UPS plans a big increase in its service-parts logistics network in China. The company said it is adding 101 field stocking locations (FSLs), giving it more than 110 bonded and non-bonded FSLs in the country. UPS now covers 89 cities across China with same-day or next-business-day delivery of critical service parts. Industries served by the network include high-tech, electronics, medical equipment and aerospace. Like their counterparts elsewhere in the world, the Chinese FSLs will use the UPS Post Sales Order Management System (OMS), a Web-based offering which allows for quick assessment of a company's critical parts inventory, determines the best routing strategy, places orders online and tracks parts from the warehouse to end user. Last May, UPS announced the expansion of its FSL network in India, along with the opening of a customer-support center in the Philippines, to meet the needs of service-parts shippers in Asia. In another company announcement, UPS is teaming up with Honeywell on development of a new handheld computer for UPS drivers. Known within UPS as the DIAD V (Delivery Information Acquisition Device V), the unit provides for "on-the-fly" switching between cellular carriers, avoiding the problem of lost signals. Half the size and weight of its predecessor, the DIAD IV, the new device features a color display and microprocessor with expanded memory, allowing for the display of maps that help drivers to avoid traffic jams. A color, auto-focus camera aids in documenting proof of delivery. A 2D imager can decode a large number of symbologies, including existing UPS linear barcodes and the UPS Maxicode, speeding the upload of additional information at the time a package is picked up. UPS said it will begin field-testing the device in late 2010, with plans to for a multi-year global deployment beginning in 2011.
