Unlocking Value in Yard Management Solutions Through Predictive Supply Chain Visibility

Introducing Dynamic Yard

It’s become a bit of a mantra for me: The supply chain is practically bursting with a tremendous, pent-up value that we have only just begun to tap.

And as the predictive supply chain visibility movement grows and extends into new areas of supply chain operations, every company in the network stands to gain tangible business value from a more connected and collaborative supply chain.

We have now taken another giant step forward in this journey – and another industry-first!

On March 25, 2020, we announced that FourKites had acquired TrackX Holdings Inc.’s Yard Management, Dock Management, and Gate Control solutions (read the sidebar below).

Why is this so important to the industry? Because, for the first time, enterprises will be able to proactively manage yards and warehouses based on real-time signals from trucks in transit and trucks on site.

We call it Dynamic Yard. You can think of it as the newest greenfield of opportunity, where we pump value into the supply chain by shedding light where there hadn’t been any before.

After all, warehousing and yard management – like so many other aspects of supply chain operations – has been forever functioning in a silo.

And while technology has increasingly been coming to the yard (e.g., IoT devices, sensors, autonomous trucking), it’s an area that has still been highly disconnected from what’s happening in real-time with shipments in transit.

No longer.

FourKites’ real-time in-transit data, integrated with real-time yard data, will revolutionize how enterprises manage yard activities and warehouses.

With real-time access to live incoming truck arrival information, yards and warehouses will be able to better plan and optimize their operations at every facility through a single system.

Dynamic Yard will bring much-needed transparency and efficiency to shippers, carriers that operate large trailer pools, and marine terminals, alike.

To help us create this new Dynamic Yard category, TrackX was a highly attractive partner from multiple perspectives.

First, the company is extremely well-regarded for product excellence. That philosophy meshes perfectly with FourKites’ commitment to technology innovation and product leadership.

In addition, the TrackX team is highly knowledgeable about the many complexities of the yard, not to mention customer pain points and needs.

I feel confident in our ability to quickly integrate our portfolios to create the industry’s most advanced, cloud-based platform for unified yard management.

To our new customers coming aboard from TrackX, welcome to FourKites! And welcome to the world’s largest network of global shippers, carriers, brokers, and 3PLs.

I want to personally share with you that FourKites’ DNA is and always has been “customer-first”, and our product roadmap is a reflection of our deep collaboration with the broader visibility community.

We look forward to hearing your voices, and to create a new era of Dynamic Yard together.

VISIT OUR ON-DEMAND WEBCAST | YMS Disrupted: Why Yard Management Is Critical for Today’s Agile Supply Chain

FourKites Acquires TrackX Yard Solutions to Create Dynamic Yard - the Industry’s First Real-Time Yard Management and Visibility Solution

#1 supply chain visibility platform combines in-transit predictive visibility with yard operations, connecting transportation and warehousing for the first time

FourKites, the market-leading supply chain visibility platform, announced that it is acquiring TrackX Holdings Inc.’s yard management solutions in order to create Dynamic Yard, a new supply chain visibility solution that extends real-time visibility into the yard. By integrating FourKites real-time logistics data and predictive ETAs with TrackX’s leading yard management products, enterprises will - for the first time - be able to proactively manage yards and warehouses based on real-time signals from trucks in-transit and trucks on-site.

Specifically, FourKites has acquired TrackX’s Yard Management, Dock Management, and Gate Control solutions. These solutions are highly scalable, serving the smallest facilities up to multiple enterprise locations. The solutions are hardware-agnostic and integrate seamlessly with ERP and WMS systems, as well as RFID and IoT sensors.

“Real-time in-transit data, integrated with real-time yard data, will revolutionize how enterprises manage warehouse and yard activities,” said FourKites CEO Mathew Elenjickal.

“We are thrilled to combine TrackX’s yard technology with our real-time visibility platform to create Dynamic Yard. For the first time, yards and distribution centers will have real-time access to live incoming truck arrival information so that they can better plan and optimize their operations. FourKites’ Dynamic Yard will forever change the industry by bringing much-needed transparency and efficiency to shippers, carriers that operate large trailer pools, and marine terminals, alike.”

FourKites’ real-time supply chain visibility platform is the industry’s largest, with participation from more than 400 of the world’s largest shippers and their carrier and broker partners. That includes nine of the top-10 consumer packaged goods companies and 18 of the top-20 food and beverage companies in the world, yielding the industry’s richest set of real-time supply chain data and predictive ETAs.

Integrating this rich data set with previously siloed yard management systems will allow facility managers to anticipate bottlenecks, accelerate gate-in and gate-out processes, shorten the on-site time for drivers and optimize inventory across multiple sites - reducing dwell times and increasing operating margins to the benefit of everyone in the supply chain.

According to Gartner, “Visibility continues to be one of the top technologies supply chain end users invest in. By 2023, 50% of global leading enterprises will have invested in real-time transportation visibility solutions.”(1) Further, “as transportation costs and capacity issues increase, yard management presents opportunities to improve operational efficiency through increased visibility and process optimization.”(2)

“The announcement represents a huge win for TrackX and FourKites customers,” said Tim Harvie, President & CEO, TrackX.

“The ability to proactively manage facilities based on what’s happening in real-time on the road is the next logical step in extending actionable supply chain visibility to large enterprise customers and driving additional value within their yard environments. FourKites created the real-time supply chain visibility category, built the world’s largest network of global shippers, and now extends its industry-leading transportation data to the yard. We look forward to seeing the value of Dynamic Yard come to bear in the market.”

(1) Gartner “Market Guide for Real-Time Transportation Visibility Platforms,” Bart De Muynck, 25 February 2020
(2) Gartner “Market Guide for Yard Management,” Bart De Muynck, Simon Tunstal, 30 January 2019

Gartner Report: Yard Management Technology Trends & Selection Considerations

Is your yard management operation a high-performing part of your integrated supply chain? Or, like many organizations, is it plagued by inefficiencies, manual processes, and siloed systems that result in wasted time, missed deliveries, and lost materials?

Gartner’s latest report is clear. The next generation of yard management solutions presents new opportunities to rethink traditional approaches to yard management and create highly-efficient processes that integrate critical transportation warehouse operations.

Access this report to discover:

How next-generation yard management systems (YMS) can deliver real results for your business
How to define and quantify the benefits of a YMS and evaluate the impact of process automation, visibility, cost reduction, and carrier performance
How a yard management system can be on the critical path to helping you streamline your entire supply chain

Access Gartner's Report Now!

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