The recent success of a Terminal Automation System (TAS) test run in South Carolina has Sea-Land Services, Inc., officials enthusiastic about transforming their global terminal operations during the next few years. The heart of the system, AT&T Global Information Solution (GIS) System 3000 computers and Microsoft Windows NT technology, provides Sea-Land with the critical--and reliable--building blocks required to attain its vision of remaining a leader among shipping companies.
With a presence in more than 100 seaports around the world, Sea-Land administrators know their terminal-operations processes have played a major role in the company's success. With annual revenues in excess of $3.5 billion, the New Jersey-based Sea-Land, a subsidiary of CSX Corporation, is the largest U.S. flag carrier and one of the top three shipping companies in the world. The company has more than 8000 employees, 88 container ships, and more than 150,000 containers.
In today's worldwide marketplace, standing still is not an option for any company in the business of moving containerized cargo. Strict, vast, and varying international regulations, low margins, and fierce, global competition make it more and more necessary to reduce costs and improve customer service. While very successful, Sea-Land officials could still see that they needed to change the way the company operated if they wanted it to maintain its leadership position. They needed to integrate new technologies.
Thus began Sea-Land's TAS test in Port of Charleston, South Carolina. TAS is a computing system designed to streamline critical operations at Sea-Land's terminal facilities. "From the outset, the TAS project team wanted a system that would allow them to spend more time on business issues and less time dealing with the details of the technology," explained Ernie Ruffin, an AT&T account executive for Sea-Land.
In fact, adapting technology to Sea-Land's changing business is a corporate mandate. "We have a mission in TAS to build a suite of custom, in-house solutions that will redesign the operational business processes," said Rick Cerwonka, director of Terminal Operations.
The Name of the Game
Shipping terminals play a critical role in overseas carrier productivity. When you carry freight over water, everything culminates at the terminals: Ships and trucks hand off hundreds of cargo containers en route to their destinations. This critical point of exchange can make or break a business relationship. It is a point where things must go right, quickly and efficiently. However, this is also where things can go wrong, such as misplacing a container, resulting in costly delays and angry customers.
Port operations are as complex as they are expensive. The speed and efficiency with which the company moves containers on and off ships and through the terminal has a profound effect on operating costs and profits--not just for the terminal but also for its customers. The smallest improvement in efficiency, such as increasing the number of crane lifts to and from vessels, can reduce a customer's cycle time with "just-in-time" inventories, which can then provide significant savings.
Sea-Land has relied heavily on computers to run its terminals. The company's worldwide operations are handled by Customer Information Control System (CICS)-based mainframes, 3270 terminals, and a sophisticated Systems Network Architecture (SNA) system utilizing satellite links, leased lines, and routers. The relatively few personal computers in Sea-Land terminals were used primarily for mainframe access, using Digital Communications Associates' IRMA Workstation for Windows emulation software. Operational information, such as container arrival data, was done on paper. The results were then transmitted over the network to the datacenter in Jacksonville, Florida. Manually collecting the information and keying in the data were time-consuming and tedious.
In 1993, Sea-Land began a TAS trial run in its Port of Charleston terminal. This, however, was not the company's first foray into terminal automation. Several years earlier, Sea-Land had started to develop terminal management systems to automate operations in its Hong Kong and Rotterdam, The Netherlands, ports. The company quickly determined that the systems were too closely linked to the unique operating conditions at each port to be useful at other ports' terminals. Re-engineering and transforming a critical business process doesn't necessarily mean reinventing the wheel. Nor is it a process to be used only in the event of a breakdown or problem.
Sea-Land has typically had capable processes and systems for its terminal operations. "The [established] system worked fine in Port of Charleston," Cerwonka said. "However, our motivation was to make it work better and handle increased volume. In our eyes, we had no choice if we wanted to maintain a leadership position in an extremely competitive global market." The focus was to identify the optimal standard operating processes, not just to automate the existing processes, forms, and screens. TAS involved a complete change in how Sea-Land did business.
Streamlining the Process
In a year of real-world operations in Port of Charleston, TAS earned its success. The result: Truck drivers enter and depart the facility up to 40% faster--by an average of 20 minutes. Equipment is inspected and repaired faster. And more process efficiency is on the horizon.
With Sea-Land's plans for future enhancements, employees will use TAS to place containers in optimal yard locations so that ships are loaded and unloaded more efficiently, expediting their departure and arrival schedules. "The payoff is faster delivery to customers, improved productivity, and reduced costs," said Arno Dimmling, Sea-Land's vice president of Terminal Operations Services.
