INFORM showcases optimisation solutions at Modex

INFORM, a leading provider of AI-based optimisation software that facilitates improved decision making, processes and resource management, will be exhibiting its yard management system and optimisation solutions for the supply chain at Modex 2022, March 28th-31st at the Georgia World Conference Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

INFORM will be located at booth #C7998 and represented by Matthew Wittemeier, Senior Manager, International Marketing and Customer Relations at INFORM’s Terminal & Distribution Center Logistics Division.

According to Wittemeier: “Our yard management system and optimisation solutions have been gaining wide recognition with leading businesses operating in the supply chain. In the fourth quarter of 2021, we announced that our yard and crane optimisers along with several other modules were going to be implemented at Norfolk Southern’s Rossville, Tennessee and Austell, Georgia terminals. This January, Swiss Port announced its deployment of our yard management system in its newly planned regional parcel centre in Pratteln, Switzerland.

“It’s Swiss Port’s fourth deployment of our yard management system within its network of parcel distribution centres. Businesses in diverse industries from construction materials to manufacturing, to automotive, and to ports and terminals are seeing real benefit from our solutions.”

INFORM’s yard management system and optimisation solutions are powered by AI which is embedded into a wider digital supply chain (e.g. interfaced with a TMS/WMS). Compared to tracking devices or a standard YMS, INFORM’s algorithms analyse a virtually endless number of storing, scheduling, and allocation decisions in real-time and identify those that are idea for minimising costs while maximising service level and on-time performance. This, in turn, results in lower operating costs, better performance and higher ROIs from yard operations and assets.

Key Features

INFORM’s yard management system delivers the most critical performance features for optimum yard operations. They include:

• Full transparency of on-site trailers and yard resources
• Faster gate-in and gate-out handling
• Enhanced communications between dispatchers, gate staff and hostlers, and distribution centre workers for a calmer, more productive work environment
• Data standardisation to support integrated processes.

Additionally, the system provides many added-value features such as the ability to optimise:

• Yard vehicle and hostler operations for reduced fuel and maintenance costs and longer vehicle lifespans
• Dock door operations by automating routine dock-door decisions and freeing up Dispatchers to focus on higher value tasks
• On-time vehicle performance (e.g. maximising on-time departure of outbound trailers, prioritizing loading/unloading, etc.)
• The prioritisation of containers on inbound and outbound trailers with time-critical materials.