FedEx, first to automate package sort, did it with hometown ingenuity
FedEx's new sorting facility at the Memphis International Airport is the largest construction project in the region managed by a woman. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)
Secondary 25, as a name, is nondescript at best. For FedEx, it is the motherlode of $1.5 billion investment in package sort set to change just about everything it measures when it comes to delivery.
It is also the largest construction project in the region ever managed by a woman. And, embedded in its 1.3 million square feet, is sorting technology FedEx developed itself in a low-slung building off Tchulahoma Road sealed from view by with 12-foot security fence lined with black tarp.
“Everything about the place says ‘Keep out,’’ says Aaron Prather, a former senior research and development adviser at FedEx, who was in the room when the technology was created.
Secondary 25, the largest and first fully automated package sort anywhere, is expected to end the nights at the hub when the bottom falls out — weather, power outages or package spikes — and managers in a company known for high-tech end up yanking workers from one line to manage a bottleneck on another.
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FedEx Secondary 25 Richard Smith Kit Crighton-Smith Chris McDermott ANF Architects Grinder Haizlip Subscriber OnlyThank you for supporting local journalism.
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Jane Roberts
Longtime journalist Jane Roberts is a Minnesotan by birth and a Memphian by choice. She's lived and reported in the city more than two decades. She covers business news and features for The Daily Memphian.
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