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.
Retail cross-dock example: Using the cross-dock technique, Wal-Mart was able to effectively leverage their logistical volume into a core strategic competency.
- Wal Mart operates an extensive satellite network of distribution centers serviced by company owned trucks
- Wal Mart’s satellite network sends point of sale (POS) data directly to 4,000 vendors.
- Each register is directly connected to a satellite system sending sales information to Wal Mart’s headquarters and distribution centers.
Read more about this topic: Cross-docking
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