Optimizing yard management – or is time slot management the better solution?
Many companies are looking for a yard management system. But often the real cause of congestion, waiting times, and lack of transparency is not in the yard—it’s at the ramp!
Typical challenges in yard management
- Backlog on the factory premises
- Uncoordinated arrivals and lack of transparency
- Safety risks on the factory premises
- Lots of coordination between gate, dispatch, and ramp
- High demurrage and personnel costs
Do you really need a yard management system?
Many companies assume that congestion on the factory premises is automatically a yard problem. However, in practice, it often turns out that the actual cause is not in the yard, but rather a lack of synchronization at the ramp. Uncoordinated truck arrivals, a lack of time slot logic, or a lack of transparency regarding delays lead to congestion that backs up into the yard. Before investing in complex yard management systems, it is therefore worth asking a crucial question:
Is the problem really yard control – or is there a lack of intelligent time slot control?
Yard management
- Transparency and control in the yard
- Control of physical traffic and process flows on the factory premises
- Capacity monitoring of trailers in pre- and post-carriage
- Complex integration and high requirements for data quality and data breadth
- Increased implementation costs, mostly with hardware components
Useful when the focus is on real-time operational control of vehicle movements on the factory premises.
Time slot management
- Efficiently manage arrival flows and enable planning
- Evenly distribute ramp and personnel utilization
- System-supported access control and ramp allocation logic
- Lean implementation and worthwhile from the very first ramp
- Quick deployment thanks to short implementation phase
Time slot management creates transparency regarding truck arrivals, reduces peak loads at the factory gate, and enables predictable capacity utilization with minimized waiting times.
Logistics software development from a single source: LOGSOL Benefits with our RampMan® time slot management system
Personal contact person
Flexible integration into IT landscape
ISO 27001:2017 and TISAX® certified
Support until go-live
Scalability through Software-as-a-Service
Our expertise at a glance
Multilingual users
per day
Companies,
that work with RampMan®
Time slot bookings
per day
Ramps,
which are coordinated with the RampMan®
Countries,
in which RampMan® is in use
Time slot management in record time: How to successfully implement it in just 4 weeks!
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Yard management vs. time slot management: Your questions – our answers
What is a yard management system?
A yard management system (YMS) controls and monitors all truck and trailer movements on the factory premises in real time. It coordinates processes such as parking space and ramp allocation as well as internal shunting movements to create transparency and efficiency between the gate and loading.
When do I need yard management?
A yard management system becomes necessary as soon as trucks on the premises cannot drive directly onto the ramp but have to be parked temporarily, unhitched, or moved by internal shunters.
Can time slot management replace a yard management system?
Modern time slot management can often replace a complex yard management system, as digital pre-registration solves around 80% of relevant yard problems at source and eliminates the need for expensive hardware infrastructure on site. By smoothing out the flow of traffic, it proactively prevents chaos in the yard instead of, like a yard management system, only managing it expensively after the fact.
How quickly can time slot management be introduced?
Our RampMan® time slot management system can be implemented in 4 weeks.
How much effort is required to integrate with SAP or other ERP systems?
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Time slot management systems are often cloud solutions that require minimal connectivity.
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Yard management systems only reach their full potential when they know which goods are in which truck (ERP link) and which ramp in the warehouse is currently available (WMS link).
Do freight forwarders even accept the time slot management system?
Freight forwarders accept the system so readily because it eliminates unpredictable waiting times at the ramp. A booked slot is a performance guarantee: the driver knows exactly when it is his turn, can plan his driving and rest times precisely, and, in the ideal case, can complete an additional trip per day.
How many ramps are required to make the use of a time slot management system worthwhile?
With RampMan®, it is worth using even for just one ramp.