Associated British Ports (ABP) is testing a new workforce scheduling technology developed by Ensemble Analytics, a UK-based business, to improve worker safety and planning.
As part of the pilot, ABP will use the ‘Athena’ platform at its ports in Immingham, Hull, and Ipswich to improve operational resilience and enable longer-term resource planning and scheduling.
The Freight Innovation Fund of the Department for Transport (DfT) has sponsored the Athena implementation.
According to ABP, Athena is a workforce scheduling technology built specifically for ports that manages complicated workforce structures, integrates with operational systems, and automates labour deployment based on skills and agreements.
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Sam Jones, Head of Business Process Improvement at ABP, said: “At ABP, we are delighted to be trialling this new scheduling platform which can bring a host of benefits to the business, further supporting safe, compliant, and efficient operations for our customers and our employees.
“It’s also fantastic to be working with a UK startup on an innovative solution and we look forward to assessing the results at the end of the trial to see if this truly is a good fit for us.”
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Cato Davies, CEO and Co-founder of Ensemble Analytics, commented: “Using machine learning, Athena will help ABP to create fair, safe and efficient schedules for its workforce.
“Establishing the digital infrastructure is an important first step which will enable ABP to take data-driven decisions across the business, improving customer service, employee engagement and operational efficiency.”
Recently, ABP announced the appointment of Sean Kelly as its new Group IT Director.
