Note: Today’s post is part of our “Editor’s Pick” series where we highlight recent posts published by our sponsors that provide practical knowledge and advice on timely and important supply chain and logistics topics. In this post, Rafael Granato from PINC Solutions summarizes a video case study we featured recently on Talking Logistics, part of our “Profiles in Yard Management Excellence” series where we highlight companies (in this case, Pactiv) that are leading the way in driving continuous improvement and innovation in yard management.
As one of the world’s largest producers of food packaging and disposable dinnerware, Pactiv not only supplies food processors, but it also supplies products to the foodservice industry (such as Sysco, U.S. Foods) and consumer brands (Walmart, Sam’s Club). Up until recently, the company had very little visibility over its yard processes, which were monitored and tracked via Excel spreadsheets.
Responsible for the flow of product, and ensuring that all spotters and shuttle drivers are operating as efficiently as possible, Chris Snow, Midwest Fleet Manager says the company’s manual yard management approach presented numerous challenges for Pactiv. Individuals often forgot to “update” the spreadsheets, or neglected to save it to the shared drive.
“Spotters would get out into the yard and spend 15 to 20 minutes looking for a trailer that we needed to unload or load quickly,” says Snow. And with 200 to 300 trailers in Pactiv’s yard at any given time, those 15- to 20-minute increments could quickly add up to hours wasted every day.
Pactiv was also challenged by high inbound trailer detention fees, namely because carrier trailers weren’t always unloaded in a timely fashion. “After three days, the carriers would start charging us trailer detention fees,” says Snow. “If you’re talking about a week, that’s an extra $100 right off the top. If you’re not keeping a close eye on it, that total can grow pretty quickly.”
