Synergy Yard Management

Overview

Refining Yard Logistics with Wireless Data

Trucks back up at the gate. Customers want updates, and your information is six hours old. Trailers sit idle. Detention charges mount. Information just doesn’t move, and your bottom line suffers. The solutions? Synergy Yard Management.

Synergy Yard Management provides a suite of applications integrating the Office Application and Hostler Mobile Data Application with a SQL Server database. These make up the base yard system, and options such as RFID gate readers, Gate Kiosks and Mobile Inventory MDTs allow your company to automate operations as needs arise.

Since it is a suite of separate products, any one module or combination of modules can be purchased to fit your exact requirements.

The system provides a dynamic inventory of trailers and monitors the movement of hostlers and trailers. The data is transmitted to the Office Application and to personnel working in the yard, allowing the real-time direction of yard movements.

Synergy Yard Management monitors trailer status from entrance gate to exit gate, and at every stop along the way, while streamlining dispatching and hostler jobs.

Putting You In Control

Synergy Yard Management puts you in control by providing a flexible, easily configured suite of programs. With these systems, the supervisor is in control of the yard, using an easy-to-use interface with a "dashboard" layout of system monitors that allow the supervisor continuous surveillance of all gate and yard activity. Yard moves can be entered quickly using data entry, or by using drag-and-drop on the actual yard maps.

With the dashboard monitors, supervisors can be notified of pending arrivals, departures through the gate, jobs nearing service failure, the results of comparative yard checks, the location and number of empty trailers, and other critical information. Supervisors can even split the responsibility for monitoring different parts of the yard or different yards among two, three or more monitors.

As an option, yard moves can be automatically generated based on rules applied by the system. For instance, a trailer containing raw materials could be moved to the door of a manufacturing facility when the space was empty.

RFID Improves Yard Management

To implement an RFID Gate Management system, each company trailer would have an RFID tag affixed to it that can read by a fixed or handheld tag reader.With the fixed gate reader, the RFID tag is read automatically as a trailer enters or leaves the yard, and the information is sent to Synergy Yard Management.

Optional Dynamic Trailer Inventory allows efficient use of dock space for fast loads and unloads. After the trailer enters the yard, the RFID tag is used to monitor movement around the yard. Foreign trailers can be fitted with magnetized temporary RFID tags. As a trailer is moved, the yard space number is recorded on a hostler MDT, which transmits the information to the office system.

The Gate Kiosk

Gate Kiosks can be placed at entry and exit points in the yard to allow drivers to arrive and depart using the touch screen MDT on the kiosk. Other information can be captured, such as trailer number and contents.

The Hostler Mobile Application

A summary of work sorted by priority displays on the hostler-mounted touch-screen MDT. The driver uses this screen to indicate which job is in progress, which jobs have been completed, and the status of the hostler. Messages can also be sent to and from the hostler cab, and the priority of outstanding jobs changed. Taking advantage of real time RF communications, the driver can also initiate moves in the yard, which are then reported to the Office Application.

No More Detention Charges

Trailer detention charges are directly related to your ability to keep tabs on foreign trailers and notify the owner immediately when they are empty. Synergy Yard Management provides a real time status on each trailer and gives the ability to automatically notify the owner of the empty trailer via email. Elimination of detention charges could potentially pay for Synergy Yard Management in a short time, not even counting the many other benefits the system provides.