A faster gatehouse won't clear the truck queue at your gate

Eight in the morning

Until eight, almost nothing happens at the gate. Then several trucks arrive at once. The first driver stands at the window while the guard copies the plate and the delivery note number. Meanwhile dispatch phones the warehouse to find a free dock. The second driver waits right behind, in the entrance road, and the third is already out on the street. Someone sounds the horn.

Logistics managers describe this scene to us again and again. Most of them have already tried the same thing: more people at the gatehouse at peak time, or faster recording.

The problem isn't the gatehouse, it's where drivers wait

Faster recording shortens the queue by a few minutes at most. After check‑in, the driver still waits for a dock to free up. And they wait wherever they happen to be: in the entrance. The queue only clears once drivers wait somewhere else and nobody has to go looking for them when it's their turn.

That is the whole idea. The driver checks in on their own, moves to the holding area, and an SMS calls them to the dock. The entrance stays clear and the guard copies nothing.

How it works in Ždírec

More than 40 trucks a day arrive at the Stora Enso sawmill in Ždírec, and up to 60 on the busiest day. A staff member used to enter every driver by hand into a shared spreadsheet. Today the driver picks a language on the outdoor kiosk at the gate and enters the plate and phone number. Then they wait in the parking area. When dispatch assigns a dock in the Portal, an SMS arrives with its number, in the language the driver chose.

Roughly four in five drivers check in without help. The gatehouse saves 12 hours of work a day. The Stora Enso Ždírec case study describes the whole process.

When this is enough

For a few trucks a week, a guard is enough. Large distribution centers with hundreds of trucks a day run their own yard management system. The Ždírec approach fits in between: plants that see dozens of trucks a day and a queue at the gate every morning.