Work Perfect

The day we strive for 

Seth Dorfman

Project engineer
FedEx Express
Charlotte, N.C.

I am a project engineer in the Regional Sort Operations Planning and Engineering group with FedEx Express, an operating company of FedEx Corp. I provide planning, engineering and operation consulting services to delivery, pick-up and sort field operations. My core responsibilities include forecasting, route optimization planning, budgeting, facility planning, developing staffing plans, and implementing productivity and service improvement projects.

As an IE, I have developed strong analytical problem solving skills, and three years ago I broadened my background by completing Six Sigma green belt certification. These IE skills lend themselves perfectly to an intensive, complex, high-volume logistics network such as FedEx, where I am continuously focused on minimizing cost and improving productivity.

A perfect day for me involves seeing my plans executed and providing exceptional service to our customers and knowing I had a direct hand in making that happen. I enjoy being inside the operations talking to my operating teams and learning how we can continuously improve our planning and performance.

The best part of my job is seeing the positive impact and benefits of the projects I work on. This year, I worked on a project to expand and upgrade our First Overnight Service offering. This involved developing detailed and precise operating plans to upgrade earlier delivery service commitments in many zip codes. It’s satisfying to help our company improve our competitive advantage and help our customers with faster, time-sensitive shipping options.

Professionally, I want to advance into IE management. As an IE manager, I can develop future engineers, share my success and continue to leverage my skill set in an expanded role.

– Interview by David Brandt

David Brandt is the Web managing editor for IIE.