TOS – Realtime Business Solutions

Successful TOS Migration at Klaipedos Smelte Container Terminal

rbstopsaus — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 03:41:19 +0000

Successful TOS Migration at Klaipedos Smelte Container Terminal

Klaipedos Smelte successfully migrated from TOPS Advanced to TOPS EXPERT, setting new standards for efficiency and flexibility.

In early November, Klaipėdos Smeltė Container Terminal successfully upgraded its Terminal Operating System from TOPS Advance to TOPS Expert. The migration was carried out with the on-site support of consultants from Realtime Business Solutions Pty. Ltd. and RBS EMEA. Thanks to seamless coordination, the transition was completed within just four hours, with no negative impact on terminal performance, customers, or stakeholders.

This upgrade represents a significant milestone in Klaipėdos Smeltė’s journey towards continuous improvement. The new TOS version offers advanced capabilities for vessel operations, yard management, equipment control, and data analytics. Notably, it enhances automation and accelerates planning processes, enabling terminal planners to respond more effectively to dynamic situations while offering greater flexibility to customers such as MSC. In particular, the new TOPS version provides more automated features that speed up processes, thereby allowing planning to adapt quickly to new situations.

“The Klaipėda Smeltė terminal is a long-term customer, and we are happy to migrate with them to a new TOPS version through such a smooth process. It has been a great team effort. Thank you to all,” commented Norbert Klettner, Managing Director of the RBS EMEA Office.

The successful migration marks the final step of a comprehensive project that took the team just under eight months from the initial kickoff to the go-live stage. This achievement reflects a collaborative team effort and the strong TOS ownership demonstrated by the terminal team.

This migration does not mark the end of the process but rather the beginning of new opportunities and possibilities to integrate additional modules and features in the future. The latest version of TOPS Expert can seamlessly integrate with RBS’s new TOPX Intelligent Engine, which will further enhance the terminal’s efficiency in scheduling, dispatch, and execution. The successful migration to TOPS Expert is part of RBS’s ongoing commitment to providing state-of-the-art solutions that enable terminals to optimize their operations, enhance service levels, and remain competitive in a fast-evolving global market.

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RBS provides upgraded TOS to Klaipedos Smelte terminal

rbstopsaus — Thu, 02 May 2024 02:49:58 +0000

RBS provides upgraded TOS to Klaipedos Smelte terminal

Source: https://www.porttechnology.org/news/rbs-provides-upgraded-tos-to-klaipedos-smelte-terminal/

Realtime Business Solutions has announced a Terminal Operating System upgrade to the Klaipedos Smelte container terminal in Lithuania.

Klaipedos Smelte noted that it is replacing its current TOPS Advanced system from RBS with the improved TOPS Expert solution from the same supplier.

TOPS Expert, the terminal operating system, reportedly provides a comprehensive suite of terminal management capabilities, including enhanced operations optimisation, yard management, vessel management, berth management, crane allocation, container handling equipment management, gate management, reporting, financial system interfaces, and gate operation.

READ: RBS celebrates 30-year anniversary

The Smelte terminal intends to employ new TOPS Expert services such as autonomous vessel planning and increased pooling to make better use of equipment. Additional features will be incorporated as part of the upgrading project.

TOPS Experts’ web-based equipment control system was deployed last year in a hybrid arrangement that ran alongside the existing TOPS Advanced EC, allowing yard staff to utilise the new system concurrently.

This has decreased the migration risks and training requirements for the primary migration project.

READ: Industry Q&A: Realtime Business Solutions (RBS)

Linas Miceika, Operations Director, said: “We have been satisfied with the functioning of TOPS and the customer-oriented collaboration with the RBS team for many years. With the new system, we are technologically well prepared for our further growth and new technologies. The migration is taking place step by step. Our team is making utmost efforts to be fully prepared for the new system.”

Following commissioning, the terminal intends to test the newest TOPX Intelligent 3D module from RBS, which introduces new Human Super Intelligence technology that reportedly incorporates a digital counterpart directly into the TOS.

