Autostore TOS provides increased efficiency at Lyon Terminal, France

Background

Established in 1993, Lyon Terminal was the first multimodal operation to serve the Lyon region and continues to prove itself as the leading terminal of the region. Lyon Terminal handles any type of transport unit through river and rail transport facilities.

As the biggest container terminal operating river Rhône in France, the operations team viewed adopting a new and improved change as a crucial element to support the terminal’s long-term objectives and expansion plans.

Lyon Terminal identified the need to replace their traditional approach to operating the terminal to support the necessity for change and to increase performance. A key driver was to eliminate the use of handheld radio devices, and the objective was to facilitate solid communication in the terminal’s day-to-day operations and to achieve an elevated level of efficiency using a modernised, cutting-edge alternative.

Selection of Autostore TOS

Lyon Terminal needed software that offered secure simple and reliable communication channels, while providing a clear reporting of all throughputs in and out of the terminal.

This directly supported Lyon Terminal’s objective: to increase the operations’ reliability and trustworthiness, that would in turn support day-to-day terminal works. The importance of securing this is the ability for a terminal to effectively adapt according to troubleshooted issues.

The deployment of a container management system is a critical process which is dependent on futureproofing the terminal. To meet the terminal’s growing demands and expansion plans, TBA Group’s Autostore TOS was selected. TBA Group was introduced to facilitate the terminal’s operations experience such as the traditional approach of day-to-day communication and the invoicing of key performance indicators.

The implementation of Autostore TOS supported Lyon Terminal’s shift from a terminal that operated with a system that reached its limits to one that adopts an efficient system that continues to aid Lyon Terminal’s abilities to:

• Increase the terminal’s throughputs through increased efficiency.
• Support the terminal’s momentum towards growth.
• Enable the terminal to manage and review live operations.
• Capture regular key performance indicators.

Benefits of Autostore TOS

Lyon Terminal’s daily operations are expected to require a high level of communication and work, which makes the drastic benefits achieved since the implementation of Autostore TOS rewarding for the terminal.

Some of those benefits include their ability to prepare strategies to match their operations. Autostore TOS has also enabled the process of sending information straight to reach stackers on the yard using innovative touchscreen field applications on durable handheld devices. The same applications are used by terminal truck operators to ensure smooth processes through the terminal.

With Autostore TOS, Lyon Terminal has gained a full scope of the terminal yard and a clear understanding of daily operations, which has supported the terminal’s precision in optimising the yard. For Lyon Terminal this is especially crucial - the management of 20-hectares requires a well-rounded understanding of operations to make certain there is no delay in performance.

“Autostore TOS proved to Lyon Terminal that it is a dependable and reliable system.”
Grégory Quéniat, Support, Maintenance and QSE Services Director at Lyon Terminal

The integration of Autostore TOS allowed Lyon Terminal to receive EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) notifications of container arrival, and this has enabled a seamless process of container moving with an added advantage of no delays and no requirement for manual prior alert.

All the above has eliminated the need for radio communication and inevitably delivered smoother communication with an increased rate of efficiency.

“If we wanted to expand our operations into a second terminal, we needed to improve our way or working and to have a more efficient system. Because of Autostore TOS Lyon Terminal was able to expand into a second terminal and develop more efficiently and cohesively.”

Grégory Quéniat

The outcomes of increased efficiency in operations and the simplification of the terminal’s functionality have been clear through Lyon Terminal’s expansion to a second terminal and its undeniable continuing success. With a system that is trustworthy and that facilitated drastic improvements, there has been a notable improvement in Lyon Terminal’s dealing with traffic, which was previously an issue in the river.

TBA Group’s support team continues to provide the necessary assistance and advice to facilitate the advancement and growth of Lyon Terminal. The communication between both parties remains an important aspect of the overall success and is key in sustaining a user-friendly experience.

Biggest Improvements for Lyon Terminal

Lyon Terminal witnessed improvements from several domains in the process of their operations. Overall, some of their improved areas have been:

• Ability to manage rail services and load/unload planning.
• Ability to manage logical and physical container moves.
• Capturing regular monthly invoice data.
• Terminal management by reviewing live operations.
• Container management by using TBA Group’s innovative field apps.
• Simplifying the planning of day-to-day operations.
• Ability to create input/output strategies to streamline container flow through the terminal.

"Our abilities of developing strategies to run container flow smoothly and directly sending information to reach trucks are things we could not do before Autostore TOS, and that has been a major improvement for Lyon Terminal.”

Grégory Quéniat

TBA Group’s remarkable investments in automation and optimisation solutions provides a basis in which Lyon Terminal is now able to perform in a significantly improved manner. The benefits that Lyon Terminal have achieved since the deployment of Autostore TOS across two terminals have been notable, and the positive impacts of the implementation continue to serve Lyon Terminal’s long-term objectives as the leading terminal in the Lyon region.