The movement of goods directly from receiving dock to shipping dock to eliminate storage expense. Many times a site is chosen to consolidate goods from several origins and reship to the retail or manufacturing site (sometimes called Merge in Transit or Flow Through Distribution).
Unloading materials from an incoming trailer and then loading them into an outbound trailer without sorting and distributing the items in the warehouse.
Distribution system where products received are routed directly to regional centers, bypassing the storage and picking process, thus eliminating significant labor.
The immediate movement of product received at a retailer warehouse from the supplier's truck over to the retailer's truck for store delivery.
The direct flow of merchandise from the receiving function to the shipping function, eliminating any additional steps in between, including the need for storage.
A series of activities, which combined, define a business process; the series of activities from manufacturers to the retail stores that define the industry supply chain
The action of unloading materials from an incoming trailer or rail car and immediately loading these materials in outbound trailers or rail cars, thus eliminating the need for warehousing (storage).
The direct flow of merchandise through a facility from the receiving function to the shipping function, eliminating the need for storage.
Cross-docking is a practice in logistics of unloading materials from an incoming semi-trailer truck or rail car and loading these materials in outbound trailers or rail cars, with little or no storage in between. This may be done to change type of conveyance, or to sort material intended for different destinations, or to combine material from different origins.