Terminal Industries is launching Missions™ - a new capability within its Yard Operating System™ that transforms how yard operations are planned, executed, and measured.
Missions™ introduces a fundamentally different way to run the yard: not as a collection of disconnected events, but as a system of structured, real-time workflows that govern how work actually gets done.
Because despite years of investment in visibility tools, integrations, and tracking systems, the yard remains one of the least controlled environments in the supply chain.
And the reason is simple. Visibility was never the real problem, execution was.
The Hidden Reality of Yard Operations
Every yard runs on workflows, whether they are defined or not.
A truck arrives. A reason for the visit is determined. A sequence of steps follows: check-in, assign, move, load, unload, check out.
This pattern exists everywhere. It’s repeatable. It’s predictable. It’s operationally critical.
But in most facilities, that workflow isn’t actually managed as a system.
Instead, it lives:
in the heads of experienced operators who “know how things work”
on whiteboards or clipboards that are updated inconsistently
across disconnected systems that each capture a fragment of the process
inside manual routines that vary by shift, by team, and by urgency
The result is not a lack of process. It’s a lack of enforced, consistent execution.
Traditional yard systems don’t solve this. They document it after the fact. They record that something happened. They do not ensure it happens correctly, or in the right sequence, or at the right time.
From Recording Activity to Running Operations
This is the shift that is beginning to define the next generation of yard technology.
From:
Static records that describe the past
Disconnected tasks that require human coordination
Reactive decision-making based on incomplete information
To:
Structured workflows that define how work should happen
Coordinated execution across people, assets, and systems
Real-time operational control with clear state and next actions
Because knowing what happened is not the same as controlling what happens next. And in the yard, that distinction is where efficiency is either created or lost.
Introducing Missions™: The Execution Layer for the Yard
Missions™ is designed to bring structure to execution. At its core, a Mission™ is a trigger-driven workflow that converts a real-world event into a managed, trackable, step-by-step operational process.
When a trigger occurs, such as a truck arriving at the gate, a Mission™ is automatically created. From that moment forward, the workflow is no longer informal or implied. It is defined.
That Mission:™
Establishes the exact sequence of steps required for that scenario
Tracks progress through clearly defined milestones
Ensures each step is completed in the correct order
Maintains a real-time, verifiable record of the entire workflow
Instead of asking: “Who is on site?”
Operators can now ask: “What is happening, what needs to happen next, and where is execution breaking down?”
This is the difference between observing operations and actually running them.
Every Step Becomes a Node. Every Workflow Becomes a System.
Each Mission™ is composed of discrete steps, referred to as nodes.
Check-in is a node. Dock assignment is a node. Seal verification, BOL scan, trailer movement, staging, departure - all nodes.
These nodes are:
reusable across workflows
configurable to site-specific operations
orchestrated in sequence with deterministic execution
What makes this powerful is not just the structure, but how each step is handled.
Every node is automatically enriched with data the system already has.
Computer vision identifies trailers, containers, and license plates
Integrations provide shipment data, appointment context, and carrier information
The system pre-populates fields and resolves matches before a human intervenes
The result is a fundamental shift in how work is performed. Instead of operators inputting data into systems, the system brings the data into the workflow.
The goal is simple and intentional: stop asking humans to input what the system already understands.
From Assistance to Autonomy
Missions™ is not just about standardizing workflows. It is about enabling progressive automation.
This progression happens in stages:
Structure — Every workflow follows a defined, repeatable sequence
Assistance — The system reduces manual input by pre-filling and guiding steps
Automation — The system begins executing steps independently when confidence is high
This is what automation looks like in a physical environment. Not a sudden shift to full autonomy. A controlled, measurable expansion of it.
Each step carries a confidence threshold:
High confidence → the system executes automatically
Low confidence → the system requests human input
This model ensures that automation is earned through accuracy, not assumed. Because in a yard environment, execution errors are not abstract. They affect throughput, cost, and safety.
Why This Changes Everything
When workflows are structured and execution is controlled, the yard becomes measurable in a way it never has been before.
Dwell time becomes precise, not estimated
Dock utilization becomes visible, not assumed
Carrier performance becomes defensible, not anecdotal
Bottlenecks between the gate and dock become identifiable, not hidden
This is where the real transformation occurs. The yard stops behaving like a coordination problem. It becomes a system with defined inputs, controlled processes, and measurable outputs.
Early deployments are already demonstrating:
50% improvement in data accuracy
Up to 2× increases in throughput
Not because of better reporting or dashboards.
Because the underlying execution has changed.
Person / Asset Affected | Before Missions™ (The "Hidden Reality") | After Missions™ (The Execution Layer) |
Yard Operators & Gate Clerks | Manual Data Entry: Rely on "tribal knowledge," clipboards, and manual input to record trailer IDs, BOLs, and seal numbers. | System-Assisted Execution: Computer vision and integrations pre-populate data; operators simply verify and handle "low confidence" exceptions. |
Facility Managers | Reactive Oversight: Manage by "walking the yard" or checking whiteboards; visibility is static and describes what already happened. | Real-Time Orchestration: Precise control over the "next action"; bottlenecks are identified instantly through tracked milestones and nodes. |
Drivers & Carriers | Inconsistent Dwell Times: Experience varying wait times based on shift changes or manual coordination errors between gate and dock. | Structured Throughput: Every visit follows a repeatable, high-speed workflow, resulting in up to 2× increases in throughput and defensible performance data. |
Yard Assets (Tractors/Trailers) | Disconnected Tasks: Assets move based on human-to-human coordination (radio/shouting), often leading to idle time and missed sequences. | Trigger-Driven Workflows: Assets are moved via automated, sequential missions™ where each step (node) must be validated before the next begins. |
The Operation itself (Automation) | Undefined Processes: Automation is impossible because workflows are inconsistent, informal, and live in people's heads. | Deterministic Foundation: The yard operates as a system with defined inputs and outputs, paving the way for "lights-out" autonomous execution. |
The Foundation for the Lights-Out Yard
The industry often frames automation as an endpoint, but automation does not begin with autonomy, it begins with structure.
You cannot automate what is undefined. You cannot orchestrate what is inconsistent. Missions™ establishes the foundation required for true automation: structured workflows, deterministic execution, and reliable, high-quality data.
From that foundation, more advanced capabilities naturally follow: orchestration across systems, predictive optimization, and autonomous execution of routine workflows.
The “lights-out yard” is not a concept that appears overnight. It is built step by step, workflow by workflow.
What Comes Next
The yard has always been a system of workflows.
For the first time, it can operate like one.
And once execution is structured, measured, and controlled, everything else in the supply chain begins to move faster.
