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Autostore from Central Systems & Automation is the UK's leading port-wide Terminal Operating System (TOS). PD Teesport uses Autostore TOS to operate the TCT1/TCT2 container terminals and the Autostore Warehouse Management System (WMS) to run two substantial on-site warehousing facilities. As part of an integrated port management system, PDT is also using the Autostore Resource Management System (RMS) to manage its personnel operations - from work scheduling through to the intricacies of wage and time management.
The efficient management of dock personnel at a major port is a complex task, requiring the careful balancing of a changing daily headcount against available skills, anticipated shipment schedules, working time, overtime and different pay scales. With the international port management market becoming increasingly competitive, there is significant pressure to raise operational efficiency, cut cargo-processing times and optimise manning to ensure long-term profitability. To this end, PDT has replaced its legacy resource planning system with the Autostore Resource Management System (RMS) as one part of the company's move to an integrated port management solution for Teesport.
Managing skills
The work schedule changes day-to-day, week-to-week. With over 200 dock workers making up the core work gangs servicing the Teesport Estate - plus a potential pool of several hundred additional temporary workers sourced from contractors - a dynamic, real-time view of operations is critical. As well as the TCT1 and TCT2 container terminals and warehousing operations, labour is needed to service short and deep sea steel vessels, discharging of cars, general cargo and by Teesport's Roll On-Roll Off (Ro-Ro) facility that manages road cargo between Teesport, Zeebrugge and Rotterdam. Finally, detailed management accounts are required by PDT Directors four days after each monthly close-off that must dissect output and profitability against a number of precise operational criteria.
The first level PDT's Autostore RMS application operates on is manning. Operational clerks specify the manning requirements based on anticipated daily shipments for import and export and use the system to calculate core and temporary headcount needed. The critical issue is managing the skills mix amongst the work gangs. The different crane and vehicle types required for any one job all demand different skills and command different rates of pay: Autostore ensures that no job is either overskilled or underskilled and enables more efficient shift allocations. With the port's throughput and turnover reliant on the fast resolution of these requirements on a daily basis, such real-time resource management is necessary to maintain competitiveness.
Managing time and payroll
As well as managing the skills mix, there is also the question of time and cost management: under the EU Work Time Directive, each dockworker can work 162.5 hours per month before overtime kicks in. After allocating the right work gang skilling for each job, Autostore RMS ensures that all slack time capacity is used up for each individual before allocating resources to overtime, resulting in more precise control over the PDT payroll.
The second level for Autostore RMS is payroll: not only does the system record hours and skills, it also validates all extra payments, sickness and holidays for the work gangs. It allows PDT to switch workers onto temporary new pay levels quickly and easily; it also automatically cross-checks all work and pay details with PDT's different temporary employment contractors, saving considerable amounts of time on administration. Linked to the automated payroll system, Autostore RMS ensures consistent non-labour intensive accuracy with wages.
PDT's business is hard to predict which makes resource scheduling very fluid. Three main benefits of using Autostore RMS have helped considerably in this area: savings on time, the visibility of resources and the comprehensive checks and verifications built into the system. With 12 different report templates and a fast-turnaround needed for management accounts, the Autostore RMS report generator is critically important. In addition, the data it generates can be easily downloaded for manipulation offline in an Excel spreadsheet.
Delivering precision
Resource management with Autostore has enabled PDT to extend the precision with which management can view the business: from revenue and profitability per tonne to labour cost per tonne and profitability by customer. Operational data can be cut by customer, product and facility type, enabling the examination of relative profitability right across the business - helpful for making the right long-term investment decisions.
Above all, Autostore RMS brings PDT visibility for the users covering resource planning. It creates an accurate, real-time virtual picture of dock resources at the touch of a button and enables the dynamic re-configuring of how they are applied in line with the ebb and flow of daily demand. Resource management with Autostore RMS is also being extended to the engineering functions at Teesport, enabling the resource management team to track plant and quickly identify which engineers have worked on which item and for how long.