The Chicago Area Consolidation Hub (CACH) is a package sorting hub for United Parcel Service. Located approximately 15 miles (24 km) southwest of downtown Chicago, the facility is in two municipalities. Five-sixths of the UPS properties lie within the Village of Hodgkins, Illinois, with one-sixth being situated in the neighboring Village of Willow Springs. All of its fire, police and infrastructure are attached to Hodgkins. A public shipping and receiving facility is in Willow Springs while the huge transfer and loading facilities are in Hodgkins. This facility serves as a central sorting facility for packages traversing the country and internationally. Construction of the CACH facility began in November 1991 at the site previously occupied by the GM Truck and Bus manufacturing plant. The facility has an area of 48.9 acres (198,000 m²), and has a perimeter of 3.1 miles (5.0 km). It employs over 8,000 people across four shifts. Packages are only handled during loading and unloading - all sorting takes place through a complex system of conveyor belts and push paddles, utilizing high-speed cameras to read the destination from a smart label to sort a package to its outgoing trailer.