not.........at least thats the trend that I have noticed in my travels

over9five · 04-04-2009, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jones

click

Entire article here.

there are "only 6 hubs in the world."

Well, that can't be right, can it? How old is that article?

helenofcalifornia · 04-04-2009, 08:46 AM

Six hubs, eh? Atlanta, Sacramento, San Bruno, Northbay and two other smaller, inconsequential hubs I am sure.

Jones · 04-04-2009, 09:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by over9five

there are "only 6 hubs in the world."

Well, that can't be right, can it? How old is that article?

I was wondering about that. From what I can tell the article is only 2 years old at most.

1989 · 04-04-2009, 09:47 AM

Hubs have rats...Centers have mice.

moreluck · 04-04-2009, 10:57 AM

Which one has bats ??

trplnkl · 04-04-2009, 10:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moreluck

Which one has bats ??

The corporate belfry

scratch · 04-04-2009, 12:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moreluck

Which one has bats ??

That would be the buildings that run a Midnight Sort.

yeldarb · 04-04-2009, 12:46 PM

Within our hub in the Wasatch, we have 3 centers.

moreluck · 04-04-2009, 05:17 PM

Seagull, Bonneville, Park City & Temple ??? Did they take one away???

DS · 04-04-2009, 06:00 PM

A hub is the wheel in the middle
A center delivers the freight
A hub can have numerous centers
A center is 8 divided by 8
So the hub is the mentor for a whole lot or centers
That feed all the hubs everywhere,but a center is one
by itself as a whole , a hub can can have lots of late air

bluehdmc · 04-04-2009, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feederdriver06

Hubs have a night sort and centers do not.........at least thats the trend that I have noticed in my travels

Edison, NJ, (SLIC 0899) only has 2 sorts. There are others in NJ that only have 2 sorts, yet still end in 9

I think it may be a Hub if it has 2 or more centers.

Cementups · 04-04-2009, 07:46 PM

We have 2 centers within our HUB.

bubsdad · 04-04-2009, 07:53 PM

umm, ok, thanks I think............

trplnkl · 04-05-2009, 05:32 AM

Whut? Still not clear on what a hub is vs. a center?

Me neither

InTheRed · 04-05-2009, 06:25 AM

I think what will define a HUB vs CENTER is what type of outbound loads it creates.

If it creates hub to hub, as well as hub to center (i.e. generates/creates a bunch of preload loads for other buildings), then it is a hub. If it doesn't (i.e. it creates its own retain load, and a few hub loads to handle the rest of the country), then it is a center.

This, of course, will be dependent upon pickup volume. If you pickup enough volume, you can't shove it all onto 3-4 hubs... you'll have to do the hub's job and create preload loads, or numerous hub-to-hub loads. If you do that, you are a hub.

UPSNewbie · 04-05-2009, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by InTheRed

I think what will define a HUB vs CENTER is what type of outbound loads it creates.

If it creates hub to hub, as well as hub to center (i.e. generates/creates a bunch of preload loads for other buildings), then it is a hub. If it doesn't (i.e. it creates its own retain load, and a few hub loads to handle the rest of the country), then it is a center.

This, of course, will be dependent upon pickup volume. If you pickup enough volume, you can't shove it all onto 3-4 hubs... you'll have to do the hub's job and create preload loads, or numerous hub-to-hub loads. If you do that, you are a hub.

Or another way to look at it: if your inbound is only going to preload, that's a center.

ups_vette · 04-05-2009, 12:50 PM

A Center is the designation of an operation that DELIVERS and PICKS UP packages.

A HUB is the designation of an operation that SORTS packages. A Hub may have as many as 4 different sorts (Day Sort, Twilight Sort, Midnight Sort, and Sunrise Sort) or only 1 of those sorts.

One or more Centers may be physically located in the same facility as a Hub, but are seperate operations.

yeldarb · 04-05-2009, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moreluck

Seagull, Bonneville, Park City & Temple ??? Did they take one away???

they did some changes....Bonneville, Wasatch, Crossroads

tieguy · 04-05-2009, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jones

click

Entire article here.

Jones information is technically correct.

A hub consolidates volume. So if they process packages from one ups building to another ups building then they are a hub.

A center building process and delivers thier own pickup and delivery packages only. So a harrington delaware building unloads inbound packages to be delivered and loads packages they pickup. they then feed those packages to a hub that consolidates them. The concept is simply to utilize all the space in a trailer before sending them across the country. If a district has 10 center building we would not want 10 california loads leaving those 10 building 10 percent filled. So we feed the california packages into a hub and they fill up one trailer to california.

Not all building ending with a 9 are hubs. Many of your buildings slic codes but not all end in a nine. But the individual delivery center in those buildings do not end in a nine. So harringtons building slic is 1999 but thier delivery centers slic is 1990.

There are a lot of exceptions with the numbering system and even the hub naming concepts. Some of your larger local sorts around the country have been changed from local sorts to hubs over the years. I'm not sure why but I think its more to do with internal reporting needs.

blue efficacy · 04-05-2009, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feederdriver06

Hubs have a night sort and centers do not.........at least thats the trend that I have noticed in my travels

Not all hubs have night sorts. They generally all have twilight sorts. But not all have night sorts.

Minnesota has 3 hubs. MGRMN, MINMN, and STPMN.

MGRMN 5599 only has twilight and preload. It is automated.

MINMN 5549 has a preload, twilight and night sort. Twilight processes locally originated volume, as well as loads from MT ND and sometimes other northwest locales with volume headed east. Night sort processes MN, ND, SD and MT volume ONLY. Many of the loads are only MN.

STPMN 5519 has preload, twlight, and night sort also. Twilight, same story as MINMN as far as I know. Night, they process a lot of stuff. Mainly loads built from CENTERS in MN, western WI and northern IA. They will also take loads from MINMN Night.

So, knowing all of this, twilights are primarily used for sorting loads of local origin, as well as pickups from that building's package cars. Night sorts, on the other hand, serve different purposes. Due to this, a night sort is not needed for every hub like a Twi is.

All a center does is Preload, and local sort which builds trailers that go to nearby hubs to be distributed to other hubs across the US.