All You Need to Know About Yard Management Systems (YMS)
There are many advantages to the systems that manage your yard.
What Is a Yard Management System (YMS)?
If you want to optimize your warehousing orchestration, you generally look to a warehouse management system (WMS). But warehousing management doesn’t necessarily stop at the four walls—it also extends out into the yard, and that’s where a robust yard management system (YMS) comes into play. Combined, you can make the most of your operational efficiencies and ensure customer satisfaction.
Key Benefits of Using a YMS
Yard management systems have many functions and can greatly transform your yard operations. Among the advantages of using a YMS, you can expect:
- Improved visibility and control
- Enhanced dock management
- Better security for the inventory
- Improved safety compliance
- Optimized labor utilization
And that’s just a start.
Risks of Operating Without a Yard Management System
On the flip side, when you don’t have a YMS, you run the risk of several problems, the biggest of which is it can tank your ability to fulfill orders in a timely fashion. Without it, you may incur the need for more labor, more expenses in shipping costs, more operational costs, and ultimately, the potential loss of customers. Yard management is part and parcel to a well-rounded warehousing operation.
YMS and WMS: Better Together
Ideally, you will be able to integrate your YMS with your WMS. In many cases, software providers will build both on the same platform, making this integration seamless. Or, best of breed YMS providers build for ease-of-integration with existing WMS systems. When the two are properly integrated, you will be able to enjoy ongoing communications between your yard and warehouse.
This ability gives you a better purview of all your inventory. If you are a fashion retailer, for instance, you might receive next season’s inventory long before you have room for it in your warehouse. That means storing it on the trailers in your yard until you can bring it into the facility. Yard management will allow you to know what is in each trailer, where those trailers are in the yard, and then make your job of moving the trailer to the dock door and unloading it much easier and faster.
Customizing YMS Rules for Your Operation
You’ll have the ability to set up the rules of your YMS to suit your individual operations. If you’d like to drop an order into the warehouse as soon as it arrives in the yard, your YMS can coordinate that. If you’d prefer to store inventory on the trailer for a period and then bring it to the dock door later, you can establish your rules accordingly. A good YMS will look at inventory management from a different perspective than a WMS, with the ability to bring trailers to the facility in a coordinated fashion.
You can also use your YMS as a customer service tool, scheduling trailer arrivals to the yard. You’ll have an accurate and up-to-date accounting of where all your trailers are, and what is on them, at any given time.
When looking for overall supply chain efficiency, or for an extension of your WMS and operational efficiency, you can’t go wrong with integrating a solid YMS.
For more information about the Solutions Community: mhi.org/solutionscommunity
For further articles from the Solutions Community:
How to Implement Automation in Brownfield Facilities Without Disrupting Operations
MHI Solutions Community Annual Meeting Panel
Don’t Overlook the Condition of Handhelds
Integrating New Automation- Part 1
Implementing a Warehouse Control System (WCS)
Is it the Right Time to Automate Your DC?
Condition Monitoring is Expanding
