As supply chains face mounting pressures from rising demand and driver shortages, streamlining yard operations – a critical but often overlooked logistics function – has become a top priority.
Yet yard operations ironically have somehow not kept pace with the rapid rate of technology and innovation evident elsewhere in the supply chain. Surprisingly for a digital era, many companies still rely on manual processes to keep track of gate access, yard asset management, audits, and dock scheduling.
That’s not to say that there aren’t complexities involved in yard operations, with constantly moving trucks and loads, dock scheduling, and asset management. All of this cannot function properly without a continual eye to efficiency.
Companies therefore need to focus on ways to digitize their yard workflows in order to streamline operations, reducing delays, late shipments, and annoyed customers and carriers. Let’s explore the issue in more detail and look at some ways managers can improve workflow efficiency by automating legacy yard operations.
The Critical Role of Driver Workflows in Yard Operations
Within the overall supply chain, there is a great deal of interdependence among the various functions. Delays on the sourcing end, whatever the cause, affect production schedules and order fulfillment. A lack of warehouse capacity backs up incoming shipments, leading to stockouts, detention and demurrage fees, and higher storage costs.
In the microcosm of the yard, bottlenecks and miscommunication quickly ripple through warehouse, transportation, production, and inventory management functions. A major contributor to this bad scenario is the use of manual processes for managing gate access, shipment documentation, and shipping/receiving flow.
Common challenges include:
Time-Consuming Check-In/Checkout Procedures
At the gate, check-in delays can happen for any number of reasons. A driver’s paperwork may not be in order, with elements missing. Or there could be a language barrier. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, immigrants make up 18.6% of employed truck drivers, with English proficiency varying by region.
While not as common, checkout can be hampered by drivers waiting for the bill of lading (BOL), invoices, or other documents to be finalized. Load verification can also delay checkout, including mismatches between what’s on board and the shipping documents, causing extra checks or reloading.
Poor Communication, Dock Assignment Coordination
When manual yard processes are in place, facility managers struggle to communicate effectively with drivers. This causes delays due to a lack of clear instructions on what they’re to do and where they’re supposed to go. In addition to language barriers as noted, more labor is involved, and the system is prone to errors. A great example is the driver who arrives early and their pickup assignment is not ready. They check in manually and are asked to wait in their truck and to return in 15 minutes to check on the availability of their dock assignment. The driver starts watching TV on their laptop and loses track of time. The dock coordinator doesn’t have their phone number and is required to go truck-by-truck in the yard to find this driver. They are unable to find them, causing them to miss their appointment, delaying their exit and ultimately delaying their delivery.
Impact on Drivers
These kinds of manual workflows frustrate drivers on a tight schedule. Companies have invested in driver lounges with restrooms, vending machines, and TVs in an attempt to make the stop pleasant. But if you read online reviews, some of the biggest driver frustrations are delayed check-ins and seeing a line of trucks ahead of them at the gate when they need to get to the next stop. Drivers, especially younger ones, don’t necessarily need or want to talk to somebody and would rather just skip the lounge, thanks. They just want to get in and out, scan it on their phone, drop their load, and move on.
Delayed Payments
The trigger for payments to drivers on completion of a shipment is either emailing or snail mailing an image of the BOL and other supporting documents to a third-party processing center or physically submitting it to the warehouse office. It’s then uploaded into a payment system for processing. If documents are incomplete or illegible, payment is delayed. Staff must cross-check paperwork with shipment records, often digging through emails, spreadsheets, or filing cabinets, slowing the approval process. This outdated system not only reduces efficiency and is error prone but also increases dwell time and operating costs, a bottleneck in supply chain workflows.
Key Components of a Digitized Driver Workflow
Now let’s take a look at the other side of the coin. Implementing digital driver workflows in the yard address these common challenges, optimizing check-in/checkout, dock assignments, documentation, and payment processing. We’ll take each in turn.
Digital Check-In and Checkout: By eliminating manual paperwork processing with mobile-based solutions, drivers can quickly scan their devices at a gate kiosk for verification and facility access. This increases throughput, optimizes truck and freight flow, and reduces emissions caused by excessive dwell time.
Enhanced Communications: Within a digital yard workflow, companies can enable real-time communication with drivers, including push notifications and tracking vehicles from point of entry to exit (and potentially before and after). This type of automated communication orchestrates all driver interactions, reducing human intervention and costly errors.