RBS at TOC Asia 2023

rbstopsaus — Tue, 05 Dec 2023 02:36:32 +0000

RBS at TOC Asia 2023

After many years of success at the TOC Asia events, the team at RBS has once again returned to Singapore to exhibit at this year’s conference. Spread across the 28th and 29th of November, the event was an incredible display of the industry’s latest novelties and inventions. RBS was able to lead this show of innovation with its latest product, TOPX Intelligent 3D. This product created a deeply positive impression on the audience, and we are happy to see the immense interest in it. Harry Nguyen, the company’s director, also had the opportunity to give a very informative talk about "The need for an Intelligent System with Digital Twin, Automation and AI capabilities in modern terminals." We hope everyone who viewed the presentation enjoyed it and was able to learn from the experience.

Overall, we are very happy to be able to see our many clients, friends, and peers from the region. Once again, thank you to the event organizers who always put on a great show. Also, we should mention and thank our partners from Indonesia who assisted us in the set up and running of the stall. Finally, thank you to all the guests who attended and especially those we talked with. We cannot wait to come back to TOC Asia next year and show you what we have coming next!

RBS at VPA Annual Meeting 2023

rbstopsaus — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 22:38:10 +0000

RBS at VPA Annual Meeting 2023

This year on September 21st, our director Harry Nguyen, and number of our staff attended the Vietnam Seaports Association (VPA) Annual Meeting. As main sponsors to the event, it was an extremely successful day for our company, and we hope everyone enjoyed the lively and exciting atmosphere around our stand. We’re grateful that so many people took the time to visit and hope you were impressed by our latest product, TOPX Intelligent 3D. Speaking of which, Harry and Dr Ha (director of RBS Vietnam), were able to make an excellent presentation, outlining the features and power of this revolutionary product.

As always, it was great to see everyone in person, old friends and new faces alike. Thank you to VPA for organizing the event and thank you to everyone who attended that day. Finally, thank you to our local partners in Vietnam. Ultimately, we are excited to see the port industry in the region expand, and we hope we can share this journey of growth with many of you going forward.

Egypt: New Dry Port relies on TOS from RBS

rbstopsaus — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 04:38:06 +0000

TOPS Expert Covers Value Added Services and is connected to ERP

ODP Terminal Cairo, Egypt

Cairo (Egypt), Hamburg (Germany), January 24, 2023. Just opened in January 2023, the October Dry Port (ODP) near Cairo/Egypt is the first inland dry port in Egypt. ODP has decided for TOPS Expert by RBS as the central Terminal Operating System (TOS).

The system TOPS Expert by Realtime Business Solutions (RBS) allows ODP to optimize and monitor all port operations seamlessly and effectively. The modules implemented are the true real-time operations system TOPX and TOPO as the backbone of the data handling with the TOPS BI module, optimization and integrated reporting. Together with the data backbone TOPS is integrated to gates systems as well as to external entities using inhouse
and standard EDI to limit the amount of manual data handling.

Partially Automated loading Processes
Tamer Kosber, General Manager ODP: “At ODP, we have created a very complex environment with high-performance, rail handling and many additional services for our customers. RBS EMEA has succeeded in implementing these processes at the TOS.” For value-added services such as X-Ray scanning, weighing, customs clearance of goods or stuffing and unstuffing of containers, the TOS offers the possibility to move the containers in a partially automated way: after certain processes, they are then automatically loaded to another location.

TOS linked to the ERP system
In addition to controlling the equipment and administering the loading processes, the TOPS Expert billing module is also used at the ODP: billable activities are automatically recorded, and largely automated invoices are generated. For this purpose, the TOS is connected to the ERP system and directly integrates the billing events and amounts with the local ERP.

Dry Port supports decarbonization
The Dry Port ODP shall become a new central distribution point for freight forwarders, Egyptian importers and exporters and shipping lines. The annual throughputs shall reach up to 450.000 TEU. The customs bonded area is about 400,000 m2. As a Dry Port, it contributes to decarbonization and helps reduce CO2 emissions. Egypt plans to build further Dry Ports.

“The first Dry Port project spearheaded by ODP, driven by the two shareholders DB Schenker Egypt and Elsewedy Electric is now in production, will help to boost the capabilities of the country’s logistics network. This is becoming more and more important in the next years when additional capacity is added in the seaports of Alexandria and Damietta. As RBS we are happy to support this development implementing our hinterland modules of the TOS together with ODP”, added Norbert Klettner, Managing Director, RBS EMEA.

