Equipment Scheduling and Yard Management
One major responsibility of the traffic department is equipment scheduling and yard management. Scheduling is an important process in both common carrier and private transportation. A serious and costly operational bottleneck can result from transportation equipment waiting to be loaded or unloaded. Proper yard management requires careful load planning, equipment utilization, and driver scheduling. Additionally, equipment preventive maintenance must be planned and implemented.
Closely related to equipment scheduling is the arrangement of delivery and pick up appointments. To avoid extensive waiting time and improve equipment utilization, it is important to preschedule dock positions or slots. It is becoming common practice to establish standing appointments for regular shipments. Some firms are implementing the practice of establishing advanced appointments at the time of order commitment. Increasingly, the effective scheduling of equipment is key to implementing time-based logistical arrangements. For example, cross-dock arrangements are totally dependent on precise scheduling of equipment arrival and departure.