Past success with WhereNet solutions leads third-party logistics provider to deploy East Coast installation of rules-based yard management system
Santa Clara, CA — June 29, 2005 — NYK Logistics Inc., a third-party logistics provider, said today that it is deploying the WhereNet active radio frequency identification (RFID), real-time locating system (RTLS) and business rules-based yard management solution at its new transload facility in Norfolk, Va., to automate and expedite shipments for the retailer Target's stores.
The NYK Logistics Norfolk facility will process more than 28,000 inbound ocean freight containers and 20,000 outbound trailers each year.
Based on the success of the standards-based WhereNet system at NYK Logistics' Long Beach, Calif., facility, Target recognized NYK Logistics as its Deconsolidator of the Year in 2004 and requested that the company open a similar WhereNet-powered transload operation to process the increasing volume of imports arriving on the East Coast.
"The WhereNet system provides us with a key differentiator in delivering premier service to Target," said John Amato, senior vice president, warehouse division, NYK Logistics. "Target made it very clear it wanted our Norfolk facility to provide the same levels of efficiency and productivity as it has enjoyed at our Long Beach facility."
Amato added that the benefits to NYK Logistics of the WhereNet system extend well beyond Target. "The carriers and drayage truckers also love the system, because it enables them to turn loads in a matter of minutes," he said.
Having deployed its technology at more than a dozen marine terminal and transload facilities on the West Coast, WhereNet is building a similar ecosystem of installations on the East Coast, starting with customers like NYK Logistics Norfolk that help service shippers and steamship lines using the Port of Virginia, which is the largest intermodal facility in the region.
Spanning more than 25 acres, NYK Logistics' Norfolk facility includes more than 500 parking slots and a 500,000 square-foot cross-dock building with 92 dock doors. During peak season — late summer through early fall — NYK Logistics Norfolk will process more than 800 gate transactions a day.
NYK Logistics said it will rely on the WhereNet wireless "command and control center" and automated yard management solution to expedite shipments to more than 20 Target distribution centers across the country.
The WhereNet installation at NYK Logistics Norfolk commenced this month, and the system will go live the first week of August.
"When you operate such high-volume, high-velocity facilities for one of the world's largest retailers, it is imperative that you mitigate risk by removing the potential for human error as much as possible," explained Amato. "With very little human intervention, the WhereNet system gives us accurate, real-time data about every mobile asset in our facility and the unique ability to automate time-sensitive yards moves based on that intelligence. With WhereNet, we can process more shipments with fewer resources than ever before."
Based on its experience in Long Beach, NYK Logistics expects a complete return on its investment in less than nine months, as well as the elimination of all costs associated with manual yard searches and data collection, a 70 percent increase in efficiency in cross-docking operations, more than 30 percent increase in daily throughput, at least 50 percent improvement in gate personnel and hostler productivity, and a reduction in the time drivers spend on site to complete a double transaction.
