"CREATE YOUR VALUE OUT OF YOUR DATA"
Today, the situation is that terminals strive for the optimal utilisation of equipment, yard and berth space, labour force and other resources to minimise costs while maximising performance. Factors such as vessel arrivals, congestion, maintenance events and operational challenges are further compounded by the complexity of this process. For every single container that arrives at a terminal, a plethora of documents, emails, EDI data, inspections, allocations and ransactions must be completed and deciphered by the terminal operating system (TOS) in the first instance and later the process has to be tracked and followed by expert users. And only then any container movement can be initiated. To facilitate efficient control over different operations, numerous processing tasks need expert knowledge and/or technological utilisation to make informed decisions. Throughout the process of data reception, planning, scheduling and execution of tasks (with appropriate equipment at the optimal times) the expertise of terminal operators stands as the foremost determinant of terminal operational efficiency. Considering the imperative of resource conservation, the encompassing energy, human resources, cost management and the competitiveness among terminals and routes, the utilisation of information becomes paramount. What we realised over the years is that terminals should take ownership and consciousness of their data as an asset. Information collected in a shift, day or year can be used to learn, optimise and refine the processes to improve the efficiency and reliability of any resource. Often this info is not utilised enough by terminals, especially in small realities.
The quantity of data collected cannot be handled without the support of a digital model capable of finding unexpected and measurable correlations. The expertise gained by key operators is precious and fundamental; however, it can be supported and enhanced with the help of such technologies.
In this context, DSP Talumis sees the need to support terminals to face their challenges and improve their business model and operational efficiency with the virtual reality of GEMINI. DSP Talumis is a joint venture of the two companies DSP and Talumis, which have joined forces and expertise to develop cutting-edge AI applications in the container logistics sector. Incorporating digital workflows and processing integrated systems that assist in better coordination and analytical operations, GEMINI aims to simplify and enhance the efficiency and performance of the organisation.
The term “digital twin” might sound like a simple concept, but nowadays it can take various meanings, depending on the industry and scope you are referring to. Its denotation depends on the problem you want to solve with a digital solution.
Depending on the final objective, we can name the digital twin as simulation, emulation, augmented reality and more. There are in fact multiple levels of fidelity in the simulation model allowing for different optimisation and analysis. Through a combination of simulation models and data (gathered from live sources, historical records and others), engineers can use software to build a virtual twin of a physical object, process or system. A digital replica is updated using data from its physical counterpart along with other sources.
“WHAT WE REALISED OVER THE YEARS IS THAT TERMINALS SHOULD TAKE OWNERSHIP AND CONSCIOUSNESS OF THEIR DATA AS AN ASSET.”
Often machine learning and simulation are incorporated to improve planning and decision making. In our vision, digital twin technology represents the process of using data streams to create a virtual representation of a real world asset to improve decision making, information access and collaboration. What we do in DSP Talumis is combine our expertise from operations, simulation, modelling, data analysis and Artificial intelligence (AI) to reproduce the terminal processes, the trends and the behaviour of its various components.
GEMINI AIR, which is the acronym of Artificial Intelligence Resourcing and one of the GEMINI modules, is a digital representation of the terminal capable of mirroring operational decisions and strategies of TOS, to model all operational flows and standard operating procedures or workers' practice during real operations, predict and measure resource capacity versus resource demand, allowing the terminal to avoid shortages or incur the cost of excess. There are still some unexpected events that cannot be predicted in advance in real operations. Therefore, we always need to consider that any digital representation would have some small variance from reality. Still, the level of accuracy we reach in our predictions is very high. The mount of data GEMINI AIR can manage in a very short time is significantly more than the most expert planner could ever fathom.
GEMINI AIR utilises three different levels of data and then merges the output to deliver the results in the form of short, mid and long-term forecasts. Data is presented to the user at different levels and multiple views, from aggregated graphs to specific and user-friendly tabs. The users can instruct GEMINI AIR to create different scenarios based on variable equipment resources. The impact will be seen in the results for each scenario and will provide insight into the decisions to make and the appropriate actions to be taken.
GEMINI AIR has a key aspect which is the ability to simulate in advance what will be in the terminal “if” something happens. For example, “what if” a specific delay occurs, or “what if” the resource assignment changes. This can be combined in one or multiple branch scenarios that can be created simultaneously and compared with the actual situation between them.
GEMINI AIR enables you to look ahead at what will happen in the next predicted future by congregating info received from the TOS, appointment system, HRS, Maintenance software, user interaction and more.
Management and operations personnel can now have the information they’ve always wanted at their fingertips, which will lead to safer and more efficient decision making and increase the overall performance of the terminal. GEMINI uses AI technology together with terminal mapped processes to provide ‘predictive optimisation’.
