What is Cross Docking

Cross-docking, introduced in the 1930s, is a logistic process of minimizing storage and inventory costs. In cross-docking, goods leave a facility without ever being stored. This process helps bring incoming products and production items to an outgoing warehouse area and is an important part of the process of unloading products or materials from a warehouse to a production facility. Cross docking was the first and still most common method of transporting goods such as food, clothing, electronics, computers, machinery, etc. from the warehouse area to the outdoor area.

No Inventory Management 

Cross-docking requires a warehouse facility but with minimal inventory management. The supply chain model, which relies on cross-docking, provides for at least short-term storage. Cross docking allows the manufacturer to deliver the product directly to the destination, with or without short storage times

Minimal Human interaction 

Another reason why Cross-docking is preferred by companies is the reduced human interaction and touch-points which results in reduced damages in product handling.      

Cross-docking allows providers to take over warehousing and accelerate shipping, and more importantly reduces the effort to transport goods between warehouses. 

Cost Saving

The use of cross-docking services also improves product turnover rates, as goods can be transported faster and more efficiently across the supply chain in a single terminal. The FMCG industry, which deals with a large number of products such as food and beverages, can benefit from cross docking because the time a product spends at the docking or undocking terminal is small to very small. 

Cross-docking is a viable option for companies selling products that have already been packaged and sorted to be shipped to specific customers. For cross-docking in large quantities, there is more flexibility to take into account unforeseen changes. 

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How it Works

In a cross-docking system, for example, the main function of the distribution center is the location where goods are quickly transported to the next stage of the shipping process. Cross-docking during transport supports the possibility that your warehouse can deliver and receive joint shipments. Incoming materials are assigned to your next link in your supply chain, eliminating the need for distribution centers to sit around and wait for them to be sold or assigned. 

If your company's potential partners do not have the storage space they need, storage problems can be a burden for the effective implementation of cross-docking. If the outgoing carrier is there at the right time, goods ready for cross docking can be transported to a temporary storage location near the dock to be received. Cross - Docking helps reduces costs by eliminating warehouses, and warehouses are usually replaced by cross-dock facilities that occupy the space a warehouse would consume. 

If you are looking for a logistics process that combines multiple loads in a short time and distributes them to your customers, cross-docking services are just right for you. Cross Docking offers the opportunity to benefit your business and speed up shipping while continuing to offer traditional warehousing for your needs.

Cross-docking and storage solutions help ensure that your products are delivered quickly and without delay. Cross-docking functionality does exactly what it implies: it receives and makes your product ready for shipment by following exactly the same logistics process as its traditional counterpart. 

In their own facilities, manufacturers use cross-docking to transport finished goods from the dock to a distribution centre that is essentially a sorting centre. This eliminates the need to rely on one warehouse and the materials can be transported from one plant to another within minutes or even hours. Cross-docking allows materials and products to be transported within and outside the same facility without the need for a separate warehouse or warehouse, such as a facility.