An appointment plan should match vehicle arrivals with the facility's service capacity. Start with actual arrival and handling records rather than assuming a window from average duration.
Make arrival variation visible
Record planned and actual arrival times by carrier, load type and time of day. Separate early arrivals, late arrivals and delays reported in advance; each can affect yard and door demand differently.
Test windows against capacity. Compare door occupancy, appointments in the same time band, early-vehicle queues and staff and equipment availability. Trial a small schedule change and measure spillover, idle doors and waiting; adjust the plan from observation.
For chilled or sensitive products, set the waiting place and conditions from product requirements. Record the responsible person, delay-notification channel and rescheduling decision in the appointment schedule.
