Yard management is the process of overseeing the movement of trucks and trailers as they come and go out of their depots. It’s a highly complex topic and is constantly evolving as modern technology adapts to our transportation management needs.
It can be a constant struggle to maintain visibility and control over vehicles, personnel, and various assets from yard to yard. However, there are simple things you can do to improve the overall yard management in your business.
Why Yard Management Matters
Maintaining a smoothly functioning yard is integral to the success of a business. It can reduce the overall downtime of vehicles, improve efficiency, and increase profits all at the same time. The faster and smoother you can get your operations to go, the more goods and services you can provide in a given period.
If you’ve ever had a taste of yard management, you know that there are a dozen problems that can pop up at any time.
In the modern world, technology has solved many problems. There are also various yard management system providers from third parties that can help make the process quick and easy.
Yard Management Challenges Solved
If you know anything about yard management, you know that it can be a daily struggle to find a day where nothing goes wrong. Maintaining visibility on your vehicles to ensuring everyone complies with safety protocols can be a large task, especially when everyone is antsy to get on the move.
Here are some solutions for you to try:
• Nitpick Operations to ensure they’re complying with safety standards
• Automate as much as possible
• Don’t be afraid to track
• Train and educate
• Use a yard management system
Ideally, operations should already be on their best game to make sure that safety standards are being followed. However, it can be easy to lose track of minor details. While some things may seem unimportant, you must constantly maintain safety standards to have a smoothly running yard.
The modern world has also gifted us with the power of automation. To improve the overall ease of access to trucks and trailers, consider automating several steps of the process. For example, you could automate truck arrival and exiting notifications to help drivers get in and out as quickly as possible.
Increasing the visibility of your vehicles doesn’t have to be incredibly complex. Simply use tracking tools to be able to follow trucks as they go in and out of weighing stations.
Training and educating is also a great way to ensure that everyone involved in the process knows their roles and the best ways to do them. This combined with constant oversight will help drastically improve the efficiency of your yard.
Finally, yard management systems exist to help you out when things become too much. Smaller businesses will frequently find themselves overwhelmed, and that’s ok. Consider using a yard management system like American Manufacturing Solutions to help you take care of everything from packaging and assembly to warehousing and logistics. Contact us today!