Cross docking, or dock crossing in Spanish, is an order preparation technique that occurs in the logistics warehouses of delivery companies, in which the merchandise does not spend much time in the warehouse due to its high degree of turnover .
This is because there is no stock in the warehouse nor is there a picking operation that allows goods to be left in the warehouse for a long time for this to happen. We can say that there is no intermediate storage. This is achieved by avoiding storage activities, thus trying to reduce the time given to logistics operations.
This system is especially useful for those products that cannot be in the warehouse for long and their imminent departure from it is what conditions the product itself. We are talking about fresh products such as fish, meat, etc., as well as products for daily consumption and subject to a certain schedule (for distribution, for example) such as a newspaper.
The just-in-time philosophy is what plays a fundamental role in reducing storage costs and being able to establish a continuous movement in the place where the distribution, agreeing with suppliers on delivery times, as well as price improvements, etc.
Technology plays a fundamental role in being able to automate and streamline the process: sorting machines, conveyor belts, sorting systems and even robots that store products are some of the examples.
In addition, technology has also had an influence when it comes to placing orders by radio frequency online, allowing the process to be automated in a warehouse by robots and offering the products of an order as soon as the order is submitted. This makes management in the warehouse automated and the order leaves as soon as possible.