Automation, Not Service Frameworks, Will Shape the Yard of the Future

Logistics executives have long understood that the yard is indispensable yet overlooked. It’s the noisy, chaotic space connecting highways to warehouses, where trucks queue, trailers idle, and efficiency often slips away. Current approaches to fixing the yard fall into two camps: a patchwork of dated point solutions, or proprietary, services-driven operating models. Neither has delivered. Outdated technology can’t provide the end-to-end visibility yards demand, while service-heavy frameworks often bring cost and disruption risk instead of scalable progress.

The real issue is that yards remain stuck in the analog era. Transportation and warehousing have already undergone digital transformation, but yards remain black holes of data, visibility, and accountability. Solving this isn’t about orchestration alone—it’s about infrastructure. Closing the gap requires a tightly integrated Yard Operating System (YOS), built on automation and artificial intelligence, that transforms every truck, trailer, and gate into an intelligent node in a self-optimizing network.

The Grand Canyon of Logistics

Across the supply chain, technology has transformed operations. Inside warehouses, most facilities now run on Warehouse Management Systems (WMS). On the road, Transportation Management Systems (TMS) give managers real-time oversight of shipments and routes.

But when freight reaches the yard, the digital thread often breaks. Fewer than a quarter of operators use a dedicated Yard Management System (YMS); some estimates put adoption in the single digits. The gap is stark: companies have digitized fleets and warehouses, yet the yard—arguably the most complex handoff point—still relies on radios, clipboards, and manual checks. Trucks idle in long queues. Trailers sit unaccounted for. Supervisors juggle decisions without real-time data.

This is the “Grand Canyon” of logistics: advanced WMS and TMS systems on either side, and in the middle, a yard that too often resembles a parking lot with paperwork. The result is predictable—low visibility, poor coordination, and missed efficiency gains at the very point where goods are in motion.

Legacy Systems: Digitizing Inefficiency

Even when companies attempt to modernize, legacy yard solutions frequently disappoint. Many digitize existing processes without improving them. A gate clerk may now type trailer data into a screen instead of a clipboard, but the workflow remains manual, reactive, and error-prone. The outcomes don’t change: misplaced trailers, underutilized assets, and detention or demurrage fees that surface only after the damage is done.

The cost of this approach is clear. Companies that invest in true automation see double-digit gains in trailer turnaround and reduced dock congestion. Ryder Systems, for instance, used automated gate technology to cut gate processing times by 85%. Walmart slashed manual yard checks by 70% with AI-enabled yard tools. By contrast, operations clinging to half-digitized systems can’t keep pace, weighed down by technology that records activity but doesn’t orchestrate it.

The problem isn’t a lack of technology—it’s a lack of imagination. Too many providers bolt incremental fixes onto dated stacks rather than rethinking yard workflows for automation and integration. That’s why many executives see the current YMS landscape as inadequate: it digitizes inefficiency instead of solving the problem end-to-end.

The Yard of the Future: Operating System as Platform

The way forward isn't a costly services framework that disrupts operations; it requires a complete paradigm shift in how a yard can function. This is why industry heavyweights like Ryder System, Prologis, and NFI came together to promote the Yard Operating System as a new industry standard for yard logistics: an all-in-one platform that integrates deeply, automates relentlessly, and adapts intelligently.

Unlike legacy tools that simply log activity, a YOS turns every asset into an active node in a live, self-optimizing network. Built on AI and computer vision, it delivers real-time precision. Cameras and algorithms track assets, detect anomalies, and capture movements without human intervention. That visibility drives action. Gate check-ins, trailer assignments, and move scheduling can all be orchestrated autonomously, responding instantly to ground conditions. Security checks, damage detection, and anomaly alerts extend yard management into resilience and risk prevention.

Equally important, a YOS doesn’t operate in isolation. It connects directly with TMS and WMS platforms, unlocking the full value of those investments. Dock schedules synchronize with inbound and outbound flows. Dwell times shrink. Trailer utilization improves. The yard becomes not the missing link but a fully visible, indispensable node in the supply chain. Where frameworks are abstract and expensive, a YOS is tangible, measurable, and built for execution.

Hard Data: Quantifiable Returns

Evidence shows what an AI-native yard platform can deliver:

• Trailer turnaround and dock congestion improved by 30% or more.
• Dwell times cut by up to 30%, eliminating detention costs through real-time monitoring.
• Manual yard checks are nearly eliminated with real-time location systems.
• Asset utilization improved by 25% or more.
• ROI up to fivefold, realized quickly through cloud deployments and service-based pricing.
• Significant additional value extracted from existing WMS and TMS systems.

The market is taking notice. Yard management technology is projected to grow from roughly $2.5 billion in 2024 to more than $7 billion by the early 2030s, a compound annual growth rate near 14%. Capital flows where impact is measurable.

A Call to Action

For supply chains to achieve full digital transformation, the yard must evolve. Service-heavy frameworks risk becoming another management slogan: costly, disruptive, and slow to scale.

The answer is tangible. An AI-native Yard Operating System—modular, asset-aware, and tightly integrated—offers real-time visibility, automated workflows, and seamless integration with WMS and TMS. Yards can transform from chaotic storage lots into dynamic performance engines.

The future demands it. The data proves it. It’s time to move beyond vague frameworks and start building automated systems that deliver.

Darin Brannan is CEO Terminal Industries, an AI-computer vision yard execution platform company based in Austin, TX. With its Yard Operating System^TM, Terminal is on a mission to make the $50B-a-day flow of goods faster, cleaner, and more cost-effective—rewiring how the world moves.