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During O.A.R.’s 2011 summer tour, UPS measured O.A.R.’s existing carbon footprint and developed a transportation strategy to increase fuel efficiency and offset emissions. Overall, UPS helped neutralize more than 67 metric tonnes of CO2 during the 28 concert dates.

UPS has partnered with Live Nation to offer the music touring industry sustainable solutions that help eco-conscious artists reduce the carbon impact generated by the transport of their tours.  Recently, Dave Matthews Band Caravan worked with UPS to make their multi-city, multi-stage festival tour as efficient and sustainable as possible. During the tour, stages were built and swiftly transported to each concert location and UPS helped the Dave Matthews Band Caravan measure, manage and mitigate carbon emissions.

Chris Martin, the great-great-great grandson of the founder of CF Martin Guitar & Co., thinks that the hand is the perfect tool. But he takes advantage of all sorts of other tools, as well, to help the company see what’s in-coming and out-going. The company has a complex and global supply chain, with a worldwide distribution network. Solutions like UPS Quantum View help Martin Guitar keep on top of product distribution.

According to Chris, “It takes more than wood, glue, finish and strings to make a guitar. It takes logistics.”

In addition to streamlining operations for Martin Guitar, UPS helped redesign durable, more eco-responsible shipping boxes to help ensure guitars arrive safely to customers worldwide. Watch this video to learn more:

UPS’s chief sustainability officer Scott Wicker describes a recent conversation with President Obama about UPS’s alternative fuel vehicle fleet. He also answers the top question he received from thought leaders at the Fortune Brainstorm Green conference.

Hear from Scott, and then let us know: Why do you care about the Environment?

Donald Scales, a UPS driver for more than 30 years, worked closely with his son, driver-helper Keith Scales, during the holiday delivery rush. It’s their fourth consecutive holiday season working together.. Hear what they have to say:

Mexico-based Grupo Rev designs and manufactures some of the world’s highest quality latex masks for Halloween and Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations. But the only thing scarier than Grupo Rev’s ghoulish products were the obstacles the company faced when doing business internationally. Check out the video to see how UPS simplified shipping in and out of Mexico for Grupo Rev., helping them bring their incredible line of masks to people all over the world. Spooktacular!

UPS is now the official package delivery and logistics sponsor of the Southeastern Conference and SEC events. I had a chance to talk with Doug Gibeaut, director of sponsorships and events at UPS.

Q. Why is UPS making this sponsorship investment now?

A. With a total base of more than 172 million fans, 29 million of whom earn more than $100,000 a year, the college market’s fan base also provides access to a large audience of business decision-makers.

This gives us the ability to showcase our solutions and services, and at the same time, build key relationships by hosting customers and employees at hospitality events staged around these important SEC championships.

Q. What are the details of the sponsorship?

A. UPS has official corporate sponsor status with conference logos, marketing rights, SEC television and web presence, event signage and merchandise. Also, the company will have a presence at the Dr. Pepper SEC FanFare during the Conference’s annual football championship weekend and men’s basketball tournament. These two events, held in conjunction with the respective SEC Championships, draw more than 60,000 fans each year.

Q. How will UPS leverage the sponsorship with b2b customers?

A. Hosting customers at marquis events such as the SEC Football Championship is one way to build relationships and our business. In addition, we will seek introductions to other sponsors, suppliers and those connected with the conference to help introduce UPS and compete for business.

Kewill, a company providing integrated shipping options, has recently added UPS Freight capabilities to its offering. As director of product management for Kewill’s shipping products, Peter Starvaski is responsible for defining the product road maps for Kewill’s Clippership and Flagship products.

Tell me about Kewill and specifically the Kewill UPS Solution Kit.

Kewill has been supporting supply chains through innovative software for more than 30 years. While we provide a range of solutions for ensuring the efficient movement of goods, our multi-carrier shipping software, primarily our Clippership and Flagship products, move more parcels than any other 3rd party solution provider. 

The UPS Solution Kit provides support for domestic services Ground, Next Day, Two Day, Three Day, Hundred Weight, UPS Basic, Hazardous material support, etc., and International Services. A customer would be hard pressed to find a parcel service we didn’t support.

What are the customer benefits to the new freight offering?

Traditionally, freight and parcel have been separate functions for most shipping departments. Indeed they may even be separate departments operating at different ends of the warehouse or even in different warehouse.  

And visibility for one or the other often wasn’t integrated – basically the right hand didn’t know what the left hand was doing. Savvy customers, however, realize that having visibility into both operations on a single platform can provide benefits across their internal operations, including more efficient planning, better communications and the ability to better select the appropriate transportation mode.

Sample of Kewill’s Clipper Ship Bill of Lading:

More information can be found at kewill.com.

Last year UPS introduced the HP Handheld sp400 All-in-One device in some of its package sorting facilities in the U.S., making the job of scanning shipments and printing labels easier and more efficient. The new device integrates a barcode imager, a paperless inkjet printer and wireless communication and is small and light enough to wear on the hand. UPS employees use the HP Handheld All-in-One to scan shipping labels on packages as they arrive at a package center, and print Preload Assist Labels (PALs) directly on the box. PALs simplify the job of employees loading outgoing package cars – telling them not only which truck the package should be loaded on, but also the shelf position within the truck. The HP Handheld replaces a process that relied on trolleys loaded with thermal printers, PCs, monitors and keyboards.

Today, UPS is using the device to process more than 3 million packages per business day, saving time, effort and even trees. By replacing thermal printers and paper labels with the impressive capabilities of the HP Handheld sp400, UPS is able to reduce its annual paper consumption by more than 1,338 tons.

Details about the UPS IT improvements and business benefits from the imprinter can be found in the HP/UPS case study. The study also describes the collaboration between HP and UPS to develop the device, starting with a proof-of-concept feasibility assessment considering cost, performance, usability and safety.

More features, specs and other industry uses for the device can be found on HP’s site.

I spoke with Joanna Smith, UPS Marketing, who has been very busy lately working with IBM to integrate shipping and visibility services within IBM’s new Lotus Live. Check out the Information Week article and read below for background about the UPS/IBM relationship and the new offering.

1. Why is UPS working with IBM?

UPS and IBM are working together to integrate UPS technologies into IBM applications – starting with Lotus Live. LotusLive is designed to allow organizations of all sizes to work and collaborate in smarter ways with an emphasis on simplicity and ease of use. Makes sense for UPS shipping and visibility services to be accessible from within this offering.

UPS is excited about the potential new customer base and this alignment with our key vertical industries through this exclusive relationship with such a well-known brand as IBM.

2. Tell me about Lotus Live?

Lotus Live is an integrated suite of tools that combines your business network with Web conferencing and collaboration capabilities, such as file storing and sharing, instant messaging, and chart creation.

Some product highlights include:

• Web meetings: You can easily host meetings and invite others to join.
• Store and share lets you share targeted business materials quickly with an entire group.
• The networking service lets you add customizable, shareable contact information and leverage social networking features to connect with others.
• Instant messaging helps you to locate a contact in the LotusLive community and start a real-time discussion with that contact.
• Forms service allows you to create a survey and quickly visualize the survey data through different types of charts, graphs, diagrams, and maps.
• You can upload or create data sets and create an instant graphical view to share with others.

3. What UPS services will be available with this offering?

IBM is licensed to use the following API’s:

• Shipping
• Tracking
• Rating and Service Selection
• Time in Transit
• Street Level Address Validation
• Drop off Locator

We are working on licensing other tools as well; more to come soon.

To see more, watch this video.

For more information on UPS Ready Program, visit ups.com/upsready.