FDX CHANGES NAME, WILL INTEGRATE SALES

FDX CHANGES NAME, WILL INTEGRATE SALES    FDX Corp. has launched several strategic initiatives to rejuvenate its sales and marketing operations in hopes of putting the company back on a strong growth track.
   The Memphis-based holding company, parent to air express giant Federal Express and ground delivery specialist RPS, is changing its name to FedEx Corp. and renaming some subsidiaries.
   Federal Express now will be called FedEx Express; RPS becomes FedEx Ground; Roberts Express becomes FedEx Custom Critical; and FDX Logistics becomes FedEx Global Logistics.
   “It’s time to leverage and extend one of our greatest assets, the FedEx brand, and to provide our customers an integrated set of business solutions,” said Frederick W. Smith, chairman, president and chief executive officer of FedEx Corp. “Our customers increasingly want a single company that can meet all of their global transportation needs.”
   FedEx also will integrate its sales, customer service, billing and IT operations to offer customers a single point of contact. The integration will help FedEx to leverage its ground and air services to win more business from customers — a practice known as “bundling.”
   FedEx confirmed that FedEx Ground will roll out in March a limited residential delivery service covering half of the U.S. population. The service should help FedEx tap the growing delivery business associated with Internet retailing.
   FedEx said it will set up a separate operating unit, called FedEx Home Delivery, to handle residential deliveries. FedEx Ground will use contract carriers operating out of 67 facilities tied into RPS’s existing business-to-business package network.
   The changes at FedEx come after the company reported disappointing financial results for the second quarter. FedEx wants to compete more aggressively against chief rival United Parcel Service, which has used integrated sales practices to gain air business from existing ground delivery customers.