Efficient rail yard processes with GS1 EPC/RFID

Finland’s unique geography, its extremely northern location and its long, dark, cold winters can make it difficult to have efficient logistics that enable Finnish companies to successfully compete in global markets.

VR Transpoint, Finland’s leading transport and logistic service company, has long been meeting that challenge. It operates in several European countries including Russia, and offers rail, groupage, bulk goods and international transport and logistics services.

A substantial portion of VR Transpoint’s rail activity is devoted to shunting, the task of moving wagons from place to place in the yard as they are loaded and unloaded with goods. Until recently, the work was manual: yard workers with pens, paper and walkie-talkies walked through loading and unloading stations, radioing information about the contents and condition of each wagon they verified. An office worker on the other end of the radio would manually enter the data into an ERP system.

It was a time-consuming, inefficient and error-prone process.

VR Transpoint wanted to improve overall wagon shunting efficiency, optimise wagon maintenance and boost customer service by offering real-time wagon traceability information.