Management Science in Automating Postal Operations: Facility and Equipment Planning in the United States Postal Service

In 1988, the postal service released its corporate automation plan (CAP), an ambitious program that includes a cumulative capital investment of $12 billion and labor savings of $4 billion per year by 1995. The backbone of the analysis leading to the CAP was performed with a comprehensive simulation model called META (model for evaluating technology alternatives). META blends a variety of management science and software tools to create a decision support system. It has spawned a family of systems for use at both headquarters and field levels of the USPS, accelerating and enhancing the use of management science throughout the organization.