THE AUSTRALIAN SUGAR industry, like most other industries that are predominately export-reliant, is subject to global economic pressures, which means it must remain competitive to be viable in the market. Management has had the vision to prepare a long-term strategy for the future direction of the factory. This drive for efficiency is the primary reason that this important stage in the delivery cycle was implemented. With Isis Mill now receiving 100% of cane consignments electronically, this provided the foundation for the full automation of the rail receivals and yard-handling procedures. The complete automation of the consignment, transport and processing cycle at Isis Mill has been an ongoing, long-term plan that has been implemented in relatively small increments over an extended period. Identifying individual deliveries, as they proceed from the field to the factory and then tracking these through the processing stage, is critical for grower payment based on product quality, essential for determining factory efficiency and necessary to provide productivity feedback to the farm. A significant component of this development was the fitting of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags to the rail fleet. The electronic identification of the rail bins as they arrive and proceed through the various stages in the factory process is essential for the reliable operation of this system. Automation of the full yard and tip areas was also part of the upgrade. The bin consignment details are transferred to the factory server as they are harvested in the field. When the bins arrive in the mill rail marshalling area, they are matched to the consignment details using RFID. Once these deliveries have been recorded and reconciled, they are tracked from the full yard marshalling area through to the tip and processing stage.