Asset and inventory management is the future direction for global marine terminal IT supplier, Navis.That was the message from the company's seventh biennial user conference – Navis World –
held in San Francisco in April.

"In the future, all assets and inventory will identify themselves, send data about themselves, connect to information systems in real-time, and be located and tracked. Asset visibility solutions, ubiquitous wireless connectivity and low-cost mobility solutions will revolutionise enterprise resource management," said John Dillon, former Navis CEO and now senior VP at Zebra Technologies, the owner of Navis (see box overleaf).

As part of this integrated future, Zebra Enterprise Solutions Group (ESG) will now focus on "providing integrated solutions for complex and high-value enterprise problems", says Dillon.

Marine terminals and the container transport chain certainly fit the description. Multiple handoffs and lack of integration among the various parties are long-acknowledged problems that have so far proved impossible to address in any meaningful way.

But while everyone knows the status quo is far from ideal, full asset visibility remains a very difficult goal to embrace. Partly, says Dillon, this is because – other than in closed loop operations – it is hard to identify the real customer in such a tangled web of players.

"It will happen, but there has to be a clear return on investment," he observed. "Our strategy is to concentrate on the nodes first and, from there, begin to connect these nodes. Where the assets are concentrated, it's easy to identify the customers."

In the case of the marine terminals, Dillon believes capacity issues will start to drive radical new thinking about a port's role in the maritime ecosystem.

"I personally think ports are going to run out of room, especially with the increased volumes and
dwell times resulting from larger ships," he says. He predicts that in the future, the industry will see
more "staging" of container traffic, with new strategies introduced to speed the flow of boxes through the marine terminal.

An example is a project by Rotterdam operator ECT for boxes to clear customs upriver rather than at the marine terminal. Implementing such strategies will require better shipment intelligence right along the chain and the ongoing convergence of increasingly low-cost technologies will help make that happen, says Dillon. "The reality is that most things will tell you where they are."

At the terminal itself, Dillon indicated that Navis and its Zebra sister companies will focus more on systems integration and new opportunities presented by high-level automation.

"We've had very good experiences with APMT Virginia and Euromax, and we will do more, for instance on complex gate systems," he says. "Currently, there are no large suppliers of integrated gate solutions and most terminals are putting the pieces together themselves. We will team up with others to provide that solution."

The group also looks set to become more involved in labour resource management and tracking at the terminal. "As we are already managing the equipment resource, why not add the human resource?"

Terminal operators and technology suppliers attending Navis World agreed there is a need for a more structured approach to systems integration.

The proliferation of technologies both for basic automation of terminal processes and higher-level automated container handling operations is creating considerable complexity in project planning and implementation. A number of delegates predict the next few years will see the emergence of companies providing terminal systems integration as a core service, rather than just a business off-shoot.

However, there is also some unease about the current trend for suppliers to develop more complete offerings, particularly for automated container handling. This concern was illustrated by questions to a panel of equipment automation providers, including ABB, Gottwald, Kalmar, Konecranes and TM-GE Automation Systems, which were quizzed by terminal operators about the future difficulties of integrating components from different suppliers, for example AGVsfrom Gottwald with ASCs from Kalmar.

With so many players now crowding into automation, key questions also remain about where the intelligence to drive automated container handling operations should reside – in the TOS or at the equipment level? Not surprisingly, opinions are deeply divided. There was much more agreement with the assertion by Uno Bryfors, VP of ABB, that automated RMGs are now "a standard and proven product". Automated container handling in the yard, at least, appears to have passed an important tipping point.

Dan Gardner is president and co-founder of Trade Facilitator, a training and consulting firm specialising in logistics and global supply chain management (SCM).

Referring to the role of terminal operations in global SCM, he says that while on a functional basis terminal operators work with their immediate partners – carriers, hauliers and rail companies – on a systematic basic "everybody in the supply chain answers to the shipper and/or consignee".

And terminal performance is absolutely of concern to these ultimate customers. "You need to acknowledge that customers can and do make decisions on what ports to use," says Gardner.

Gardner's comments are echoed by Gustaaf de Monie, director of Belgian thinktank Policy Research Corp, who argues that shippers will seek stronger control of container shipping and port of call selection, driven by the need both to improve their control over the SCM process and to reduce the share of distribution costs in the total shelf
price of goods.

He predicts that shippers will start asking for greater visibility into activities at the container terminal. They will also begin actively selecting ports and terminals based on specific measurement criteria – such as the Container Terminal Quality Indicator (CTQI) initiative from the Global Institute of Logistics and Germanischer Lloyd, which also presented at the conference.

According to Gardner, lead time variation is the main criterion applied by shippers and consignees when measuring the performance of different supply chain routings. Showing a real shipper analysis of average cycle times for cargo moving South China-Nashville with three different ocean carriers, he pointed out that the supply chain component with the greatest process variation was always terminal operations. Citing various recent press reports, he jokes that "the number one rule of SCM is: always blame the terminal operator".

Terminals that can reduce lead time variation by providing consistent and predictable turn times will come out on top.

"Variation in any element of the supply chain introduces nervousness into the system, which resonates across the entire supply chain," says Gardner.

Gardner advises terminals to improve their understanding of SCM and apply SCM principles – including continuous performance measurement and improvement – to their operations. As an important part of the puzzle, he says, shippers are looking for terminal operators to provide supply chain visibility that will assist in the planning of distribution requirements and inventory management. "Satisfy your immediate partners, but focus on the core customer." cs

Zebra Enterprise Solutions Group (ESG) is the new business unit formed after the Navis acquisition in 2007. ESG brings together Navis, WhereNet, proveo and Zebra's most recent acquisition, Multispectral Solutions (MSSI).

The goal of ESG is "to be the recognised global leader improving customers' business performance with products and solutions that identify, track and manage assets," says John Dillon, former Navis CEO and now senior VP at Zebra Technologies.

MSSI, acquired by Zebra this April, provides ultra wideband (UWB) real-time locating systems and other UWB-based wireless technology. The benefit of UWB technologies, says Dillon, is their ability to provide pinpoint asset location – to within a few inches – in harsh metallic industrial conditions. Current applications include tracking of personnel in high-risk environments, such as refineries, as well as the tracking of inventories, material handling equipment and parts in complex manufacturing operations.

Dillon says that MSSI's low cost UWB technologies will complement those of proveo (providing telemetry, GPS/GPRS and WiFi to the airport industry); WhereNet (focusing on active RFID and RTLS applications in automotive, manufacturing, aerospace, defence and marine terminal verticals); and Navis.

"We're looking to develop a common framework of technologies that we can test and spread across a broader constituency than was previously possible," he explains.

As a cash-rich company with US$2.5bn market capitalisation, further Zebra acquisitions in this sector will come as no surprise to anyone. But Dillon adds that the new group will also continue to team up with thirdparty technology providers: "We need to do that, just like IBM does."