Five Ways to Improve Yard Management

Yard Inventory Software can help resolve Supply Chain Bottlenecks

The automation of transportation processes, traditionally handled manually, is streamlining the supply chain, identifying bottlenecks and leading to improved efficiencies.  Automated yard management software can help operators more effectively manage the movement of trailers and the associated inventory across multiple sites.

Yard Management Shortfalls 

The management of trailers in a goods yard using just manual processes poses significant challenges:

• Up-to-date information that is complete & accurate is difficult to obtain. System updates are not in real time and producing reports or the filling out of spreadsheets correctly can be overwhelming
• Problems can occur when there is no visibility of deliveries that are due in or there is no tracking of movements that have happened in the yard. The manager is constantly addressing the current situation and always reacting to the latest emergency
• Time is lost searching physically for specific trailers or onboard products
• The yard can become congested without structured parking rules and knowledge of free spaces
• Deliveries that are delayed both inbound and outbound will routinely incur charges for trailer and driver detention, while also increasing idling times and fuel consumption
• The inefficiencies in yard management lead to increased costs, e.g. overtime costs for warehouse and yard staff
• Paper based tracking of security seals is often inaccurate and time-consuming

If you recognise any of these situations then your company could definitely benefit from implementing yard management software to save time, reduce costs and increase productivity.

Five Areas to Increase Bottom Line

The five areas of yard management software that will influence your bottom line the most and improve the overall flow of goods through your sites are:

1. Improved Inventory Management:  Real-time visibility of trailer content and their locations within the yard or inbound status enables fast identification of, and access to, the stock on hand. This can lower costs by reducing inventory requirements.
2. Enhanced Planning and Tracking: Yard coordinators can prioritise and track trailer positions, arrivals and departures across multiple or centralised yards.  The ability to assign parking and quickly locate trailers in the yard increases efficiency in operations. Time is saved looking for trailers or moving trailers into the correct locations.
3. Increased Security and Loss Prevention: The Software automatically records all trailer movements, inspections and security seal changes creating a valid audit trail for loss prevention and security that is easy to maintain.
4. Reduced Scrappage of perishable goods: Easily prioritise trailers for unloading according to their contents, the trailer/delivery age (by hours or days), carrier, or drivers’ hours.
5. Quicker Access to Information: Automation of yard management increases productivity, eliminates paperwork and makes the sharing of information easier.  For example, Descartes Yard Management™ creates an easy to use interface that can be used on touch-screen tablets while in-cab, walking through the premises, or in the guard’s hut to identify and validate loads that arrive and leave the yard.  The devices are built with their own internal storage of information to ensure that data is never lost even when a wi-fi connection or signal is not available.

Enterprise software solutions can also provide insight into the movement and location of trailers across many yards, they are integral to solving more challenging logistics issues such as integrating fleets or for-hire transportation operations.

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