About RBS EMEA: www.rbs-emea.com

About the RBS TOPS: https://rbs-tops.com/terminal-operating-system/tops-terminal-solution/tops-expert-enterprise/

About the Dry Port ODP: https://www.odpeg.com/

Introducing the new TOPX Intelligent 3D

rbstopsaus — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 05:12:34 +0000

Introducing the new TOPX Intelligent 3D

In the past years RBS have been putting great focus on researching and designing new modules and features for our TOS. We have added new and improved AI features such as: Realtime The Digital Twin / Reality 3D Application; Intelligent Equipment Control system; true coordinates to felicitate real-time distance calculation/congestion control; improved GUI and enhanced yard management features. These new product features were on display at TOC Europe 2023 this year at our booth and we are excited to start offering these to our customers.

Our latest product TOPX Intelligent 3D incorporates many features including 3D Digital twin reality, IoT, Cloud, Automation, AI and Integration. And all these technologies. The latest features of this system are never to be seen before in the market and are unique to our TOS. We pride ourselves in being a technological leader, providing our customers with the best and latest software for the container handling industry.

At RBS we believe that the market is constantly hungry for new innovative ideas and new technology, to face the new arising challenges in ports and terminals. Therefore, we are constantly researching and developing the best possible products for our customers with this in mind. We have seen real-life applications of machine learning in terminal planning and decision-making, as well as automation operating on a cloud TOS. With our future and further developments with our latest product we have taken everything into consideration and to the next level. Be one of the first to see our latest product at the upcoming TOC Asia in Singapore 2022.

RBS at TOC Europe 2022

rbstopsaus — Thu, 30 Jun 2022 03:15:27 +0000

RBS at TOC Europe 2022

Thank you everyone who visited our booth at TOC Europe this year, looking forward to see you again at the next TOC Event! It was a pleasure to see everyone back at the physical conferences and see familiar faces again, as it has been 2 years without an in-person TOC event. It was a successful TOC event, with our Director Harry Nguyen being able to do a live demo of our latest products – TOPS Expert Cloud and all the latest 3D application, automation, optimization, and real-time features.

We are glad to have physical conferences return, and we cannot wait to showcase our latest products and innovations to you. Thanks to the TOC Events team for running such a great event and giving us a platform to connect with all the professionals in the industry. We hope to see you at TOC Singapore in November!

Speeding aimlessly to crash or get ahead?

rbstopsaus — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 00:41:28 +0000

Speeding aimlessly to crash or get ahead?

Many project transformation failures are a result of rushed planning and poor IT skills.

Holding a poised stance during the global economic crisis will most likely be one of, if not the most, difficult hurdle industry stakeholders may ever encounter. As a result, cloud solutions, along with an array of other technologies, have presented grappling businesses with an opportunity to continue operating and develop some form of control over the operations – a rarity these days. Given the quick pace of change in combination with a lack of cloud expertise, experiencing cybersecurity threats and migration delays occur as a strong likelihood. The number of ports and terminals turning to cloud strategies has risen, but in an act to quickly alleviate the impacts of the virus, a rushed job can create more harm than good.

A lack of proper training and cloud security talent highlights the skills gap between cloud service IT professionals and general IT skills inherent in companies. The general approach is to manage all hardware and resources independently, and hence, opt for Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) to run their relevant Software-as-a-service (SaaS). Consequently, businesses have a dual responsibility to manage and maintain both services, overcomplicating their countermeasure. Instead, companies simply should be operating purely as a SaaS to develop and leave system infrastructure maintenance to the cloud provider’s cloud specialists. Therefore, with workloads streamlined, operational expenses inevitably decrease, respectively.

Undoubtedly, the global crisis has accelerated technological acceptance, even in the most conservative industries. However, some are still not ready to fully embrace and entrust in what native-cloud systems have to offer. A common misconception reveals companies making projects more complicated than needed and without the correct pool of expertise, creates a system vulnerable to many threats. Traditional IT security skills are vital, but not sufficient to battle data breaches in real-time.

Furthermore, the cloud talent gap inflicts a costly outcome as it is more likely to delay cloud migrations by two years or even more. Consequently, expenses increase, which completely contradicts what cloud-native applications have to offer. Another alarming figure reflected in Gartner’s analysis, predicts through 2023, 99% of cloud security failures will be the customer’s fault. It is a massive wake-up call; a warning that timeliness goes hand in hand with responsibility.

