Product Information

Descartes

Yard Management

In every economy, organizations are always on the lookout for more effective ways to manage resource utilization, save time and reduce costs. For businesses with Distribution Centers (DC) or warehouse operations, one key area that can deliver improved efficiencies is yard management. The movement of trailers can be a complex and time consuming process that involves a wide range of personnel – from shipping and receiving personnel to gate guards and trailer jockeys. Any errors or loss of data throughout the lifecycle of a trailer can lead to delivery delays, penalties and even theft.

In today’s environment, operations must not only plan and record all trailer moves, inspections and security seal changes, they also need to maintain an audit trail for loss prevention and security of assets and goods.

Descartes Yard Management is specifically designed to help operators more effectively manage the movement of trailers. This service is an add-on to Descartes Dock Appointment Scheduling, a collaborative solution that enables shippers, carriers and consignees to schedule dock door appointments and optimize receiving operations for inbound shipments to a DC or warehouse.

Yard Management offers functional support in such areas as updating and recording arrival, inspection and departure of trailers; yard checks; tracking the history of trailer, driver, yard, yard jockey and appointments; assigning tasks; and, providing notifications to carriers, as well as reports for shipping, receiving and loss-prevention staff.

Descartes Yard Management leverages the power of the Descartes Global Logistics Network (GLN), enabling organizations to electronically connect with shippers, carriers and regulatory authorities around the world.

Features

• Inventory Reduction. Real-time visibility into trailer content and locations within the yard enables organizations to quickly identify and access stock on hand, thereby reducing inventory requirements to save costs and improve efficiencies.

• Enabling Effective Planning. With Descartes Yard Management, managers can plan and track trailer positions, arrivals and departures across distributed or centralized yards; as well as record trailer status, moves, inspections and security seal changes. The solution also provides the ability to assign parking, quickly locate trailers in the yard, and identify content within a trailer as well as its age and condition.

• Real Time Trailer Location Tracking. With support for satellite yards, Descartes Yard Management is an enterprise solution that provides insight into the movement and location of trailers across all yards in a single instance. It enables users to search for specific inventory within a trailer and also makes it easy to prioritize trailers for unload according to its contents, trailer age (by hours or days), carrier, or a driver’s current hours of service. It also provides support for multiple trailers per parking spot.

• Audit Trail to Minimize Loss Prevention. Descartes Yard Management automatically records all trailer movements and maintains a valid audit trail for loss prevention and security. Recording the history of every trailer enables more effective incident tracking and consolidated report development, and ensures differentials can be calculated according to check in/out status. It also provides for ongoing data collection to improve the planning process, and uses trailer aging reports to ensure that unload objectives are also being met.

• Touch Screen Devices and Graphical User Interface. Descartes Yard Management offers a graphical user interface that is optimized for use with a touch screen tablet PC. These devices can be used in-cab, while walking through the premises, or in the guard shack to identify and validate loads that arrive and leave the yard, or confirm the location of a trailer. Built specifically for low Internet connectivity, the devices ensure that content is never lost even when an Internet connection is not available.

• Historical Data Tracking. Since Descartes Yard Management tracks trailer and content movement across multiple locations, users can easily access a detailed history of the trailer, driver and yard activity, along with its current status.

• Improved Inbound Visibility. Descartes extends visibility to carrier/vendor yards. It also documents trailer arrivals and facilitates departure gate checks, as well as movements within the yard to enable audit trail analysis and dispute resolution. Visibility is also extended to appointment data, and arrival and departure statuses. It enables appointment information to be compared to warehouse receipts and purchase orders.

Potential Benefits

• Ensuring Security Compliance. Descartes Yard Management improves compliance and security measures by preventing the loss of high value goods. It ensures that every driver is verified prior to yard entry and that CTPAT regulations are met. It also provides an effective approach to security seal management during trailer inspections.

• Integrated Solution for Dock Appointment Scheduling and Yard Management. Descartes Dock Appointment Scheduler and Yard Management applications integrate with Transportation Management solutions to accept tenders and book appointments, handle automatic door assignments for inbound/outbound loads, and stage trailers according to door availability. When integrated with a route planning solution, routes can be staged according to door availability and empty trailers in the yard can be assigned to planned routes.