With driver shortages, trade wars, and an explosion in e-commerce, it’s been a year of historic disruptions in supply chains. In fact, recent disruptions caused by COVID-19 have brought delivered a “new normal” that has created a demand for improved visibility and connectivity in yard operations.

According to Gartner’s 2020 Market Guide for Yard Management, disruptions caused by COVID-19 “have highlighted a lack of focus in the yard … and caused longer dwell times for carriers and other inefficiencies.”

Yards are extremely busy places – with scores of vehicles, cargo, and people moving throughout a terminal. When one process fails, it can negatively affect all aspects of the operation and inhibit an operator’s ability to deliver shipments on a timely basis. When a trailer goes to the wrong dock, for example, it must be removed and space allocated for the correct trailer, causing a significant delay. These issues and many other challenges can adversely impact efficiencies and create costly delays.

Yard Transformation

An efficient terminal yard is critical for optimizing space and turnaround times, increasing throughput, and driving costs down. With all of today’s challenges, shippers are looking to transform their terminal yards from storage grounds to critical infrastructure and seeking ways to optimize vehicle movement for maximum efficiency.

It is more important than ever to track cargo from the moment it enters the yard to the moment it leaves the yard – to ensure a safe, efficient, and productive yard.

Companies are looking to yard management solutions that incorporate real-time location systems that provide more precise and automated tracking capabilities—to help them manage trailer and shipment locations for improved efficiencies and greater profitability. An effective yard management solution can improve worker productivity and dock planning and streamline the movement of goods.

Trailer and container visibility

The yard management system you choose should include real-time location capabilities to provide the precise, automated tracking capabilities needed to optimize material flow. That means that monitoring entrances and exits into yard sites is one of your highest priorities.

More specifically, you need to be able to:

• Enable wireless communication of trailer move requests and complete trailer moves from on-board computers
• Identify and validate trailers
• Monitor inspections and audit yard spots
• Prevent damaged trailers from being pulled to the dock door by configuring inspection points
• Enable fast check-ins of trailers as they approach the gate
• Monitor status of dock doors and trailer status in real-time
• Track containers, pallets, and products so that you know where they are located on the lot

That takes visibility. With automated visibility about the location of specific trailers and product, you can improve workflows, reduce manual processes, even cut the costs of physical asset losses.

AI technology and yard logistics

An artificial intelligence (AI)-based yard management solution can transform the logistics yard into an extension of the warehouse. Using machine-vision technology to monitor the location of trucks, trailers, and containers, it enables you to plan, execute, track, and audit loads according to your needs and priorities.

Using omniQ Vision’s cloud-based innovative access control and security solution, which features automated vehicle recognition system (VRS) technology and Zebra’s MotionWorks, you can increase the speed, efficiency, and productivity of your yard management options.

This solution delivers a host of benefits that include:

• Efficient identification and authentication of containers and trucks
• Automatic vehicle plate recognition and arrival notice
• Intelligent location of truck and container positions
• Efficient warehouse entrance operation
• Authentication and destination point alerts for exit gate operations
• Real-time reporting, analytics, and insights

To learn more about Zebra’s MotionWorks solution with omniQ Vision, contact omniQ at info@omniq.com or 800-242-7272.

SIDEBAR:

Dock and yard management system market expected to grow by 11.8% from 2020-2026[1]