Streamline Your Order Fulfillment with Automated Systems

Reverse logistics is a notoriously expensive aspect of omnichannel fulfillment models. Companies either have to accept a near total loss on returned goods, or devise a system that can receive, process, assess, sort, and send resellable goods back into inventory and damaged goods to the claims department.

Companies that have a high rate of returns can benefit from employing a cross docking system that can automatically sort returns and streamline the process of either writing them off, or putting them back into the system and restocking them.

For industries that experience seasonal peaks, cross docking can be used to alleviate many of the pain points associated with shifting consumer demands. Creating or using flex space near the receiving department to hold seasonal goods can allow fast moving merchandise to be quickly staged, processed, and shipped, without the extra step of sending goods to long-term storage.

Merchandise that is cross docked in this way may not move directly between docks, but instead will be briefly staged in the warehouse so as to minimize put away and retrieval processing.

Efficient cross docking requires a well designed layout that allows product to remain organized while being processed. The exact layout will depend on the usable space, as well as the facility’s throughput. A facility that relies on automated sortation conveyors to transport product to many different docks will look very different from a system that’s focused on consolidation.

The number of docks dedicated to cross docking, the amount of normal receiving and shipping operations still ongoing, and whether the process will be year round or only seasonal also play a role. The peak in sales for winter holidays, for example, often require more space than other times of the year. To maximize productivity year round, having flex space capable of meeting these shifting needs is often best.

While in theory cross docking can be done with nothing more than manual labor, it’s the application of modern technologies that have made the practice as profitable as it is. A typical cross docking facility uses some combination of:

• Portable computers or warehouse wearables
• Automated barcode labelers and scanners
• Automated storage and retrieval systems
• Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs)
• Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMRs)

You’ll also need a stable internet connection, as well as Wi-Fi throughout the cross docking area.

In addition to hardware that’s appropriate to your needs, you’ll also need a Warehouse Management System (WMS) capable of handling all of the many variables that cross docking operations entail. Your facility will need to know how many trucks are in-bound, which docks they’ll use for drop off, every item they’re carrying, how those items will be sorted and processed, and which docks they’ll be moved to before being shipped out.

Combined with the right automation, an adequate WMS can manage all of those processes for you.

Prime real estate for warehousing is becoming increasingly difficult to find and expensive. Effective cross docking practices increase warehouse and distribution efficiency, enable the fulfillment speeds that many ecommerce consumers expect, and minimize the time goods spend in a building.

Moving product out almost as soon as it arrives saves a number of costs, and frees up space for more profitable uses such as warehousing as a service.

Since cross docking means storing less product, it also means spending less payroll on tasks associated with storing goods, including put away, picking, and packaging. In most cross docking applications, the goods that come in are sorted and shipped more or less as-is.

Efficient cross docking requires some degree of automation, which further reduces the costs associated with labor.

As goods come into a cross docking operation, operators or automated systems can visually inspect product quality. Damaged boxes or shifted pallets can quickly be spotted, removed from the line, and sorted.

Also, because the time spent in-warehouse and the number of touchpoints are minimized, the chance that an item is damaged in your facility is also reduced.

Because cross docking maximizes the efficiency of receiving and shipping goods, it also minimizes the costs associated with warehouse construction. Less space is needed for storage, and conveyors in a cross docking application are typically shorter, cutting down on material costs. The distance that forklifts need to travel is minimized, cutting down on their wear and tear and often reducing the number needed to maintain adequate flowthrough.

Cross docking can be especially effective in industries that need speed or have high volume, such as fresh groceries or ecommerce fulfillment. Cross docking minimizes the time these goods spend in storage. This allows fresh product to be delivered while it’s still good, and orders to be shipped so that they can be delivered in the window the end user expects.

More than this, because cross docking requires less space than traditional warehousing, they can more easily be located near the end user. This shortens the distance of the final delivery, cutting both transportation costs and delivery schedules.