Eric Breen, director of enterprise sales with Kaleris, explains why it's essential to automate operations in that critical area of the warehouse.

Digitization of various stages of logistics is all the rage today, yet the yard is often overlooked as a candidate for automation, Breen says. The first priority is to optimize the handling of goods inside the warehouse. After that comes transportation management, in an effort to keep down rising costs. But that leaves a gap, in the form of yard operations that are generally managed with paper, spreadsheets, whiteboards and other manual processes.

Contrary to some perceptions, the yard is more than a parking lot for trucks and trailers. Breen says 80% of delays in the movement of shipments happens there, whether outside a marine terminal, rail depot, factory or warehouse.

Velocity is essential to any freight-handling system, but it can’t happen today without the automation of processes at every stage. In the yard, it starts with the guard shack, then moves into the placement and tracking of equipment once it enters and leaves the premises. Having units in the wrong place at the wrong time results in frictions that are felt all the way back to the production facility, Breen says.

Read the full story at Watch: Time to Digitize Your Yard Operation | SupplyChainBrain

About Kaleris

Kaleris is a leading provider of cloud-based supply chain execution and visibility technology solutions. Many of the world’s largest brands rely on Kaleris to provide mission-critical technology for yard management, terminal operations, transportation management, maintenance and repair operations, and ocean carrier and vessel solutions. By consolidating supply chain execution software assets across major nodes and modes, we address the dark spots and data gaps that cause friction and inefficiency in the global supply chain. For more information, visit www.kaleris.com.