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Chapter 9 Achieving Operational Excellence and Customer Intimacy: Enterprise Applications 377

INTERACTIVE SESSION: ORGANIZATIONS

DP WORLD TAKES PORT MANAGEMENT TO THE NEXT LEVEL WITH
RFID

DP (Dubai Ports) World has reason to be proud Prior to the RFID deployment, DP World spent
of its accomplishment of becoming one of the lead- several months performing proof-of-concept tri-
ing terminal operators in the world. Today, DP als involving several competing RFID suppliers.
World has 60 terminals across 6 continents, and 11 Because of the rugged environmental conditions at
new terminals are under development. The firm the ports, DP World required that 99.5 percent of
employs an international professional team of more all tags be read successfully, which was a key chal-
than 30,000 people to serve customers in some of lenge for many vendors. After extensive testing and
the most dynamic economies in the world. evaluation, DP World selected Identec Solutions, a
DP World has adopted a customer-centric global leader in active wireless tracking solutions,
approach to enhancing its customers’ supply chains as its RFID supplier.
by providing quality, innovative services to effec- How does the RFID tracking system work?
tively manage container, bulk, and other terminal Trucks that visit a port terminal are equipped with
cargo. The firm invests heavily in terminal infra- active RFID tags supplied by Identec Solutions
structures, technologies, and people to best serve its that are fixed on the rear chassis. As a truck moves
customers. towards the gate, its unique tag ID number is read
Like other global port and terminal operators, by an RFID reader, which is integrated with an auto-
DP World helps shippers around the world address mated gate system. At the gate, an optical character
the often complex and costly challenges of manag- recognition (OCR) system determines if the truck
ing the supply chain. One of the typical problems is loaded with a container, identifies the ID number
encountered in container terminal operations is of the truck’s container, and reads the truck license
traffic congestion at port entry points. This conges- plate number as a backup identification. The sys-
tion is often due to delays introduced by lengthy tem uses the supplied information to automatically
procedures and paper-based logistics. In response, issue a ticket to the driver that specifies the lane the
DP World has introduced many IT-based solutions to truck should proceed to in order to load or unload
enhance terminal capacity utilization. These solu- the container. The system can also automatically
tions include the electronic custom release of cargo, determine if the truck is on time, which is essential
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) reporting, two- information for the efficient pickup and drop off of
way digital radio communications, and the “e-token” containers. As the truck leaves the gate, the RFID
advanced booking system. tag is read once again, and the driver receives a
DP World management wanted to take things a receipt for the completed transaction.
step further and decided to make the loading and RFID has enabled DP World to increase the pro-
unloading of containers operate on “just in time” ductivity of container handoffs, speed the entry and
principles to improve container turnaround. It exit of trucks through terminal gates, and increase
found that Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) fuel efficiency. Victoria Rose, regional office proj-
technology was an effective way of increasing the ect coordinator at DP World Sydney maintained
efficiency of truck movements through port access that RFID would improve gate efficiency through
gates. Today, DP World uses RFID-enabled auto- improved truck management, reducing queues and
matic gate systems at the port terminals it operates congestion around gates, and removing the number
in Dubai and Australia. According to Mohammed Al of trucks from public roads by streamlining proce-
Muallem, managing director of DP World UAE, the dures.
introduction of an automated gate system would Identec’s RFID-based solution has also enabled
not only eliminate traffic congestion but would also DP World to improve customer satisfaction by
help to eliminate a number of lengthy procedures, enhancing the efficiency of customers’ supply
increasing productivity at the ports, and improving chains through smoother, faster, and more effec-
customer satisfaction. This will in turn, increase the tive delivery of their containers at terminal gates.
turnaround of shipping goods. The elimination of lengthy paper transactions and

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