Cross-docking
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cross-docking is a practice in logistics of unloading materials from an incoming semi-trailer truck or rail car and loading these materials in outbound trailers or rail cars, with little or no storage in between. This may be done to change type of conveyance, or to sort material intended for different destinations, or to combine material from different origins.
In purest form this is done directly, with minimal or no warehousing. In practice many "cross-docking" operations require large staging areas where inbound materials are sorted, consolidated, and stored until the outbound shipment is complete and ready to ship. If the staging takes hours or a day the operation is usually referred to as a "cross-dock" distribution center. If it takes several days or even weeks the operation is usually considered a warehouse. This was first pioneered by Wal Mart.
Crossdocking is used to decrease inventory storage by streamlining the flow between the supplier and the manufacturer.
[edit] Typical applications
- "Hub and spoke" arrangements, where materials are brought in to one central location and then sorted for delivery to a variety of destinations
- Consolidation arrangements, where a variety of smaller shipments are combined into one larger shipment for economy of transport
- Deconsolidation arrangements, where large shipments (e.g. railcar lots) are broken down into smaller lots for ease of delivery.
[edit] Factors influencing the use of cross-docks
- Customer and supplier geography -- particularly when a single corporate customer has many multiple branches or using points
- Freight costs for the commodities being transported
- Cost of inventory in transit
- Complexity of loads
- Handling methods
- Logistics software integration between supplier(s), vendor, and shipper
- Tracking of inventory in transit
