Grindrod, South Africa’s largest logistics company, realises the importance of adopting a digital mindset enabled by the latest technologies that improve their operation's productivity, efficiency and effectivity. Keyrus has developed the delivery platform to enable these operational improvements.
With bulk terminals in Richards Bay, Maputo, Walvis Bay, and a car terminal in Maputo, Grindrod understands the importance of visibility into the location of cargo. It is vital to have insight into planned volumes, expected arrival times and the efficiency of loading and discharge operations for rail, road and ocean.
Grindrod partnered with Keyrus to implement a mechanism for delivering near real-time visualisation of operational data for each site, as well as an analytics platform for decision-making.
Grindrod wanted a locally supported, cloud-based, IOT platform where data could be accessed from any location on any device as a way to augment visibility across their widely dispersed geographic locations.
Track & Trace
Greg Guye, CEO of Keyrus South Africa, says the Track & Trace solution was deployed to connect the company’s systems in near real-time across large distances. “It improves the transparency and efficiency of Grindrod’s operations by aggregating machine and captured data for on-site as well as remote planning and analysis, offering predictability from mine to port.”
A specific need was met by giving users, whether working remotely or at any site, the ability to track the location of customer product, be it in-transit, in storage or while handling in or out.
The application provides planning, execution and stock management modules that are integrated into other IT and engineering software running on terminal plant and equipment including tipplers, belts and weighbridges.
Using a single interface, users can see planned volumes as well as inbound and outbound rail, road and ocean events as they happen. Reports can be accessed directly within the application and automatically broadcast to recipients by e-mail at predefined intervals.
Significant improvements
According to Vishal Deeplaul, CEO of Grindrod’s Terminal business, the implementation of this solution has significantly boosted the company’s visibility of its operations, offering multiple benefits:
- Improved visibility into in transit shipments and exceptions;
- Provided integrated views into the business delivering a single version of the truth;
- Automated reporting of engineering data, enabling better operational execution and decision-making; and
- Introduced a modern cloud based architecture that is scalable, supports growth and has achieved cost saving while delivering improved features and capabilities.
Best of all, it delivers a complete user audit trail, enhancing governance, ensuring traceability and supporting compliance with operational processes through targeted staff training.
Deeplaul adds that having access to local support and experience, coupled with global best practices facilitated by Keyrus, offers Grindrod the best of both worlds. The application is presented in both English and Portuguese to enhance the user experience.
Our partnership with Keyrus is based on the understanding that the latest technologies offer enormous potential to solve business challenges. Working together, we anticipate using these solutions to change and simplify the terminals and logistics supply chain industry to the benefit of all parties involved,” adds Deeplaul.
“Modern technology and its capability to solve business challenges is key to the thought processes of all experts at Keyrus. We like to think of ourselves as a reliable partner with a personal and hands-on approach to implementing the latest digital solutions. Together with the leadership at Grindrod, we aim to change and simplify the logistics industry in a way that will enable our organisations to remain leaders in our respective fields for years to come,” concludes Guye.
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