In one facility some goods can go onto racking while others move dock to dock. The decision is made product by product and looks at four pieces of data.
| Product profile | Flow |
|---|---|
| Fast turnover, steady demand, reliable supply | Cross-dock |
| Short shelf life | Cross-dock: every day in storage is written off as waste |
| Volatile demand or long, variable supply | Storage: stock acts as a buffer |
| Slow turnover | Storage: goods must wait for demand |
Build these profiles from records, not impressions: order times and quantities, actual supplier arrivals and the time from receipt to dispatch. A short wait is not enough; the transfer area needs sorting, re-handling and outbound vehicle capacity, otherwise the dock jams while racking sits empty.
For chilled goods the gain from cross-docking is large and so is the risk. Every point of quick-frozen food stays at -18 °C or below, and a short rise during transport and distribution may not exceed 3 °C. If the measured transfer time fits inside that allowance, cross-docking works; if it does not, short-term cold storage is safer. Review the table once a year as the product mix changes.
