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LHP and Ring-Co Transit - Design Challenge for Business Optimization

Real-time yard equipment performance analysis to anticipate failure before it happens and take proactive measures to reduce the risk of failure.

Intermodal Shipping yard equipment management

Industry

8 weeks

Project duration

User research / Concept ideation / Market strategy /Wireframes /

Skills

Product design lead

My Role

Company objective

Project brief

Untowed JV, a new to be launched venture between Ring co transit and LHP Analytics , is interested in establishing itself as the leader in Yard Management Systems.

Untowed JV aims to address the bottleneck in the supply chain caused by poor communication and lack of visibility in the yard.

The solution should improve the flow of goods from road to dock, increase operational efficiency, and ensure timely deliveries.

Ring co transit brings Autonomous Vehicle

LHP brings its analytics software power

Solution Overview

Non functioning equipment in the yard have consequences resulting in high cost of functioning.

Problem explored

One platform to easily monitor performance and maintenance of the equipment throughout its life cycle with cost effectiveness.

Solution presented

Making it easier for facility managers and maintenance team to work collaboratively to reduce equipment downtime

Target Users

Computerized maintenance management software (CMMS) dashboard that offers

1

2

3

Equipment downtime tracking and analysis

Automatic anomaly detection in machines

Error Pattern recognition for proactive maintenance

4

5

6

Customizable dashboard with quick information KPIs

Yard Efficiency reports and analysis

Maintenance expenditure trends and Cost saving analysis

Solution Impact

based on optimization results offered by similar solutions in the market

90%

Reduction in technician time spent filling work orders and locating asset information

70%

Decrease in breakdowns over the life span of the asset.

20%

Increase in the lifetime of an asset due to decreased risk of failure and proactive safety measures

My Contribution

primary research + product ideation + business model canvas + wire-frames

Results

The IOT ecosystem needs to be worked upon in detail such as sensor types and gateways to make solution truly feasible.

Feedback

Getting familiar with the industry with environmental analysis and narrowing down one practical solution.

Learning

Jumped too early into prototype design without through research on the KPIs and the associated data visualization

Takeaway

Conceptual wireframes

Future Roadmap

Collaborating with data scientists and machine engineers to determine the right set of KPIs needed.

Contextual User research on the work flow of facility managers to design the dashboad's collaborative features,

Design Process

Product Ideation and Business Strategy

Research Questions

What is Intermodal hub and how does it function.

Automation in Yards and Industry 4.0 solutions.

Current key players and market trends.

Factors affecting the market.

Choke points in the yard, warehouse and transportation systems.

Secondary Research

Primary Research

Research Outcomes

Key insights from empathy mapping, environmental analysis, user personas and customer profiles

Problems with lights, tires, and other mechanical features on many chassis available for lease today

Visibility issues : Hazardous weather conditions make it impossible for labour to work and causes visibility issues in the yard for crane operators.

Trucks and Rail backlogs due to longer equipment downtime

Fuel costs rising : Additional cost and pollution dangers loom due to increased fuel consumption by equipment

Intermodal shippers often complain of a chassis shortage, but plenty of chassis are available.They’re simply piling up in inconvenient locations.

Inefficient Maintenance : A Big Contributor To Unplanned Downtime

Problem Statements

Solution- real time awareness

01

As a Strategy Officer

When I want to deliver the time sensitive cargo

I want to have real-time awareness about it's status

So I can schedule the trucks accordingly

But I don't know where the cargo is stuck.

02

As a Maintenance Officer

When I go on holidays

I want to make sure all equipment are in good standing status

So I can utilize my break time freely

But equipment downtime is very unexpected

Solution- Organization through proactive maintenance

03

As a Crane operator

When I am stacking trailers on the trucks

I want to align it correctly

So It doesn't become a safety hazard while its on road

But visibility issues keep arising due to various factors

Solution- Mixed reality incorporation for visibility

Prioritization of solution

Final Pick

Solution 2- Maintenance management

Terminals will turn to industry

4.0 solution by 2030

$5.95 bn

The global predictive maintenance market

Marketing Channels

Cost Structure

Revenue Streams

Metrics to measure - Value proposition

(1)Tem: Total time for emergency maintenance

(2) Tps: Total time for preventive maintenance

(3) Fem: Frequency of emergency breakdown

(4) TLC: Twist lock count (lock + hoisting‑lowering + unlock)

(5) Top: Total operating time of crane (gantry + boom hoist + main hoist + trolley‑overlappingmotion of main hoist & trolley)

(6) Tno: Time of net operation (main hoist + trolley‑overlapping main hoist/trolley)

(7) Toc: Total occupied time (control source on time)

(8) Tmc: Total machine time (24 h/day for 24 hour terminal operations)

(9) MMBF: Mean movements between failure (calculation formula: TLC/Fem)

(10) MTTR: Mean time to repair (calculation formula: Tem/Fem)

(11) Utilization: operation time (calculation formula: (Top/ (Tmc - Tps - Tem)) × 100%)

(12) Ai: Overall availability (calculation formula: ((Tmc - Tem - Tps)/Tmc) × 100%)

(13) Ao: Availability per occupied time (calculation formula: ((Toc - Tem)/Toc) × 100%)

(14) Breakdown percentage (calculation formula: 1 - Ao%)

(15) PM: Preventive maintenance (calculation formula: (Tps/Tmc) × 100%)

(16) EM: Emergency maintenance (calculation formula: (Tem/Tmc) × 100%)

(17) TDT: Total downtime (calculation formula: 1 - Ai or (PM% + EM%))

(18) Net cycle time: pure time to handle 1 VAN of a container (calculation formula: (Tno ×60)/TLC)(19)

Challenges resolved

Pay more for maintenance.

Suffer low technician productivity

No spare parts when needed

Unavailable outside contractors at the time of need.

70% of unplanned downtime results from human error.

$35,000 loss a day, for every crane that’s not in operation.

Current series of events

Replaced by new ecosystem

Design Challenges and Constraints

• Identifying the KPIs that the dashboard will deliver
  
• Task flow and information architecture for the design
  
• Understanding how will proactive maintenance work
  
• No direct access to users involved.
  

Solution

• Referred to YouTube videos on how current excel sheets are prepared and extracted key activities from there. Example- Calendar organizers, severity indicators etc.
  
• Acknowledges the need of collaboration with other stakeholders for designing prototype
  

The product ideation process also included lot of behind the desk work through various UX design methods, market research and multiple iterations of wire-frames

I would love to connect further to talk about the project in detail.

Thankyou for reading!