The $600M Mistake UPS Almost Made — and How They Turned It Around | Pulse #30

In this episode of Pulse by Intuji, Julian Wallis speaks with Jack Levis, former Senior Director at UPS, who led a transformation that saved the company over $600 million a year.

Jack shares how a system on the brink of cancellation became UPS’s most successful operational breakthrough — and the critical role psychology, leadership and data played in making it work. He unpacks the hidden risks of ignoring people in digital transformation, and how focusing on outcomes, not features, changed everything.

Topics Covered:

00:00:00 – Podcast Intro
Episode Highlights & Guest Background

00:01:06 – Introduction
Julian introduces Jack Levis and his legacy leading transformation at UPS.

00:04:05 – Building the Foundation
Jack explains why Package Flow Technologies had to come before any analytics.

00:07:13 – Initial Failure of Package Flow How the first rollout failed due to a lack of change management and human focus.

00:10:02 – Learning the Hard Way
The “Field of Dreams” mistake and the psychology gap in digital projects.

00:13:13 – Orion’s Real Advantage
Why a technically imperfect system succeeded through perfect deployment.

00:18:26 – The Test That Changed Everything Early pilots shocked the C-suite by doubling savings estimates.

00:20:53 – Internal Resistance and Doubt
How Jack faced ridicule, accusations, and pushback from leadership.

00:28:30 – Making Transformation Stick
Why changing daily conversations and metrics made Orion sustainable.

00:32:03 – Focusing on Outcomes, Not Features
How most digital programs fail by solving the wrong problems.

00:33:00 – Aligning Digital with Physical The risks when virtual systems don’t match operational reality.

00:35:25 – Understanding Analytics Levels
Descriptive, predictive and prescriptive analytics — and why they matter.

00:43:26 – The Unexpected Discovery
How simulation modelling revealed hidden costs and strategic insight.

Key Takeaways from this Episode:

• Don’t just build tech — build belief and behaviour change around it
• You must align your data model with real-world decisions to see impact
• A system that isn’t used is a system that fails — even if it works perfectly
• Use leading indicators for the front line and lagging indicators for leadership
• Change management isn’t a phase — it’s the foundation

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