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, Carhartt) that are leading the way in driving continuous improvement and innovation in yard management.
The year 1889 was a time of steel, steam, and locomotives. It was also when Hamilton Carhartt & Company was founded by its namesake and began producing overalls with two sewing machines and a half-horsepower electric motor in a small Detroit loft. Today, Carhartt has global operations in the U.S., Mexico, and Europe. The company employs more than 2,200 employees who, over the past 15 years, have produced more than 80 million garments and accessories in the U.S.
Carhartt ships all customer and consumer orders from a single facility in Western Kentucky that features two drop lots and several satellite yards. The facility operates around the clock, particularly during Carhartt’s peak shipping months. As its order and shipment volumes grew, the company found itself in need of a yard management system (YMS) that would give it up-to-the-minute information on where trailers are located from the time they drive through the gate and for the entire time that they are onsite.
The Need for More Efficient and Effective Yard Management Visibility
“Visibility to incoming and outgoing shipments is not only a critical need, but it’s a very necessary part of doing business,” says Andra Gibson, project manager, logistics service solutions at Carhartt, whose team needed to know which trailers were onsite, how many times those trailers moved, what was on their inbound and outbound loads, and then when those vehicles exited the premises.
“We needed a solution that was more effective than manual yard checks and a paper trail that we utilized up to that point, to support the volume of movements that we were actually seeing,” says Gibson. “We also needed a better way to track information on the drivers and equipment that were passing through our gates for security purposes.”
