Yard management comes with a lot of challenges that need to be addressed and solved. In this blog, you will learn various challenges attached to yard management and how to solve them.
Effective yard management has become more challenging because of the ever-changing supply chain. Most yard managers might find addressing these challenges problematic because they rarely discover the root cause. To solve yard management issues, you need to assess all yard functions. This can help you easily detect problems and find effective solutions for them.
Yard management is dynamic. Keeping abreast with the changes smoothens the logistic flow for you and other parties involved. Timely detection of challenges and solving them makes your yard something to look up to without regrets. Let us now look at the challenges in yard management and their solutions.
Delayed Shipments to and from The Warehouse
Delays in the supply chain of the yard have proved to be disastrous many times. Most of these delays are caused by poor communication at various points of the supply chain. On other occasions, goods can arrive late with damages, faults, and wrong attributes. This creates anger to clients who remain with questions regarding the delays and how soon they shall be compensated. Other causes of delayed shipping include;
Lack of Visibility
Clear visibility in the supply chain guarantees timely and safe shipment in and out of the yard. Without clear visibility, the management can encounter delays, damage, and losing items on transit. Organizations can use technology in shipping for transparency in delivery. A better option to turn to is the delivery software that will keep everything clear when goods are moved in and out of the warehouse.
Insufficient Technology
Unfortunately, some companies still bet on old software for delivery. This might hinder making technological changes that can prevent or reduce shipping delays. For that reason, organizations should invest in the right hardware and cloud-based software that can open windows for approaches that allow the company to stay online.
Inventory Management and Locating Tools in The Warehouse
Inventory management is another challenge most yards face today. Failure to trace yard equipment is also costing yard management a decent amount of money and time. The time spent locating these tools and inventory could be utilized on other activities to add value to the organization. To solve this, the organization should go for advanced Yard Management Service.
In simple words, you can choose yard management system with auto-inventory reconciliation that automatically update the location of assets or trailers in the yard. Nonetheless, the yard can inventory measures, including inventory auto-validation that disclose risks to inventory levels.
Costly Overtime Labor
Accurate labor planning can be a little daunting. In most cases, labor schedules are developed with no data reference to help make viable labor-planning decisions. This results in spending more on overtime tasks. Nonetheless, it can result in the loss of trained personnel. For effective labor planning, the organization should choose yard management systems that place optimization and automation yard workflow on top of the list. Modern YMS enhances self-service functionality. This means they come with self –service portal that allows carriers to schedule and adjust appointments according to the real-time situation on the road.
Gate Congestion
Gate congestion is a common challenge in the yard during peak seasons. The ever-rising growth of container size affects handling at logistic nodes, including ports, freight stations, container terminals, and empty depots. With the rising demand, the yard and its associates may need to develop strategies that might help reduce the congestion.
One of the important things to do is optimizing the infrastructure to regulate the lining of tracks upon arrival. Expanding the gate opening period can help offload or load many trucks in the yard. Nonetheless, the yard can expand its gate capacity to allow the passage of more than one truck. Like other organizations, you can introduce centralized Gate Systems for the smooth processing of the traffic.
Truck Driver Detention
Truck driver detention refers to delays caused at the pickup or delivery destination. Under normal circumstances, a truck driver has up to 2 hours to pick up items and 2 hours of delivery. For any delay, the truck driver demands detention charges to compensate for the time lost. In one hour of detention, the carriers and track drivers may charge up to $ 70. Delays cause drivers to drive faster, take risks work extra time to recover revenue, and attend their appointments.
To avoid detention, the truck driver should ensure goods are ready for transportation before picking them. Upon arrival in the yard, the truck driver should state the time for loading the truck, specifically, 2 hours or less. Moreover, the driver should understand holding the truck delays delivery. Consistent late delivery might affect the future sales of the company the truck driver is working for.
Detention Charges
As already stated above, yards have to compensate drivers for holding them up when picking up goods or delivery. Continuous driver detention can be costly as the average charge per hour is more than $ 60. Drivers always charge the yard for holding them up to recover the time lost time and revenue. Detention means the driver might run out of allocated driving hours by the law, thus can fail to transport goods to their destination. Nevertheless, it might deny the driver the next pick up and load. The shipper may easily use another carrier to transport the goods.
To avoid detention charges, the yard management can always ensure the goods are ready for loading. The storage space should also be created early to consume less time to unload the goods upon arrival. Yards should also space appointments to create enough time for unloading the truck. Moreover, the yard should buy forklifts to easily unloading of the trucks. Most yards throw their employees into the mix to reduce unloading hours.
The Bottom Line
Yard management is attached to many challenges. While many yard managers find these problems overwhelming, there are always solutions that make the yard a reliable option. This blog has a wealth of knowledge about challenges that yard management systems face and their solutions. Carefully read through and apply the solutions in your warehouse for optimal performance.