TAS has four basic components--Gate, Yard, Marine, and Maintenance Repair and Control System (MRCS)--software modules running on System 3000 servers. Gate improves the way containers are moved in and out of the terminal. Yard assists with the inventory and placement of containers in the storage yard. Marine helps automate the loading and unloading of vessels. MRCS provides real-time identification of damages, estimates repair costs, and prepares repair schedules.
Another module planned for TAS is the Yard Inventory module, in which the location of each container is keyed in by row and slot. The driver knows exactly where to pick up or drop off a container. TAS stores the move sequence for each box so the boxes can be placed in the appropriate order. Container information is fed into the database in real-time, so it's available immediately to anyone who needs it.
About 500 times a day, drivers roll up to the gate in Port of Charleston to drop off containers, pick up empty boxes, or both. These visits are called missions. When truck drivers enter the terminal, they stop at a "pre-gate" where posted instructions walk them through the automated process. A telephone at the pre-gate connects them directly to clerks seated at computers in the office. A clerk enters the driver's trucking company and booking number. In seconds, all the pertinent information about the shipment is displayed. Using a remote-controlled video camera, the checker verifies the container and chassis numbers. The clerk then enters the booking information and proceeds with the rest of the driver's mission. If the driver is picking up a container for the return trip, that information is immediately available to the clerk.
With this step completed in as few as 30 seconds, a thermal printer beside the driver's phone prints an entry pass to the terminal with detailed instructions for the driver and a bar code referencing the visit number. The entry pass tells the driver step-by-step what to do and where to go to complete the mission.
The next stop is at the first gate for equipment inspection. Sea-Land inspects every container that passes through its terminals. Mechanics check the chassis and container for needed repairs and record any data or comments on a hand-held, pen-based computer with an integrated radio modem running Microsoft Pen for Windows software. The hand-held units display not only text but also a graphical representation that shows the exact location and nature of any damage. The driver then signs the touch screen.
The hand-held unit relays the inspection information, including the container's serial number, any required repair action, and the driver's signature, via radio modem communications to the SQL Server database running on a System 3000 under Windows NT. TAS creates a dependable, easily accessible audit trail of information about damaged containers.
The local AT&T server then passes all maintenance and repair information, such as the type of damage and the location of a damaged container, to the legacy system. The mainframe can determine the location and availability of repair parts, schedule the repair, and download a repair estimate to be included in the inspection report and printed before the driver leaves the yard.
The entire process takes less than 10 minutes. Sea-Land's maintenance department gets a jump on performing repairs, and damaged containers are quickly back in service. More importantly, Sea-Land officials immediately know when a container is not in need of repair and is available for customer use.
The entry pass tells the driver where in the yard to park the container--row and slot. Next, the driver's pick-up location is listed. The driver picks up the container if it's already on a chassis. If it's on the ground, the driver selects a chassis, hooks it up, and goes to the location listed on the entry pass where port personnel load the container. There's a final safety inspection using the hand-held computers before the driver heads out.
At the exit gate, the driver puts the entry pass into a specially designed enclosure where a bar-code reader identifies the mission and displays the previously recorded information on another computer terminal in the gate office. Checkers, at exit terminals identical to the entry terminals, use video cameras to verify that the driver has the correct container and enter the chassis number into the record.
TAS automatically connects with Port of Charleston's Orion mainframe computer and the automated cargo clearance system. Orion links all Port of Charleston Customs brokers, freight forwarders, agents, and steamship lines with US Customs and the USDA. With Orion, the odds are good that Customs cleared the cargo days before it even arrived.
Another thermal printer prints a trailer interchange receipt with the driver's signature. The driver proceeds to the security gate, where Port Security verifies that the truck has the correct load before it leaves the terminal. Only two pieces of paper have been generated during the entire mission. A mission that would have taken 40 to 50 minutes in the past now takes as few as 15 to 20 minutes.
"Moving cargo is the name of the game," said Carl Pitts, Jr., Sea-Land dispatch/gate supervisor at the Port of Charleston facility. "The more boxes we move though the gate in a day, the better for everyone. TAS has made us much more efficient at getting cargo in and out of the terminal. For example, I can tell you the average amount of time it takes drivers from a particular company to get in and out of the terminal or just about anything else. Now, virtually every report I need is available at the touch of a button."
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