OREANDA-NEWS. UPS (NYSE: UPS) today announced a significant upgrade to its package sorting facility adjacent to Columbia Metropolitan Airport.  The building will be outfitted with fully automated sorting capabilities. 

“UPS is constantly reinvesting in our people and assets to enhance performance throughout our fully-integrated delivery network,” states Dwayne C. Meeks, president of UPS’s South Atlantic District. “Developing and implementing technology that refines the package sorting process is part of that continual effort.”

Automated sorting systems will move packages through the sort process capturing package data and routing volume to proper load positions. Six-sided decode tunnels will replace traditional scanning to capture package information from address labels.  Label applicators will place “smart labels” on packages for local delivery, providing UPS loaders and sorters faster instruction of a package’s proper staging location in a UPS® truck prior to transport. This automation is part of UPS’s suite of package flow technologies.

On average, UPS Airlines makes ten daily flights to and from Columbia Metropolitan Airport.  UPS upgrades facilities like this one throughout its global network, continuously positioning the company to meet customers’ future needs as their businesses grow. 

The 315,000 square-foot facility sits on a 57-acre site in Lexington County that includes staging for tractor trailers.  The building is expected to be operational before the end of the year.