Yard Management

Yard management is an incredibly diverse software category, so it's difficult to pinpoint a universal way these systems work. Each vendor builds with a slightly different core use case in mind. Generally speaking, almost all yard management systems involve two or three of the following touchpoints:

At the gate: A digital app (either in the hands of a security guard or the driver themselves) can be used to replace clipboards and radios, check in a truck, create a record in the system and notify the shipping team of the arrival.

In the facility: Managers and coordinators get a live digital map to find specific P.O.s or track empty and loaded trailers across the property.

On the concrete: The software acts as a dispatch engine, tracking pending or completed move orders or even sending notifications directly to the yard jockeys.

Yard Management and Dock Scheduling are sometimes used interchangeably, and have some features in common, but many solutions exist that provide one side and not the other.

Dock Scheduling typically refers to the management of appointments prior to a truck arriving at the facility, plus the information processing that takes place during loading and unloading (such as inspections and time tracking). Yard Management typically refers to the control of events that occur when the truck is on the property but not actively being loaded or unloaded.

There are three kinds of telltale signs that a facility is in need of a digital upgrade:

1. Financial bleeding: You are consistently leaking money on unplanned overtime, idle time, shrinkage, detention fees or other carrier penalties.
2. The visibility black hole: Your TMS tracks what's on the road, your WMS knows about the inventory inside your four walls, but you couldn't say what's sitting in your yard at any given moment.
3. Process bottlenecks: Trucks are queuing up outside on public roads, warehouse crews are waiting around for confirmation of what trailer to work, or work gets delayed while you confirm the identity of a mystery load.

The difference is huge.

From a WMS perspective, yard space is an extension of the warehouse. The WMS is chiefly interested in what inventory is where. It doesn't treat the P.O., the carrier or the schedule as essential pieces of information.

A TMS yard module tends to have the opposite problem. It rarely understands the constraints of space. It thinks of the yard as a timeline of discrete events rather than a collection of assets located in different places around the property.

Standalone systems are built with this fact in mind: that every operation is different and handles the handover between transportation and inventory differently. While each YMS vendor specializes in a different slice of use cases, they almost all do a better job at keeping up with the messy reality of daily operations than bundled modules.

No. The baseline value of a YMS is getting a digital ledger to replace your clipboards and spreadsheets.

Human-in-the-loop is the norm: guards selecting P.O.s on a tablet or jockeys getting specific move orders from a coordinator with a map of everything immediately creates a big efficiency boost.

Automating further by integrating RFID tags or computer vision is just one possible upgrade for large, complex operations.

Most modern YMS solutions are cloud-based, and some include a mobile app.

Your vendor should assist you with comprehensive onboarding, including some up-front configuration and customization based on the needs of your facility.

Most implementations involve a computer inside the facility that can serve as a central command station for the coordinator, supervisor or manager. Some facilities install a large screen visible for the internal warehouse team, while others make extensive use of mobile devices.

Getting the relevant data into the system can be done with a combination of methods, but it's often helpful to map out the physical reality of the yard (including parking slots, gate zones, etc) at least roughly.

P.O. and carrier data can be bulk imported, populated manually, or even connected to existing systems (WMS, TMS, ERP, etc) to establish the baseline, and then expanded gradually.

From there it's a case of managing change, training all the relevant personnel on the features relevant to them, and getting deeper over time, ideally with the support of a vendor that sticks around to see you succeed.

The key to choosing the right YMS is understanding the constraints of your own operations in context. Every vendor has its own idea of what a "typical" operation and its yard looks like.

The first question to ask, which can eliminate about half the vendors, is: are you a container terminal? That is to say, you answer yes to three or more of the following:

• We get more containers than trailers.
• We manage chassis as a separate asset from containers or trailers.
• We stack assets vertically and/or use cranes to move them around.
• We carry out breakbulk or consolidation operations directly outside on the tarmac.
• Our facility connects directly onto rail, sea, or air freight infrastructure.
• Most of our moves are "rehandles" or "shuffles" within the yard rather than to and from dock doors.

If you fit into that category, you can completely rule out the "warehouse yard management" vendors; if you don't, you can filter out the "terminal operating system" vendors. And if it looks like a coin flip, the decider is going to be vertical container stacking.

Let's assume you've ruled out the terminal systems. Your yard is fundamentally a warehouse yard; it exists to feed your loading docks, not external infrastructure. Now your choices are going to come down to the interplay between:

• Cost
• Involvement of IT
• Need for customization

A full guide to that stage of the selection process is available at best yard mgmt systems.

Some facilities run their systems in isolation or share data using simple file transfers, while others connect them together. There's no one standard for this; what one facility deeply automates another will keep as a manual process, and vice-versa:

• You can have your TMS push ASNs into the schedule with the P.O. data, either as a security measure or to streamline scheduling.
• The YMS could fire timestamps to the TMS to ensure fairer detention tracking and update its transit status for the next destination.
• If a carrier misses its slot, the YMS could query the TMS for an alternative slot (or in a very advanced integration, even an alternative carrier for outbound loads!)
• The WMS could automate move requests based on the flow of internal operations (e.g. the floor is clear so we're ready to unload that difficult drop trailer).

No, most YMS solutions don't require this. In many cases, a web-app (no download) is one option for allowing self-check-in. Other implementations include having a guard confirm the check in, SMS or QR code systems, or a self-service kiosk with an integrated tablet.