Team J Storage and Fulfillment is your Omaha 3PL warehouse cross-docking solution. If you’re not familiar with cross docking, we’ll key you in on the benefits here. Essentially, cross docking removes the storage leg of the supply chain. Cross docking would be a scenario where your products are unloaded from a truck or railroad car, sorted, and directly reloaded onto outbound trucks or rail cars to continue their journey. This allows products going to the same destination to be easily consolidated into fewer transport vehicles. It also allows for large shipments to be broken down into smaller groups for easier delivery. The end result of a good cross docking is a leaner and more efficient supply chain.
Now that you have the general idea of what cross docking is let’s take a closer look. Cross docking can be broken down into two basic forms: Pre-distribution and Post-distribution.
Pre-distribution Cross Docking
With pre-distribution cross docking, goods are unloaded, sorted, and repacked according to pre-determined distribution instructions. This means the customer has been identified before the goods have left the supplier.
Post-distribution Cross Docking
In the post-distribution process, sorting is deferred until the cross docking facility and customers are chosen based on demand. This means your products may spend a little more time at the cross-docking facility. This is not necessarily a bad thing. It allows you to benefit from the additional time to make smarter, informed decisions about where to ship your goods based on in-store inventory, sales forecasts and point of sale trends.
More Cross Docking Benefits
There are several big benefits to incorporating cross docking into your retail supply chain. Because products are spending less (or no) time in the warehouse, inventory handling and storage costs are greatly reduced. In addition, goods typically reach their final destination (your customer) much faster, giving you a competitive edge.
Cross docking services with commercial warehousing can strengthen business partnerships from source material production through manufacturing and distribution, all the way to your end customer. Consolidating your incoming and outgoing products saves you money on both shipping costs, valuable labor hours and storage costs, adding to your bottom line on a daily, monthly, and yearly basis.
Goods that are best for cross docking are those that are in stable and consistent demand, usually being high volume and fast moving. Working with a 3PL cross dock warehouse like Team J Storage and Fulfillment gives you a clean, safe, and centrally located facility to dramatically increase the efficiency of your supply chain.
We’ll help you cut costs and stay competitive. Give us a call today and we’d be happy to discuss with you how our cross docking 3PL centrally located warehouse can improve your business model. 402-991-8460