New software system addresses logistics shortfalls

Macro 2000 has launched a Container Management System to handle rail logistics and address what it believes are two of the biggest areas of shortfall in the South African logistics industry – track and trace. “By implementing this management software system, the areas of difficulty within a logistics company can be traced and reported for management review,” says Macro 2000’s Anthea van Breemen. The system tracks all container movements for both import and export logistics, and everything is date- and timestamped. She explains that a train arrives at the container terminal and an arrival document is captured with the container numbers and whatever else is known at that stage, such as a seal number and wagon number. “As the workflow routing follows the container through the system, all relevant information is added and tracked – shipping line, shipper, consignee, delivery address and so on,” says Van Breemen. A planning module shows all eligible containers for daily planning, calculating the turnaround time before re-collection. Daily reports and routes are produced for the drivers. The container is tracked out of the gate with a date and time stamp and tracked at gate in again, with date and time stamp. Variance reports highlight any abnormalities for management intervention. Once the train is emptied, the exports need to be loaded. The planning module will highlight all the eligible containers for export, and the train load list is produced. At this stage the number of empty wagons will be highlighted, and requests to the shipping companies will go out for empty containers to fill the wagons. There is a full tracking history for each container, by number. The planning system and variance reporting highlights bottlenecks or problem areas and can be dealt with by management to improve the processes. INSERT & CAPTION The system tracks all container movements for both import and export logistics, and everything is date- and time-stamped. – Anthea van Breemen