FoodLogistics.com |

Santa Clara, CA: WhereNet Corp., a provier of wireless solutions for tracking and managing enterprise assets, has announced that Performance Team, a logistics provider for major retailers and manufacturers, has expanded use of the WhereNet yard management system (YMS) at its South Gate and Seattle distribution facilities, which serve the ports of Los Angeles/Long Beach and Seattle/Tacoma respectively. The WhereSoft Yard system now manages more than 350,000 twenty-foot-equivalency (TEU) unit marine shipping containers annually for transload customers on the east and west coasts of the United States.

Performance Team started utilizing the WhereNet yard management system in 2005 to optimize operations at its Santa Fe Springs transload facility. Due to the system's success at that facility, Performance Team recently deployed WhereSoft Yard version 5.0 at its South Gate and Seattle distribution facilities, in advance of this year's peak season, which is projected to bring more record amounts of inbound cargo from Asia.

"WhereNet plays a critical role in improving the efficiency of our transload operations as we continue to move an ever-increasing amount of freight for several of the country's largest retailers," says Charles Kerr, senior operations manager for Performance Team. "The intelligence of WhereSoft Yard, combined with specific business rules that we enter into the system, allows us to automate more than 90 percent of our dock door transactions. The YMS helps us reduce labor costs and increase productivity and throughput--proven benefits that we expect will lead to a complete return on investment in less than one year."

The deployment at South Gate took a total of three weeks and marked WhereNet's smoothest yard deployment ever. WhereNet installed the server software, map and zone definitions in the first week. Performance Team took one week to configure the system by creating business rules, adding carriers and building forms. During the third week, Performance Team and WhereNet conducted formal training with three user groups (office, warehouse and equipment control personnel) and launched the system.