Improved Dock Process: An automated gate check-in/checkout solution speeds up driver verification, load authentication, and entry/exit logging, reducing congestion. At the same time, digital communication is relayed to the dock office, allowing staff to prepare for incoming loads in advance. This reduces dwell time, streamlines yard flow, and improves dock scheduling.
Load Verification: Automated gate systems allow drivers to scan in documents such as the BOL, commercial invoice, packing list, and carrier manifest. Through integration with receiving, managers can verify the load before it reaches the dock. Companies can still perform visual spot checks as needed for high-value, hazmat, or reefer freight. On departure, gate personnel can do seal inspections to ensure they match outbound documentation. All of this reduces wait times and streamlines communications.
Sync With TMS, YMS: By integrating automated gate check-in/checkout, digital documentation and driver communication solutions with logistics software such as TMS and YMS, facilities gain real-time visibility into truck movements, dock availability, and load status. Instead of manual data entry or delays in updating arrival/departure status, automated solutions instantly sync truck and load data with the TMS/YMS.
Compliance issues, incorrect load assignments, or scheduling conflicts can be flagged at the gate, preventing disruptions before the truck reaches the dock. Drivers receive real-time, automated instructions for check-in, staging, and dock assignments, minimizing confusion and errors. Lastly, automated systems ensure only authorized trucks enter the facility, improving security.
Faster Driver Payment Processing: By automating payment workflows, driver payments are processed much faster and with far less hassle. All the necessary digital documents are already in the system and can be uploaded to the invoicing and payment system and quickly issued to the driver. This builds trust, satisfaction, and loyalty among drivers by increasing transparency and a faster transfer of funds to their accounts.
Business Benefits of Optimized Workflows
There are a number of efficiency gains from digital yard workflows. These include reduced dwell time for inbound and outbound trucks, leading to increased throughput and faster shipment turnaround, improvements in on-time performance for orders, and better resource allocation through real-time visibility.
Digital workflows also reduce administrative burdens by automating documentation, driver check-ins, and payment processing, minimizing manual errors. There is clearer, effective communication among warehouse and yard staff, carriers, and drivers, improving coordination and reducing delays.
Cost Savings
Reduced man-hours spent on manual workflows saves on labor costs. Companies also save by their ability to lower exposure to detention fees from delayed drivers caused by various bottlenecks. It also reduces the risk of chargebacks and over/short/damaged (OS&D) fees through digital load authentication, matching BOL, packing lists, and manifests with the actual freight before it reaches the dock. For fleet operators, reduced dwell time also lowers fuel costs and most importantly, keeps the drivers driving, the lifeblood of any carrier.
Enhanced Driver Experience
Automated gate systems eliminate bottlenecks by streamlining check-in and checkout through mobile-based tools and gate kiosks. This self-service model accelerates processing and helps drivers get in and out quickly, staying on schedule.
Real-time updates and automated instructions quickly guide drivers to their appointed dock. And universal communication tools overcome language barriers, reducing frustration and the risk of miscommunication. All of this drives greater efficiency and enables companies to become a “shipper of choice,” helping attract and retain carriers and drivers.
The FreightRoll Advantage: Driving Efficiency Through Digital Innovation
FreightRoll, creator of an innovative, AI-enabled yard execution system, is helping to drive digital workflows that transform logistics operations through increased efficiency, optimized processes, and easy-to-use tools. They are keenly focused on improving the driver experience.
Key Features That Support Driver Workflows
FreightRoll’s platform includes user-friendly browser-based check-in/out and real-time communication that doesn’t require an app download, increasing driver engagement rates. It provides seamless integration of digital POD, BOL, and payment systems for a smoother logistics flow and quick invoicing.
The results include faster turnaround times – up to a 50% reduction in trailer drops – reduced shipment errors, a simplified driver experience, and elimination of up to 100% of facility-to-driver interaction. Search times for BOL documentation can drop by 95% or better.
Dragging Outdated Yard Workflows into the 21st Century
Digitizing yard workflows is not just about improving operational efficiency, important as that is in reining in costs and optimizing processes. It’s also about future-proofing operations to drive supply chain agility in a disruptive time.
FreightRoll’s technology platform removes cumbersome barriers that keep logistics operations stuck in the past. By digitizing key processes such as driver check-in, documentation (BOL, POD, etc.), and communication among stakeholders, efficiency, safety, and driver satisfaction are all improved. FreightRoll comes with prebuilt yard workflows that can be customized to meet your specific operational requirements. To learn more, contact FreightRoll today.
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