While yard operations have certainly evolved over the past few decades, the yard still remains an area of the supply chain that is plagued with little focus, challenges, and missed opportunities.
Here is what we're seeing in enterprise yards across the industry:
- Misalignment with strategic goals
- Leadership frustrations at the facility level
- Misaligned incentives
- Executive demand for visibility and control
- Technology adoption gaps
- Rising volatility and demand for agility
The yard is perpetually on the back burner, but it's important to remind industry leaders that the yard is a critical function of the supply chain that impacts efficiency and team metrics, like on-time in-full (OTIF). According to the American Trucking Association, the yard can have a 5-10% negative OTIF when the yard operations aren’t a key focus for a company. And as many shippers know, OTIF has a direct impact on customer satisfaction.
Not only does it just impact OTIF, but managing yard operations can provide significant results, such as better efficiency, cost cuts, and improved carrier relationships.
So, the question remains: If yard operations play such a pivotal role in the broader supply chain, why don’t they receive the attention they deserve?
The answer: The lack of discussion and awareness about the yard’s impact on trailer flow, transportation management, and overall broader operations.
In a recent webinar, moderated by Bart De Muynck, industry analyst and former VP of Research at Gartner, two industry leaders - Chris Sultemeier, former EVP of Logistics at Walmart and Matt Yearling, CEO of YMX Logistics - shared their perspectives on the state of enterprise yard operations. Together, they explored the evolution of the yard, critical challenges faced today, and how to maximize value with a yard operating system.
Market Dynamics: The Evolution of Yard Operations
Here is a look at how yard operations have evolved over time:
1980s – The Rise of Spotting Services:
Basic yard support began with companies offering spotting services.
2000s – Emergence of Dedicated Yard Service Providers:
The market expanded, with dedicated yard service providers offering more comprehensive services such as shuttling, trailer rentals, and freight services.
2010s – The Wave of the YMS:
Yard management systems came to market, offering technology-enabled insights and control over trailer movements.
2025 – The Yard Operating System Era:
The yard operating system takes a holistic approach. It brings together people, processes, and technology to drive value across the workforce, assets, safety, sustainability, and enterprise.
The industry is recognizing that technology alone doesn’t fix yard problems. Real transformation happens with the right people, processes, and technology-enablement working seamlessly for better asset utilization, smarter labor allocation, safer environments, and more sustainable and scalable operations.
Four Critical Challenges in Yard Operations Today
While yard operations have evolved, many challenges remain. Here are four challenges that continue to hinder operations:
- Inefficiencies: The yard continues to be infiltrated with efficiency issues due to little focus on making it more efficient. What many don’t realize is that the yard has a direct impact on transportation costs and a shipper’s chance of being a “shipper of choice.”
- Lack of Root-Cause Understanding: Many shippers don’t have full insight into the systemic issues happening in the yard. The yard continues to be misunderstood.
- Limited visibility and transparency: Technology is being introduced across yard operations to resolve visibility and transparency issues. However, the technology usually isn't integrated into the broader operational framework – with a focus on a holistic strategy, where technology is just one component to fix the problem.
- Underinvestment: About 50% of companies choose to in-source their yard operations, but if they’re not willing to invest in new technologies or yard enhancements, it'll lead the yard remaining stagnant. This is a time when outsourcing should be seriously considered.
The Solution: Approaching Enterprise Yard Operations with a Holistic Strategy
Our experts note that there are strategic shippers who are maturing and managing the yard more effectively with:
- Centralized oversight: They don't let yard issues flounder at the local level. There is centralized oversight from a network-wide perspective to better understand how each local site fits across the enterprise.
- Effective KPIs: Most shippers do not measure yard efficiency, or if they are, they’re not measuring it effectively. To drive performance, strategic shippers measure moves, productivity, wait time, and other key KPIs with technology integration.
- Value creation through optimization: On a continuous basis, they evaluate current spend, address operational challenges, and identify benchmarking opportunities with a goal to lower overall costs, create enterprise-wide benefits, and provide better service to customers.
- A holistic yard operating system approach: There is a strategic focus on operations – the people, processes, and equipment that make yard operations effective – with a technology layer to seamlessly connect and integrate across transportation and the warehouse to deliver meaningful results.
Enterprise Yard Operations: Expert Q&A
Together, Matt, Chris, and Bart tackled questions that came in during the live webinar. Below are the questions we received from the audience, and our panelists’ perspectives.
Q1: What impact does an efficient yard have on a shipper’s transportation bid?
While it's difficult to pin down an exact number like 5–10%, the value is clear. Whether your operation is based on live unloading or a drop operation, an efficient yard reduces detention time, and carriers do notice. Lower wait times translate into lower carrier rates.
If you want to be a “shipper of choice,” yard performance matters. No one wants their equipment or their people sitting idle.
Q2: When is the right time to invest in yard management technology?
The right time is now. Without technology-enabled insights, you're operating blind, and that leads to costly issues. However, remember, technology is just one element. The intersection of operations and technology is where value creation comes from.
Q3: How should teams build an effective business case for improving yard operations?
Focus on five areas:
- DC Efficiency – How would operations improve if doors were never waiting for product in the door?
- Carrier Negotiation – Would being a shipper of choice give you leverage and create cost benefits?
- Operational Labor – How many spotters and drivers would you need? Could you reallocate or reduce resources?
- Loss Reduction – How much lost merchandise could be prevented with better yard visibility?
- Workplace Safety – What’s the safety impact on operations and people of a better-managed yard?
Then benchmark your best-performing sites withing your network and compare them with top operations outside your network. Understand the opportunity between your current state and ideal state, and present the anticipated savings you’ll reap if you can get there.
Q4: How can yard operations support sustainability and ESG goals?
Two standout opportunities:
- Electrification – Yards are a perfect environment for electric vehicles. Cleaner, quieter, and better for drivers.
- Autonomy – While it doesn’t solve all problems from gate-to-dock yet, autonomous vehicles are making strides. The future is bright, especially for the use of autonomous vehicles in large distribution centers.
Key Takeaways from the Panel
Chris Sultemeier emphasized that the yard is foundational. Its performance affects transportation and building operations, and getting it right creates real enterprise value.
Matt Yearling encouraged supply chain leaders to quantify their current yard spend and problems. Carriers are already telling you where the friction is. The yard may be the single biggest untapped opportunity in your network, if you know where to look and how to measure it.
It's Time for a Transformation in Enterprise Yard Operations
In today’s supply chain environment, the yard is a strategic asset that can unlock value across transportation and warehousing, and impact sustainability and safety efforts.
Whether you’re just beginning to evaluate your yard strategy or ready to make the case for investment, these expert insights offer a strong starting point.
Want more? Watch the full on-demand webinar and hear directly from the panel.