50 DC VELOCITY APRIL 2016 www.dcvelocity.com
WHEN IT CAME TIME TO CHOOSE A NEW YARD
management system (YMS), Dot Foods, a $5.5 billion
food-service redistribution company headquartered in
Mt. Sterling, Ill., was looking for something that would
act like the “brain” of the yard, much the way a warehouse management system directs activities inside the
distribution center.
“Oftentimes, yard
management is thought
of really as providing
more or less inventory for
what’s in the yard and/or
basic moves,” says John
Long, senior vice president of warehousing.
Such simplicity, however, would not work
100,000 products from
To handle that complexity, Dot Foods needs a YMS
that’s able to help it direct traffic in the yard and prioritize which purchase orders (POs) go where.
Previously, Dot Foods had used Navis’s YMS for its
operations. But Navis had decided to focus its attention on containers at the dock as opposed to trailers in
the yard and had gone into a “desupport” mode for its
YMS product. As a result, Dot Foods needed a new YMS
provider.
At first, it was not able to find a solution that could
provide the management level it needed. However,
International Business Systems (IBS) was looking to
develop a yard management system for its Dynaman
suite, and Dot Foods liked the idea of working with the
company to develop the system.
“It was probably a year-plus of joint collaboration
efforts with their team on site working hand in hand
with us,” Long says.
“That was the only way
both parties thought it
would be successful.”
Dot Foods has rolled
out the YMS solution
at two of its nine distri-
bution centers (one in
Mount Sterling, Ill., and
one in Vidalia, Ga.) and
is in the process of plan-
ning the remainder.
“It really directs the
flow in our yard,” says
Long. “The easiest exam-
ple is if the yard is full of POs, the yard system will help
us prioritize, based upon our needs and timing, what
POs need to be placed where. But it’s not only about
prioritization; it’s also about efficiency—which door is
available and is closest to the putaway for that product,
as an example.”
Dot Foods also uses the system to manage, prioritize,
and assess which empty trailer would be the best one for
an outbound load, according to Long.
“Trailers are a dynamic asset and an expensive asset,
especially as the majority of our trailers are multi-temp,”
Long says. “So as we are trying to manage our asset base
An IBS Dynaman yard management system helps Dot Foods direct the flow of goods and
assets in its busy yards.
The brain of the yard
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