01Create the equipment visit at the gate
Record facility, visit ID, gate, arrival time, carrier, tractor and trailer or container identifiers, equipment type, appointment, booking, shipment and stated load condition. Capture driver or contact data only as needed and under retention policy. Inspect identifiers directly when safe and compare them with the appointment without treating an appointment typo as physical truth. Record observed seal number and condition where the process requires it; do not break or replace a seal without authority. Distinguish a carrier-owned unit from leased, customer, supplier or site equipment and state who currently controls movement. Search for an already-open visit for the same equipment to prevent duplicate yard inventory. Route unknown equipment, missing paperwork, identity mismatch, damage, unsafe condition or unauthorized arrival to the defined hold area and owner rather than assigning an ordinary staging location.
02Assign one controlled yard location
Use a maintained location master for zones, rows, bays, parking spots, doors and hold areas. Record whether a position accepts the equipment type, length, loaded weight class or special handling defined by the site. Assign one current location per unit and prevent concurrent occupancy unless the location is intentionally modeled as a capacity area. A GPS dot, camera image, driver message or planned door is supporting evidence; the current operational location needs an accepted move or verified sighting. Keep temporary parking visible, because an unrecorded convenience move is a location change. Mark blocked, maintenance, emergency and restricted positions in the master rather than relying on tribal knowledge. Direct physical sweeps should compare equipment IDs with system position and capture unknown units, empty slots, duplicates and unreadable labels. Design addresses for rapid spoken and scanned confirmation: zone, row, side and sequential bay should not produce look-alike codes during darkness or radio traffic. Maintain approach direction, one-way circulation, turning clearance, overhead obstruction, surface condition, drainage, lighting, pedestrian exclusion and emergency-access attributes in the facility plan, while exposing only those needed by the movement task. A parking coordinate should not be reused immediately after a departure if field confirmation is delayed. For large capacity zones, use counted occupancy plus a sublocation or verified inventory list; an unlabeled pile of equipment is not one traceable location. Record snow closure, construction diversion, temporary cones and disabled-unit buffer through dated location status. Validate signage from the driver's approach, not only on a desktop map.
03Separate custody, seal and contents confidence
Maintain distinct fields for physical location, responsible custodian, seal state, content state and operational readiness. Content states might include empty-verified under site procedure, stated empty, load advised, load sealed, partly loaded, unloaded-pending-check and unknown. None should be inferred from the trailer's location or color. Link the ASN, load plan, shipping event, receiving result or package list that supports stated contents. Record who observed a seal, which seal changed and why, but do not claim seal integrity proves item accuracy. Track keys, access devices and release documents through the applicable security process. When custody changes between carrier, yard operator and warehouse, record the agreed event, parties and time. GS1 EPCIS source, destination and location data can support movement visibility, but each business must define which event changes custody and inventory state.
04Authorize and record every yard move
Issue a move task with equipment identity, current position, destination, priority, reason, requester and mover. Confirm the physical unit and destination before movement. Record task acceptance, move start and completion, and handle a blocked destination or identity mismatch without editing the request into a different trailer. Use role permissions so planning can request a move while an authorized operator confirms execution. Sequence urgent or perishable loads through approved operating rules rather than hidden manual flags. Cancel stale tasks and prevent a second active task from dispatching the same unit. Do not treat mobile-device completion as proof if the identifier or location was not verified. Log unplanned safety repositioning immediately after the immediate hazard is controlled. Review moves without an appointment, load or operational reason because unnecessary handling increases search time and exposure. For radio-dispatched work, use read-back of the unit suffix and destination code, then capture the full identifier at completion. Record coupled and uncoupled transitions, tractor exchange and failed pickup as their own events. A move abandoned halfway needs a fresh observed position, not its original slot or intended endpoint. Monitor deadhead distance, mispulls and corrective rehandles without ranking operators until route constraints and emergency work are considered.
05Control the dock handoff safely
Before door assignment, verify trailer identity, door, load reference, seal state, wheel and equipment condition under the site's procedure, and whether the load is ready for loading or unloading. OSHA identifies hazards at loading docks and measures to prevent trailer movement while dockboards are in use. Apply the qualified facility procedure for vehicle restraint or chocking, dockboard, powered industrial truck, pedestrian and fall controls. Yard software may display a green status but cannot substitute for the physical safety signal or authorized inspection. Record door-in time, restraint or release status only according to the approved system, seal opening authority, work start and work end. Stop on mismatch or unsafe condition. Keep the trailer at-door location and previous yard position consistent so another unit is not routed into an occupied door or reserved slot.
06Reconcile loading, unloading and departure
Connect received or shipped package events to the equipment and visit. Compare expected, loaded, unloaded, held and remaining quantities without claiming the entire trailer was verified from one scanned carton. Record load completion, door release, new seal where used, documents, custody handoff, gate authorization and departure time. Clear the door and prior yard location only after physical confirmation. A dropped trailer can remain on site after the tractor departs; close the tractor visit without removing the trailer record. Conversely, do not leave departed equipment active because its shipment is still in financial review. Validate that no packages remain assigned to a trailer marked empty or departed unless the exception is explicit. Link incomplete loading, damage, missing package, seal discrepancy and refused departure to an owner and next event.
07Count the yard and manage dwell
Run regular system-to-ground and ground-to-system sweeps by zone. Investigate equipment in the wrong position, duplicate ID, unknown carrier, status-location conflict, missing seal evidence, open move, occupied door without work, loaded unit labeled empty, and visit beyond the site's dwell threshold. Report arrival-to-position, position-to-door, door service, door-to-departure and total dwell separately. Compare like movement types and do not assign blame from elapsed time alone. Review capacity by usable position and restriction, not painted space count. Retain a movement history adequate for claims, safety review and operational analysis under policy. Use recurring mismatch patterns to repair gate capture, location labels, mobile verification, appointment data or handoff ownership. An inventory count is complete only when each observed unit and each active system record has an explained match or exception. Segment the sweep by dropped trailers, accompanied vehicles, tractors without trailers, containers on chassis, bare chassis, refrigerated equipment, maintenance units and temporary overflow. Note disconnected refrigeration power, damaged landing gear, flat tires, leaning units, obstructed identification and inaccessible parking only through the site's trained observation process. Map unproductive travel, hostler queue, repeated reshuffles, search minutes, door starvation and blocked-lane events to the physical layout. Review whether sequential position codes remain readable after resurfacing, snow, darkness or construction. Track pool ownership, free-time reference and carrier pickup request as commercial scheduling data, separate from physical dwell. A geofence entry may trigger a candidate arrival, but gate admission and equipment identification create the controlled visit. When a hand count cannot safely inspect a unit, record not verified and use an authorized alternative; never reward a complete count that required unsafe approach.