inbound
Nationwide next-day deliveries have become so common that most consumers
take aircargo transportation for granted. But few people aside from aircargo
carrier employees have ever set foot inside the workhorse jets that make such
swift deliveries possible.
That changed recently when Seattle’s Museum of Flight opened its interactive
aircargo exhibit, which is housed within a 34-foot section of a former FedEx
Corp. 727 transport jet.
Funded by a $1.5 million grant from FedEx, the exhibit uses 3-D graphics,
videos, and “discovery boxes” to show how air transport has transformed the
global economy over the past century. “Given the evolution of aircargo transportation and its contribution to world commerce during the past 100 years,
both [FedEx and the Museum of Flight] realized the history of air cargo needed
to be told,” Phil Blum, FedEx Express vice president for fleet development and
strategic projects, said in a release.
The new exhibit is located in the museum’s 140,000-square-foot Aviation
Pavilion alongside a collection that includes more than 160 historically significant airplanes and spacecraft, from a 1914 fighter plane to today’s 787
Dreamliner and a NASA Space Shuttle Trainer.
FedEx jet houses world’s first aircargo exhibit
Last-mile delivery is hard work, and the job
gets even tougher when temperatures drop
below freezing. Icy sidewalks and slippery
steps pose risks for parcel couriers, and
snow banks can cause delivery delays or even
injuries.
To train employees how to walk safely
on snow and ice, German logistics giant
Deutsche Post DHL Group turned to one
of the world’s foremost experts: a penguin.
During two training sessions in November,
the international parcel carrier brought in
an African penguin from a nearby aquarium
to provide what amounted to a lesson in
waddling.
As part of the company’s “Safety First – Safety Feet” program, the flightless
bird demonstrated safe winter walking techniques for couriers who will walk
packages up to doorways this holiday season and for workers at the carrier’s
package sorting hub. The penguin visited DHL’s service center in Erlanger, Ky.,
on Nov. 8 and delivered an encore performance at the company’s facility at the
Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) on Nov. 14.
Missed the event? Here’s what you need to know about how to maintain a
solid footing on icy surfaces. One trick is to emulate the low center of gravity
that penguins have. Another is to use your arms the way a penguin uses its
flippers for balance; that is, by performing a kind of flapping motion when the
going gets tough.
DHL teaches its couriers to march like a penguin
Imagine an apartment complex with 400 units. When
the majority of its occupants rely on a service like
Amazon Prime to deliver retail
goods and groceries, what is
the most efficient way to get
parcels to their destinations?
If that sounds like the kind
of problem you’d rather not
tackle, then fear not—a corps
of graduate students in Seattle
are hard at work finding the
answer.
At the Urban Freight Lab at
the University of Washington’s
Supply Chain Transportation
& Logistics Center (SCTL),
students are looking for ways
to improve operations in the
“final 50 feet” of the urban
goods delivery system. (The
“final 50 feet” begins at the
city-owned curb, commercial
vehicle load zone, or sidewalk;
extends through privately
owned building freight bays;
and may end in the common
areas within a building such as
the lobby.)
Currently, the students are
mapping the city’s freight
infrastructure, such as the private loading bays and commercial vehicle load zones.
Once that project is complete,
they’ll begin filming video of
loading and unloading processes. Solutions are expected to address the challenge of
delivery trucks finding curb-side parking in dense urban
traffic and avoiding dangerous
compromises like illegal double-parking in center lanes.
Students tackle
“final 50 feet”
challenge
