What is Yard Management? Definition & Explanation of Yard Management Systems
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No matter how small or large your operation is, you'll likely have to deal with yard management on a daily basis. With the right yard management system in place, your time is wisely spent, and human error is reduced. Let’s take a closer look at why you should be using the top yard management software from YardView to help with your daily operations.
Yard Management Definition
Yard management refers to the process used to direct both inbound and outbound trucks, shipments, and personnel moving around your operations yard. Having a secure handle on what’s happening on your yard in real-time requires the application of a superior yard management software.
What is a Yard Management System (YMS)?
At the very fundamental core, a yard management system refers to a software system that is designed specifically to monitor all movement of trailers and containers in the yard outside of your facility, warehouse, or distribution center for complete coordination and visibility.
10 Benefits of Yard Management Software
Now that you understand what a yard management system is, you'll want to know how yard management software systems benefit your company. Here are just nine reasons to consider.
- Visibility: When everything is easy to see, bottlenecks are reduced.
- Reduced Lot Check Time: Knowing where everything is, reduces the amount of time personnel spend searching the lot.
- Dock Scheduling: Having a schedule of when things will hit the dock helps coordinate everything and helps schedule resources, reduce waste time, and gain huge savings in time and money.
- Reduced Detention and Demurrage Expenses: Know what assets, carriers, and equipment is on your yard at any given time helps get containers back to the port before incurring demurrage charges, as well as reducing the detention time of drivers who are waiting to pick up or drop off loads.
- Faster Trailer Spotting: When you know where every asset on your yard is positioned, trailer spotting time is drastically reduced.
- Reduced Turn Times: Getting carriers on and off your yard quickly increases yard space, reduces bottlenecks, and helps run a smoother more predictable operation.
- Driver Management: When you properly communicate and direct your yard drivers on what they should be doing with an easy to use and accurate tool, management of this very important piece of your yard is easy, and more rewarding for them too.
- Gate Management: Increase throughput, accuracy, and accountability. With a great system these keys to an efficient yard are easy to achieve.
- Analytics, ROI, and Reporting Metrics: The right yard management solutions offer complete and robust reporting, showing you in-depth information about your operation, and your operational health, at all times, so you can make the right decisions, and run an efficient operation.
- Integration with Key Systems: Although it is not required with best-of-breed, stand-alone yard management systems like YardView, it may be beneficial to share data between enterprise systems in order to provide key insights for better decision making, reduce errors and double data entry, achieve automation, and keep all key systems in sync. This can be done in Phase 1 of the install or future phases when systems and operational gaps are more clearly identified.
Yard Management System Key Functionality
Monitoring Dock Doors: Software monitors everything coming to and leaving from the dock doors.
Gate Management: Software controls, collects data on, and monitors everything traveling in and out of your operation.
Productivity and Communication with Yard Drivers: All parties communicate quickly and seamlessly to increase productivity.
Appointment Scheduling: All shipments and arrivals are scheduled systematically for streamlined processes.
System Integrations: Key systems are integrated together for greater coordination and data insight.
Monitor and Alerts/Notifications of Activities/Events: When key activities or events are approaching or occurring, you receive an alert or notification.
Visibility: With tools that provide information on all yard activity, movements, and transactions, all personnel are up to date to the status and location of assets and for easy management of all trucks and yard activity.
Automation: Key processes and functions can be automated, streamlining the process and reducing manual and repetitive labor and input.
Analytics: With powerful insight to the operations, all processes and departments can be reviewed and analyzed to reduce costs and ensure the maximum ROI.
Yard Management System Solutions
Yard management solutions streamline every aspect of the operations to provide a clearer, broader picture of everything that’s occurring in your yard. From monitoring the gates and docks to locating trailers and scheduling deliveries, manual operation is reduced while overall productivity increases.
Who Can Benefit from a Yard Management System (YMS)?
All industries and operations can benefit from the use of a high-end yard management system. This includes a wide variety of verticals like retail, automotive, food manufacturers, beverage bottling sites, packaging plants, paper mills, chemical plants, cold storage facilities, cross dock operations, trailer drop lots and storage sites, logistics companies, 3PL’s who manage warehouses, distribution centers, or other facilities, and customer operations. Just about every operation, facility, or site with a parking lot, dock doors, trailers, containers, or intermodal assets, will benefit from implementing the right yard management software.
YardView’s Yard Management System Software
When it comes to choosing the best yard management system software, your company deserves the yard management solutions provided by YardView. We supply the best yard management system on the market and offer the highest level of service. You get 24/7 customer support from our qualified team of experts, plus advanced reporting to ensure you get your money’s worth. Schedule your consultation today!