Page 16: of Maritime Logistics Professional Magazine (Mar/Apr 2019)

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TERMINAL AUTOMATION

The Future of TOS

Can Your Technology Compete in Today’s Terminal Operating Landscape?

When it comes to terminal automation, ‘failing to plan means planning to fail.’

By Joseph Keefe utomation is not a one-size-?ts all solution. And, Tideworks is one of the bigger TOS providers in industry today. while future terminal operations will necessarily in- Rucker told MLPro in May, “When we start digging into the de- volve technology and autonomous operations, is it tails of it, it’s about 350 thousand to 400 thousand users on the

Aalso critical that operations are automated in a way TOS. We do have some JV partnership out there in the commu- that will best ?t a terminal’s size, location and overall needs, nity systems space which exponentially raises that number. But meet customers’ changing expectations, while also providing for Tideworks proper; 100 sites, about 350 thousand to 400 thou-

ROI to shareholders. That’s a lot to ask. Nevertheless, it will be sand users globally, on every continent, other than Antarctica.” the benchmark that all terminals have to meet in order to remain Today, Tideworks boasts deep penetration into the Latin America competitive in the global supply chain. markets, a lesser presence in Europe, a few sites in Vietnam, and

Thomas Rucker is the president of Tideworks Technology, a of course, the United States.

title he has held since 2017. When it comes to modern terminal operations, Rucker has ‘been there and done that.’ Likewise, the TOS & AUTOMATION: name Tideworks has been a ubiquitous part of the terminal oper-

NAVIGATING THE INTERFACE ating system (TOS) landscape since almost the very moment that Beyond Terminal Operating Systems, the march towards ter- the concept of introducing technology to the intermodal supply minal automation is as much driven by safety as it is for better chain was born. The ?rm’s penetration into its primary market operational ef?ciencies. For TOS providers, that’s meant navigat- sector is proof enough of that. ing the interface between the existing TOS, and the automation

Vessel Operation 16 Maritime Logistics Professional March/April 2019 | |