6 Ways Smart Video Solutions Can Drive Dock Management Efficiency and Performance

For logistics operators, managing loading docks effectively is the key to delivering orders faster – and to maximizing productivity and performance. But with just a few dock managers to look after hundreds of shipments, delays and errors are commonplace.

One major issue is lack of real-time information about which loading docks are free and which are occupied. This means it can be hard to direct trucks to docks as soon as they become available – reducing efficiency, causing delays, and negatively impacting drivers’ experiences.

6 ways smart video can help

The good news for logistics parks is that the latest generation of smart video solutions can dramatically improve your dock management efficiency and performance based on 6 key features:

1.) Dock occupation detection 

Smart video solutions can detect if trucks are loading or unloading at docks, or whether they are unoccupied, helping your managers maximize throughput. License plate recognition can also be built in to improve your shipment tracking.

2.) Parking optimization

Smart video solutions can also give you a real-time view of available parking spaces across the site, allowing your managers to dispatch trucks to areas where they can wait without blocking key corridors and routes around the site.

3.)Monitoring for truck loading and unloading

Using smart video cameras inside and outside loading bays, you can create an audit trail for every shipment that enters and leaves your site, determining responsibility and liability in the event of accidents or lost inventory.

4.) Built-in security features

With smart video solutions, you can cross reference video footage with information from barcode scanners to enhance goods tracking and prevent inventory losses.

5.) Automation of inbound and outbound processes

The top smart video solutions allow you to automate the process of calculating transport costs for parcels based on size and weight information from barcode scanners.

6.) Efficient dock management with a digital dashboard interface

The best smart video solutions provide a digital dashboard interface that shows your managers the availability of all docks in real time. Dashboards can also incorporate historical performance data, allowing your teams to optimize scheduling and staffing decisions, and speed up the time between vehicles arriving and leaving.

The business value of smart dock management

By helping your teams dispatch drivers to available docks more quickly, smart video solutions can help you boost throughput and efficiency. You can also optimize security by creating an audit trail for all shipments and parcels passing through your facility.

Importantly, smart video solutions also help your dock managers to work more efficiently and with less stress. There are also significant benefits for drivers, who can load and unload faster and meet their demanding schedules.

Find out how with Hikvision

To help you boost security and prevent loss of goods or parcels from your supply chain, while also reducing your monitoring workloads, we have created our industry leading Parcel Tracking feature, which is part of our Hikvision Smart Logistics solution.

To find out more, contact us.