Shipping & receiving docks are a particularly dangerous area of most operations because so much activity takes place in a confined space. You have truck loading, unloading, staging, inspections, and much more. You have people like order pickers, drivers and guests potentially in the mix. In your average warehouse, the docks take up 20% of the square footage but host 80% of the activity. As you know, at times that activity can be fast-paced – even frenzied as full pallets are taken in, or loaded ones are being loaded into trailers. This is a time rife with possibilities for accidents. How can you prevent them?
Shipping Docks & Safety: Dealing with Blind Spots
Tags: dock layout, warehouse safety, forklift safety, shipping & receiving, Safety & Ergonomics
Posted in Docks & Shipping|
Cross-Docking: What are the facility layout considerations?
This is the third in a series of articles on cross-docking
If you started from scratch, many might simply build a cross-dock facility with a much shallower depth than most warehouses. A depth of a hundred feet or so, with incoming product on one side that can be easily moved a short distance and loaded on the other side to an outbound truck. Most of us must deal with an existing facility, many times a large square box which is not generally the preferred layout. However, as long as the existing facility has a sufficient quantity of dock doors, yard space, and an adequate footprint, you may be fine.
Tags: order fulfillment, Supply Chain, cross dock, Cross Docking, dock layout, conveyor systems, advanced shipping notice
Posted in Space Optimization & Planning|
Am I Wasting Time: is Cross-Docking a Viable Consideration for my Company?
This article is the second in a series of articles on cross docking
In concept and on paper cross docking looks great, but, what about actual implementation? What kind of return do we get on this investment? The short answer is the implementation can be challenging. However, with planning, a committed team of upstream and downstream participants, and pilot programs, it can pay significant benefits.
Cross docking does not have to be complicated. Some, even today, execute cross-docking using human-readable paper documentation as the driver. As mentioned in the original brief, cross docking can cover a wide range of distribution activities. In one door and directly out the other is one approach. Many cross dockers also add value in the brief (hopefully) interval between receiving and shipping. Others send product to a temporary buffer in the interval, in many of these cases an automated system (mini-load, AS/RS, etc.) serves as the buffer.
Tags: advance shipping notices, dock layout, Supply Chain, cross dock, Cross Docking
Posted in Docks & Shipping|