Transport Management System (TMS)

A control tower to supervise the logistics of a steelworks site, dream or reality?

The transport of internal or external material on a steel site represents a significant number of activities, such as: the reception of truck drivers, the weighing of trucks or trains, their orientation, the final check before departure, the edition of transport documents, etc.

These activities are very often performed by site personnel or outsourced to an external firm. Considering the size of a site, it requires a large number of personnel.

At Synthetis, we have thought about implementing a solution, Fluxx, that allows most of these tasks to be automated or performed by the driver himself.

One person in a centralized office can then supervise the operations and help in case of problems.

At each important point (gate, scale, dock – …), a “kiosk” is placed to allow drivers to identify themselves and receive orientation information. A printer can also be installed to print documents.

Fluxx is also able to estimate the driver’s waiting time and inform him about it.

To make it easier for drivers to find their way around the site, good signposting with pictograms is necessary to avoid finding trucks at the four corners of the plant.

PPE and safety can be checked by means of specific or targeted inspections.

We will distinguish 3 types of activities: shipments, inter-site transports and deliveries.

• For inter-site transport, the trucks and drivers are authorized and used to the company. The trucks’ plates can be pre-registered and the drivers receive a permanent badge. When they arrive at the site, they do not have to register, they are shown their destination directly at the barrier. The gate opens automatically when the truck’s plate and/or the driver’s badge are detected. When the truck stops on a dock, either its plate is detected or the driver’s badge is detected. A bridge can then unload the truck automatically or not. When the truck is unloaded, Fluxx can reassign a mission. If everything went well, the control tower will not have to intervene.

• As far as shipments are concerned, putting everything in the hands of the drivers is more complicated. The site does not have control over all the transport companies that come to the entrance. There is a much greater diversity of languages. In addition, the security and printing of documents must also be taken into account.

With Fluxx, we offer our customers a software that allows companies with a transport number to register and reserve a time slot to present themselves at the reception. During this registration, the company will mention the truck and the driver who will carry out the transport. The driver will receive a QR code allowing him to identify himself. When he arrives at the site, if he has already registered and has respected his schedule, he can go to the entrance where his truck’s plate and/or his QR code will identify him. The screen will give him his next destination, which in general is the scale. After the scale, depending on the condition of the docks and the layout of the site, the driver will be directed to the scale or to a waiting parking lot. On the parking lot, screens are installed to warn the driver that the dock is free. This alarm can also be sent to an application installed on his mobile phone. The loading process is identical to the internal transport. Weighing at the exit allows to check the total weight of the load and the loaded weight in order to avoid errors.

• The deliveries are globally managed in the same way with a QR code. For each type of product, a destination is identified on the site and the different stages the driver must go through.

By making the different transport operations rely on the driver himself rather than on site personnel and by planning the arrival of the trucks as much as possible, the need for personnel presence is greatly reduced and they can be grouped in a control tower. They will only have to intervene on certain well-targeted actions.

Fluxx also makes it possible to increase the number of shipments per day, thereby significantly reducing waiting times.

Would you like to find out more about what Fluxx can do for you? https://synthetis.com/en/fluxx/