Cross-Docking Distribution Center

Cross-docking favors the timely distribution of freight, a better synchronization with the demand and a more efficient use of transportation assets. The distribution center essentially acts as a high throughput sorting facility for several suppliers and customers. Cross-docking is particularly relevant to the retail sector (often within large retailers), but can also be applied to manufacturing and distribution. Its advantages involve a  minimization of warehousing and economies of scale in outbound flows (from the distribution center to the customers). With cross-docking the costly inventory function of a distribution center becomes minimal, while still maintaining the value-added functions of consolidation and shipping. Inbound flows (from suppliers) are thus directly transferred into outbound flows (to customers) with little, if any, warehousing. Shipments typically spend less than 24 hours in the distribution center, sometimes less than an hour. In a conventional distribution system, goods are stored in a distribution center (or kept in inventory at the supplier) and wait until ordered by a customer. Under such a setting it is difficult to have shipments that are not less than truckload (LTL). With cross-docking, goods are already assigned to a customer. The distribution center receives goods from suppliers, sort them directly to be shipped to a consolidated batch (often including other orders from other suppliers) to customers. Since there is for each supplier less shipments, most of them are full truckload (FTL).

Cross-docking can be applied to a number of situations. For manufacturing, cross-docking can be used to consolidate inbound supplies, which can be prepared to support just-in-time assembly (parts for different stages of an assembly line). For distribution, cross-docking can be used to consolidate inbound products from different suppliers which can be delivered when the last inbound shipment is received. For transportation, cross-docking involves the consolidation of shipments from several suppliers (often in LTL batches) in order to achieve economies of scale with FTL. For retail, cross-docking concerns receiving products from multiple suppliers and sorting them for outbound shipments to different stores. The world's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, delivers about 85% of its merchandises using a cross-docking system.