Quality Driven Management
Success Stories
Success stories: See FedEx Quality Driven Management (QDM) in action
At FedEx, we’ve led hundreds of successful projects with QDM. It’s how we deliver superior customer experiences and business outcomes, as well as increase engagement for our team members worldwide.
Our stories demonstrate why we’re so passionate about quality and the results we can deliver with QDM.
An innovation to increase aircraft shipping capacity
The opportunity:
- Find a way to manage freight more efficiently.
- Make better use of the lower section of an aircraft.
The solution:
- The Gull Wing pallet, a patented innovation that increases freight volumes by 17% without decreasing aircraft efficiency or increasing costs.
Most valuable QDM Principles:
- Quality involves teamwork.
- Be scientific.
- Customers define quality.
“QDM allowed us to take this small group of personnel and develop this monumental concept that’s widespread and wide-reaching across the enterprise.”
— Mike Miller, Managing Director, Operations Research and Business Transformation, FedEx Express
The launch and rapid expansion of FedEx OnSite
The opportunity:
- Meet the needs of 30% of customers who prefer to pick up or drop off packages at a retail location, such as Walgreens or Dollar General.
- Expand at the rate of 500 locations weekly.
The solution:
- The successful launch of FedEx OnSite across 8,000 U.S. locations.
- Training of 40,000 couriers at 600 stations.
Most valuable QDM Principles:
- Quality involves teamwork.
- Customers define quality.
- View failure as opportunities.
- Optimize business performance.
“I’m in awe of what this team was able to deliver. This was the most rapid retail expansion in the history of FedEx.”
— Chris Werner, Manager, Retail Marketing, FedEx Services
A ‘Safety Above All’ solution for e-commerce
The opportunity:
- Optimize safety and customer satisfaction in neighborhoods receiving FedEx Freight® deliveries.
- Incorporate delivery drivers' feedback and ideas.
The solution:
- A redesigned delivery truck for improved access and safe navigation of residential streets.
- New trucks boost morale, and give drivers tools to be safe and successful.
- Zero accidents or injuries during a year of testing.
- A success that laid the groundwork for the launch of FedEx Freight Direct.
Most valuable QDM Principles:
- View failures as opportunities.
- Customers define quality.
“I am super proud of this team. They really have done a wonderful job of providing a ‘Safety Above All’ solution to a growing e-commerce market.”
— Ken Frith, Vice President, Regional Operations, FedEx Freight
Harnessing data to improve customer outcomes in international shipping
The opportunity:
- Reduce international shipments that are held in customs, to ensure timely deliveries.
The solution:
- A diverse team used QDM's design and innovation approach to improve the international shipping process.
- The team harnessed data to achieve a 10% reduction in held shipments in just four months.
Most valuable QDM Principles:
- Quality involves teamwork.
- Customers define quality.
“We took an entrepreneurial approach. We failed fast. We listened to our customers, and we worked with them on the fly.”
— Jonah M. Odum, Manager, Planning and Engineering, FedEx Express