“GEMINI AIR ENABLES YOU TO LOOK AHEAD AT WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN THE NEXT PREDICTED FUTURE BY CONGREGATING INFO RECEIVED FROM THE TOS, APPOINTMENT SYSTEM, HRS, MAINTENANCE SOFTWARE, USER INTERACTION AND MORE.”
“DIGITAL SOLUTION GEMINI AIR CAN COVER THE GAP OF HAVING ENOUGH EXPERT ESOURCES AVAILABLE AT THE TERMINAL AND STILL SUPPORT THEM IN MORE DETAILED ANALYSIS, OPTIMISATION AND SUGGESTION WHEN ASSIGNING THE RESOURCES TO THE SHIFTS.”
GEMINI AIR predicts the terminal workload by shift, by service, by carrier and by container movement. The resource allocations are calculated considering all the interactions between internal equipment, external trucks, container arrivals, congestion and restrictions that might occur during a shift. It looks at the whole terminal at once, considering all the variables coming from the other systems and the user input.
This prediction of workload can allow the terminal to identify inefficiencies, bottlenecks or areas in need of improvement, and then to take actions in the short or long term. The user’s interactions with the system will give a new input to the model and with each user variation created, the workload and assignment are instantly updated.
It is possible to interact and visualise the results of the prediction and suggestions from multiple tabs like the Berth or Rail schedule, the Resources planning and the Bay Planning, which allows the model to predict the split and assignment of the vessel work even before it is done into the TOS and many others.
GEMINI AIR uses AI both to suggest the user what to do and what needs to be improved to support their decision making. This solution not only allows users to monitor what happens in the terminal in real time via its dashboards but also what will happen in the progressively updated future, according to the scenarios users create.
GEMINI AIR can lead to cost savings and improved efficiency also looking at the sustainability side of operations. Our solution measures the energy consumption for each scenario and allows the terminal to measure the CO2 emissions generated by a working shift.
This is one of the parameters a user can adopt to evaluate one scenario against another one. At the same time, the travel led distance and needed maintenance for the equipment can be foreseen in advance supporting the user in decision making.
CONCLUSIONS
Efficiency, profitability and reliability are key elements of container terminals’ competitiveness. Furthermore, sustainability is an added value that for multiple reasons has become extremely
important in recent years. The most important resources terminals can use to achieve all the above goals and often do not use enough, next-to-good operations and practices are their own data. Digital solution GEMINI AIR by DSP Talumis can cover the gap of having enough expert resources available at the terminal and still support them in more detailed analysis, optimisation and suggestion when assigning the resources to the shifts. It can give an immediate overview of the overall situation for current and next shifts to managers and the details needed to more operative people. It also allows users to look into the past and learn from it. The usage of detailed operational flows, big data analytics, advanced mathematical models and machine learning, together with user input, makes GEMINI a powerful tool for operations to improve performance and save costs.
ABOUT THE COMPANY:
DSP headquarters are based in Switzerland and were founded in 1986. Now operating through four business units worldwide, DSP provides business consultancy and IT solutions taking advantage of its specialised and proven knowhow in operations, informatics technologies applied to the shipping industry, port and terminal management and intermodal transportation. DSP focuses efforts on TOS Consulting, Business Intelligence, Digital Twin and System Integrator offering solutions and products that are perfectly suited to any marine and inland terminal. With the final aim of Enhancing Logistics Efficiency, Sustainability and Performance, DSP has built up Business Intelligence Systems and a Digital Twin Platform enriched by AI technologies. Moreover, strong in its expertise, DSP has a solid network of partners and supports individual terminal cases in evaluating the best IT solutions to empower their business operations. DSP has been a NAVIS partner since 2007 covering all implementation, support, testing optimisation, customisation and training services. DSP Talumis is born from the synergy between DSP and Talumis to develop digital simulation and forecasting for the Ports and Terminals industry. Talumis, based in The Netherlands, has been active since 2003 and provides modelling, simulation and optimisation in different industries.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Gabriella Meduri is a Senior Project Manager and Automation expert at DSP and she is the Project Leader of GEMINI. She drives the GEMINI team in the functionality, development and roadmap definition of the digital twin solution. Gabriella has been awarded a Master’s Degree in Transportation Engineering and a Second Master’s in Logistics Innovation Management. After some years of work as a transport engineer, Gabriella has gained 16 years of experience in the maritime industry from operations to becoming a Senior TOS consultant with deep experience in automated environments, now working on the definition of new advanced solutions applied to container terminals.
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