FedExpansion in Indy

FedEx Express is the largest express transportation company in the world. It delivers to all addresses in the United states as well as more than 220 countries and territories and shipments are delivered in one to three business days with delivery time guaranteed.

FedEx Express, the largest subsidiary of FedEx Corp., has six major hubs in the United States including Memphis (FedEx world headquarters and its largest hub); Indianapolis; Newark, N.J.; Fort Worth, Texas; Oakland, Calif.; and Anchorage, Alaska.

Bob Palmer, vice president and general manager of air-ground and freight services for FedEx Express in Indianapolis, is a shining example of FedEx's philosophy of promotion from within. Palmer started with FedEx as a mechanic at the Memphis hub 26 years ago and has since worked at nine of FedEx's locations. He has been in Indianapolis for 15 years, and his ascending career path is not entirely uncommon among FedEx employees.

"Everyone you talk to has started somewhat at the bottom of the company and worked their way up," Palmer says.

Expanding Indianapolis in 1998

FedEx began operating its Indianapolis hub in 1988 and an expansion in 1998 tripled the facility's size and doubled its sorting capacity. The '98 development also made Indy FedEx's second largest hub and the expansion itself was the largest in FedEx history.

Because Palmer was involved with the expansion in 1998, he brings experience and knowledge to the table.

"It's very easy to do an expansion or do a facility where it's just a green sheet of paper," Palmer says. "You can build it and you open the door, walk in and start doing business. But the biggest challenge we had (in 1998) was to build this facility while we continued to operate the hub."

While the expansion in 1998 created much-needed space, it also brought approximately 1,200 new employees and automation to the Indianapolis hub. New employees and automation required training, which had to be done around the normal sort schedule and not with customers' packages.

"There was a lot of training with it," Palmer says. "We actually had about 20 tractor-trailer loads of dummy boxes full of old telephone books that we used to test the system and teach people how to sort."

The New Expansion at Indy

In contrast to the 1998 hub development at Indianapolis, the new expansion is more of an addition of space and employees, without the extra training to integrate automation.

Palmer says, "This is really a continuation of the existing structure. It's something that we can just open, turn it on and add it to the current facility. In '98 the biggest change was we turned a 600,000 square-foot facility into a two-million square-foot facility. It was a totally different way of doing business."

According to a May 4 FedEx press release, plans for the expansion project include a 400,000 square-foot addition to the existing sort facility and construction of a 175,000 square-foot secondary sort building. Two maintenance buildings will also be built, including an 8,000 square-foot facility for ground support equipment and a 40,000 square-foot building for aircraft maintenance. In all, the Indianapolis hub will grow by more than 600,000 square feet. Construction has begun and the expanded system is slated to be operational by December 2008.

With the expansion, the hub will increase its package processing capacity by more than 30 percent, from 75,000 packages per hour to 99,000 per hour. Also, up to 800 employees may be hired with the expansion, which would bring the Indy hub to almost 5,000 employees.