The ideal situation occurs when theDefinitions and finished goods flow directly from manufac-Methodologies turing into the back of a truck at the dock. This should be called current manufacturing Crossdocking as an operational proce- crossdocking. The next most desirable situa- dure has been around for many years. In fact, tion would be when finished goods flow di- most warehouses have had an informal back rectly from manufacturing to a staging area order crossdocking operation for years and for shipment later. This should be called fu- years. A back order crossdocking operation ture manufacturing crossdocking. Of course, occurs when the warehouse attempts to fulfill a challenge exists here in how far into the fu- a back order with received product before the ture finished goods should be staged instead product is ever stored in the warehouse. The of being placed in storage. The advantage of warehouse has flagged the pending inbound both current and future manufacturing receipt for a back order and knows that when crossdocking is the minimization of the fin- the product is received, the warehouse should ished goods handling. A disadvantage of fu- go get the back order and allocate product to ture manufacturing crossdocking is the the back order. This process has been used amount of staging space required to hold the over the years to quickly get back ordered future finished goods shipments. In fact, the goods to the customer. This procedure has definition of future (two hours, four hours, one not really been concerned with the other ben- day, two days?) should be established by trad- efits associated with crossdocking. ing off the savings in handling versus the costs There are three different methods of of space. Manufacturing crossdocking typi- crossdocking. They are: cally applies only when full unit loads of the same finished goods are shipped. But, cur- 1. Manufacturing Crossdocking rent and future manufacturing crossdocking 2. Distribution Crossdocking require a real-time warehouse management 3. Terminal Crossdocking system to manage the flow and staging of fin- ished goods. The following subsections describe each A challenge that needs to be addressed of the crossdocking methods. with current manufacturing crossdocking is the limitation of not having the opportunity1.1 Manufacturing for placing finished goods on hold prior toCrossdocking their being shipped. It would not be unusual for a finished goods warehouse to be designed Instead of placing finished goods from so that both current and future manufacturing manufacturing into a finished goods ware- crossdocking could be utilized. Another cir- house, they are dispatched to the dock for cumstance that should be included while dis- shipment (sometimes this is called direct ship- cussing manufacturing crossdocking would be