Innovation: It’s a Customer Thing

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Changing times, changing services
Customers’ changing desires also drive the company in new directions. UPS started as a messenger company, a business that became obsolete when the telegraph and then the telephone became widely available. UPS then became a package delivery service, transporting packages from stores to shoppers’ homes. Eventually, customers began to carry their home purchases home, forcing change again into a package delivery service focused on businesses. (Ironically, internet shopping has returned UPS back to its roots, as more and more customers are again receiving UPS packages at home).

All the while, the company adapted its operations to be more efficient, more profitable and more flexible --- strengthening UPS’s relationship to customers with reliable service.

The result is called “constructive dissatisfaction,” practically a mantra at UPS. The philosophy is that nothing is ever perfect and that incremental improvements overtime can make radical change. An army of industrial engineers whittle away minutes, pennies and processes to bring efficiencies to operations.

Not stopping at the first right answer
Eskew, who spent much of his career as an industrial engineer, encourages UPSers to continue to strive for perfection: “When I talk to our people at UPS, I tell them when they look in the mirror in the morning to think about how well they will innovate that day, how they’ll realize opportunity and find new ways to create solutions.” He goes a step futher: “I tell them not to stop at the first right answer. There are many ways to solve problems and sometimes it’s better to find the second or third right answer.”

A hundred years from now, UPSers will no doubt still be looking for a better way.

The statistical information included here was current at the time it was published in 2007. To see more recent statistics, visit our pressroom.

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