UPS Breaks Ground On New Salt Lake City Regional O

SALT LAKE CITY, Feb. 23, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- UPS (NYSE: UPS ) will build a new regional operations hub in Salt Lake City that will be among the largest processing facilities in its global package network. The $275 million project joins other significant capital investments announced over the past 24 months focused on new construction combined with modernization and expansion of top tier UPS ^® hubs in the U.S. to address planned growth.

When completed in late 2018, the new 840,000 square foot facility will process 69,000 packages per hour as a complement to the existing 200,000 square foot operations in town.

“This new regional hub is one of our strategic initiatives to continue to build the long-term future of UPS,” said Mark Wallace, UPS senior vice president of global engineering and sustainability. “Utah is the crossroads to serving the Western U.S., and the state-of-the-art automation technology being deployed will improve performance, increase capacity and create additional flexibility to handle the non-stop growth of e-commerce business in the region.”

More than 1,500 jobs will be aided by new technology and automation that increase the accuracy of data collection for reliability and processing flexibility as packages route through the complex system of conveyors and advance across a maze of belts. Two automated processing areas will focus on smaller-sized packages, typical of today’s e-commerce purchases.   

Nearly 160 acres were assembled with convenient interstate and airport access to support UPS growth across the mountain west, much of it from both commercial and residential e-commerce. The property will include onsite fueling to accommodate both diesel and natural gas alternative fueled vehicles.

Ken Cherry, president of the UPS Desert Mountain district that includes Utah operations, noted UPS appreciation for support from city and state officials. “UPS customers benefit from new efficiencies and capacity, and we sustain and grow jobs in the area for a positive economic impact.”

UPS currently employs more than 3,500 workers across Utah in package, heavy freight and contract logistics operations. The company’s footprint includes 24 operating facilities and 46 The UPS Store ^® locations as independently-owned small businesses that are part of a franchise network.

About UPS

UPS (NYSE: UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including transporting packages and freight; facilitating international trade, and deploying advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. Headquartered in Atlanta, UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. The company can be found on the web at  ups.com and its corporate blog can be found at  longitudes.ups.com . To get UPS news direct, visit  pressroom.ups.com/RSS or follow @UPS_News .

Kim Krebs 404-828-4404 kkrebs@ups.com