For the first time in more than 40 years, the familiar United Parcel Service (UPS) logo has gotten a makeover. In late March, the company unveiled a new look said to reflect the significant broadening of capabilities that has occurred in recent years as the company has expanded across the globe and introduced a portfolio of new supply chain services. The company will continue to use the color brown for its operations, but the logo change includes elimination of the package with a st ring bow atop the shield.

"UPS is a vastly different company today than most people realize," says UPS Chairman and CEO Mike Eskew. "Today we are bringing our look up to speed with our capabilities." Based on the scale of the project, it appears that changing UPS's visual identity may be one of the most significant corporate identity transformations ever.

The UPS brand is one of the most seen and recognized on the globe. The logo appears on more than 88,000 vehicles,257 large jet aircraft,1,700 facilities around the world, 70,000 drop-off and retail access points, more than 1 million uniform pieces and more than 3 billion pa ckages annually.

The visual changes will not be restricted to the logo alone.To further communicate the global reach and expanding capabilities of UPS, the phrase "Synchronizing the World of Commerce" will become part of the design of the company's aircraft and familiar brown package cars. New advertising also will include the "synchronizing commerce" theme.

The most visible change to the UPS logo is the removal of the bow-tied parcel that appears atop the shield. Ironically, even though the small bow had become one of the most recognized features of the company's logo, packages with string have not been accepted by UPS for several decades because the string can get caught in high-speed sorting machinery.