Yard and Dock Management - An Overview

Yard Management:

In a high turnover warehouse there will be a number of yard locations for the vehicles to be temporarily parked and kept ready for the shipments and receiving. Managing Yards becomes difficult as the turnover keeps increasing and handling the yard management effectively will bring in significant reduction in transportation costs. A trailer can be moved across the yards depending on the operational needs.

Dock management:

Docks are the locations where the vehicles are staging for receiving and shipping. Dock door handling is dynamic in a full turnover warehouse. Receiving and Shipping dock doors can be different or the same dock doors can be used for both depending on the warehouse design.

Appointment Scheduling:

Scheduling the appointment for the inbound and outbound vehicles is a herculean task if managed improperly. Yards and dock doors are listed with the timelines of their availability and appointments for them are created. Receiving and shipping time lines are properly analyzed and appointments are made so that there is no clash in vehicles getting docked into them.

Yard Management System:

A yard management system (YMS) is a software system designed to oversee the movement of trucks and trailers in the yard of a manufacturing facility, warehouse, or distribution center. YMS provides real-time information on the location of trailers in the yard and allows yard employees to move trailers from staging to docks to fill orders in an efficient manner.

YMS is often used in conjunction with warehouse management systems (WMS) and transportation management systems (TMS). It may also have radio frequency identification (RFID) technology built in for faster and more accurate tracking.

 

Advantages of having a good YMS:

• Reduces trailer wait time
• Dramatically improves labor productivity
• Maximizes fleet utilization, planning & forecasting
• Eliminates costly moves

Synchronized Yard Management:

Managing the appointments and docks & yards require dynamic inbound logistics management. The carrier scheduling can be online. Dock doors, yards and appointments need to be managed in a synchronized way in order to gain maximum efficiency. Dock Appointment Scheduling is a collaborative solution that enables shippers, carriers and consignees to schedule dock door appointments. It streamlines the dock appointment process by distributing the responsibility for scheduling warehouse deliveries or pickups to carriers and suppliers. By ensuring all supply chain partners are involved in the process and have visibility into requested, scheduled and rescheduled dock appointments, the YMS solution optimizes receiving operations for inbound shipments and helps coordinate outbound pickups.