Although it is a substantial move forward in both the digital and business landscape, many things can go wrong with deploying strategies at high speeds. Security threats, data breaches, and expenses exceeding planned budgets would be a direct result of poor planning compromising diligence. Therefore, avoiding project failures require executives to determine the business requirements and filter out what is not needed. Simply put, the lesson to cultivate is to plan, research, evaluate, and re-evaluate.

Data Migration Risks

rbstopsaus — Mon, 11 Oct 2021 04:00:56 +0000

Data Migration Risks

The world undoubtedly can no longer overlook the agility the cloud has provided businesses. It creates incredible opportunities for businesses to shift platform and continue everyday operations despite the ongoing battle with the global pandemic. Companies and corporations using the cloud aspire to increase agility, help employees centralise on business priorities, fuel top-line growth, drive downturn in capital expenses, and pay for only what you need on-demand. However, the type of migration instituted and infrastructure to support the process will determine exposure to risks and how much free time IT staff can allocate and invest in other projects.

When and why is data migration difficult and risky?

When data migration becomes a challenge, it tends to relate to data gravity which reveals how data attracts other data as it grows, how data integrates into a business, and how data becomes customised as time progresses. These factors attributing to data gravity disclose the difficulty of “disentangling” data as it migrates systems. Therefore, data must first simplify and overcome barriers of data gravity to evoke the advantages of migrating applications and data to a cloud infrastructure. Furthermore, it is crucial to allocate time at the initial stages of a project in sorting data and application complexities to improve data management, enabling application mobility and garner enhanced data governance.

The prominent issue arises when applications complicate data management by instituting new elements of application logic into the data management level, whereby each one is inapplicable to the following data use case. Consequently, the system will operate inefficiently and deprive TOS users of the capabilities to resolve bottlenecks or even facilitate decision-making. It is vital to evaluate system IT infrastructures and ask the respective software provider of their migration strategies and process to understand how they treat your data in each stage and if it benefits your operational needs.

Business processes create outputs in their meaningful formats using data in isolation, which leaves integration for the next stage. As a result, application design, data architecture, and business processes must achieve cohesion and combine to envelop a harmonious environment. However, often, one of these groups are resistant or unable to change. Application administrators, consequently, omit ideal and straightforward workflows, resulting in subpar designs. Motioning a workaround that addresses these technical limitations immediately upon detection will prove beneficial though dismissing it in this stage will eventually resurface during data migration or integration projects. Overall, the software provider should encompass a robust system architecture to drive efficient data management, reinforcing a seamless data migration. Therefore, the application or system of choice must follow an explicit data structure while simultaneously achieving a harmonious environment.

Despite the complexity, data migration grants operators and executives alike the strategic weapon that phases out their current operating legacy system. The terminal and organisation can then take progressive steps to achieve a complete cloud TOS infrastructure that advances ports and terminals in digitalisation and the industrial revolution 4.0.

RBS 30th Anniversary

rbstopsaus — Mon, 04 Jan 2021 06:25:48 +0000

RBS enters the new year with a milestone marking our 30th anniversary in operation. Since founded in 1991, we have been humbled by the many valuable opportunities that allow us to connect with fantastic operators and container terminals across the globe.

We have also witnessed a great deal of change in the last three decades since the industry has endured several technology landscapes shifts, fluctuating economies, and evolving standards. Being present and involved in these changes attribute to our expanding knowledge as we are inspired to innovate further and strengthen our partnerships. As a result, RBS has developed unique products over the years, which offer a holistic solution driving innovation and efficiency for our clients. Rolling out the first real-time TOS on the market, achieving powerful automation tools, and followed by developing the first true cloud TOS are few of the most noteworthy achievements over the years.

Our achievements reflect the dedicated efforts of our founder, Harry Nguyen, and developers which continue to push boundaries and nurture ideas that facilitate, streamline, and develop better prospects for our clients. As a company, we have learned a great deal and are devoted to cultivating RBS’s vision of offering guidance that prepares terminal operators alike for uncertainty and a better future.

We thank all our clients for their loyal support and choosing us as your TOS provider – it would not have been possible without you!