What is Yard Management in Logistics?

Logistics yards are important staging areas for the throughput of freight shipments. Like any other aspect of logistics, managing these yards requires experience, an eye toward efficiency, and support from modern technology. Yard management is one of our top priorities at Fulfillment and Distribution. We’ll lend our experience to help you understand its importance. 

Key Takeaways

• Yard management in logistics involves scheduling and positioning incoming and outgoing trailers to ensure smooth operations and reduce/prevent shipping delays.
• Some specific duties in yard management include trailer tracking, cross-docking services, and reducing excess yard dwell time.
• Yard management also requires coordination with carriers for scheduling purposes, making this process one of the most crucial links in the supply chain.
• When selecting a third-party logistics provider, shippers should look into yard management KPIs as one of their deciding factors.

Put on your outdoor clothes. It’s time to go play in the yard.

Warehouse Yards in the Supply Chain

A warehouse yard, sometimes called a logistics yard, is the exterior portion of a warehouse where trucks are staged and some goods are stored temporarily pending transloading. In this context, yard management encompasses all roles, processes, and strategies that go into coordinating shipments from multiple carriers, storing goods temporarily, container positioning, and site security. 

Let’s look at some specific positions in yard management and the duties they fulfill. 

Logistics Yard Management: Roles and Responsibilities

The warehouse yard manager is ultimately responsible for the yard’s performance. This position requires careful planning and scheduling to keep operations running smoothly. They often communicate directly with carriers to determine arrival and departure timeframes for freight shipments. Individuals in this position are also responsible for meeting safety compliance regulations and monitoring performance metrics like yard dwell time.

Yard managers must also oversee other roles in warehouse yard operations, such as:

• Gatehouse Operator/Clerk: This is the first line of security at the warehouse. The operator is responsible for logging time in and time out for trucks as well as confirming that drivers entering the yard have the proper documents and credentials.
• Yard Driver: Sometimes called a yard jockey, drivers in this role are charged with moving containers around the yard and staging them in an orderly manner to prevent delays in freight shipping.
• Dock Supervisor: As a sort of link between yard and warehouse operations, this supervisor meets carriers at the warehouse dock and manages the efforts of warehouse workers to load and unload trailers.

Warehouse management and yard management require similar skillsets, but there are some obvious differences, along with some more subtle ones.

Related: Fulfillment Optimization: Improving Distribution Potential

What is the Difference Between Yard Management and Warehouse Management?

Both of these disciplines require focused, highly organized individuals working together to maintain the throughput of freight shipments. In the following table, you can see some of the notable ways warehouse management differs from yard management.

In order to meet the expectations of their clients and properly evaluate yard performance, yard managers rely on specialized software called yard management systems (YMS) to maximize performance and ensure accuracy of information.

How Yard Management Systems Work With Fulfillment Operations

A well-designed YMS helps managers keep track of the myriad data points they need to evaluate throughout the day. Specifically, it offers the following benefits for yard managers and workers.

• Lower Wait Times for Carriers: Notifications can be automatically sent from the YMS to carriers in the yard, letting them know when their dock is open and avoiding manual communication.
• Real Time Scheduling Adjustments: Sometimes there’s no way to avoid a trailer showing up earlier or later than scheduled. The YMS assists yard management in redirecting these arrivals to available docks outside the scheduled arrival window.
• Reports and Analytics: These systems provide insights into yard performance that managers can use to adjust strategies, discover shortcomings, and track improvements or opportunities for growth in real time.

If you’re new to logistics, setting up a yard management strategy and choosing the right YMS can be a daunting task. You can save yourself significant time by partnering with a third-party logistics provider (3PL) that already has these systems in place.

Related: How Warehouse Management Systems Work: Receipt to Fulfillment

Manage Your Supply Chain With Fulfillment and Distribution

Fulfillment and Distribution’s nationwide carrier network and 3PL warehouses are the resources your enterprise needs to thrive in a competitive environment. Call us at (866) 989-3082 or fill out a contact form online to discover all the ways we can help your business grow.