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UPS unveils integrated supply chain platform

New tool enables real-time, simultaneous monitoring of end-to-end supply chain

UPS has unveiled an integrated supply chain IT platform. (Photo: Jim Allen/FreightWaves)

UPS Inc. (NYSE: UPS) on Wednesday unveiled its Supply Chain Symphony platform, which it said will integrate into one platform the visibility of multiple services that had previously been siloed.

The new tool will enable customers to monitor simultaneously and in real time every aspect of their global supply chains, UPS said. In the past, visibility could not be obtained without shifting to different platforms, according to a company spokesperson. The tool will also enable customers to generate real-time reports on service performance.

Many companies have trouble connecting their separate spreadsheets or databases, and most shippers find it difficult and time-consuming to turn supply chain data into useful information, UPS said in a statement. “An integrated logistics system can give companies a competitive advantage,” UPS said. Customers using the cloud-based software-as-a-service solution will benefit from improved customer service, collaboration, asset utilization and forecasting accuracy, according to the company.

The integrated tool supplants previously stand-alone UPS tools that cover shipping services, global logistics and distribution, global freight forwarding, customs brokerage, and supplier management. It also includes the company’s Express Critical urgent-delivery service, its Mail Innovations service for high-volume mailers, and its Coyote Logistics brokerage service.


Mark Solomon

Formerly the Executive Editor at DC Velocity, Mark Solomon joined FreightWaves as Managing Editor of Freight Markets. Solomon began his journalistic career in 1982 at Traffic World magazine, ran his own public relations firm (Media Based Solutions) from 1994 to 2008, and has been at DC Velocity since then. Over the course of his career, Solomon has covered nearly the whole gamut of the transportation and logistics industry, including trucking, railroads, maritime, 3PLs, and regulatory issues. Solomon witnessed and narrated the rise of Amazon and XPO Logistics and the shift of the U.S. Postal Service from a mail-focused service to parcel, as well as the exponential, e-commerce-driven growth of warehouse square footage and omnichannel fulfillment.