Image caption: ABP colleagues at the Port of Hull
Associated British Ports (ABP), the UK’s leading ports operator, is taking steps to enhance workplace safety and planning through the trial of a new workforce scheduling platform pioneered by UK-based startup, Ensemble Analytics.
As part of the trial, ABP will be using the ‘Athena’ platform at its Ports of Immingham, Hull and Ipswich to increase the resilience of operations and allow for longer-term resource planning and scheduling. The Athena deployment has been supported by the Freight Innovation Fund.
Athena is a workforce scheduling tool tailored for ports which is designed to manage complex workforce structures, integrate with operational systems, and automate labour deployment according to skills and labour agreements. Athena enables planning teams to make data-driven decisions, delivering safe, fair, and efficient workforce schedules whilst simplifying administrative tasks.
Sam Jones, Head of Business Process Improvement at Associated British Ports (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.”
As gateways to tomorrow, ABP’s 21 ports across England, Scotland and Wales are keeping Britain trading and provide strategic locations to future-proof businesses. ABP contributes £15 billion to the UK economy every year, directly employs over 2,500 people and supports over 200,000 jobs across wider supply chains.
Cato Davies, CEO and Co-founder of Ensemble Analytics, commented: “We’re thrilled to be working with ABP on this trial of our Athena solution. Using machine learning, Athena will help ABP to create fair, safe and efficient schedules for its workforce. It’s great to see ABP showing leadership in the industry by using our tailored technology solutions to address the industry-wide challenges with utilisation, upskilling and communication.
“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.”
