Loadsmart launches a Yard Management System 〈YMS〉 to connect dock and yard operations

Loadsmart, a next-generation logistics provider, announced the launch of its new Yard Management System (YMS) at Manifest in Las Vegas during a session with leaders in logistics and warehousing. Loadsmart’s new YMS is digitizing docks, yards, and gates by enabling customers to oversee truck movements, track assets, and improve coordination from one interface.

The YMS is built directly into Opendock, the preferred dock scheduling tool for more than 3,500 facilities nationwide. Customers can also integrate Opendock with NavTrac, Loadsmart’s asset intelligence solution powered by computer vision, optical character recognition (OCR), and artificial intelligence (AI). Opendock and NavTrac now bring gate management, yard management, and dock scheduling into a single digital workflow, eliminating manual driver check-in and routine yard audits while automating visibility.

“Yard management systems bring control tower functions to operators, deriving their value from integration with order, inventory, people, automation, and transportation management solutions,” said Paul Brisson, Loadsmart’s Director of Product Management for Dock and Warehousing. “The Opendock YMS extends our existing gate and dock management mechanisms, adding value beyond just the yard. Customers can easily integrate with their existing WMS, ERP, and TMS. Unlike other solutions on the market, we designed our YMS alongside our customers to be easy to set up and use on a day-to-day basis.”

The YMS includes several key features:

• Fully customizable yard view: Reduce congestion and easily adapt to changes in traffic flow, storage needs, and demand fluctuations
• Driver self-check-in: Minimize wait times and reduce paperwork and manual data entry to improve accuracy
• Drag and drop assignments: Reduce errors and move assets faster with visual and intuitive truck and container assignments
• 2-way SMS: Keep drivers informed to minimize confusion, unnecessary idling, and miscommunication with yard personnel
• Asset tracking: Prevent lost or misplaced equipment and track vendor activities to improve on-time performance
• Custom yard setup: Improve decision-making and bottlenecks by customizing availability and getting quick status updates on yard conditions

“We heard from users that other YMSs are overly complex, so we built ours to be simple and easy, focusing on solving real problems,” said Julia Darold, Product Lead for Opendock and YMS. “We designed it to be flexible enough to fit any facility’s workflow, so it’s easy to adopt. The ability to track trailer and container movements, manage assignments with simple drag-and-drop tools, and automate driver communication means our customers can improve their operations without adding complexity.”

Combining the YMS with Loadsmart’s dock scheduling system gives shippers and warehouses a way to manage dock and yard operations from one single system. Information flows seamlessly from the schedule to the YMS and back.