Editing Cross-docking (section)

{{Short description|Practice in logistics of unloading directly to customer or other transportation}}
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[[File:Correspondance de marchandises (no text).png|thumb|upright=1.3|Example of cross-docking: incoming parcels (left) are sorted by label for output (right)]]
{{Business logistics}}
'''Cross-docking''' is a [[logistics|logistical]] practice of [[Lean manufacturing|Just-In-Time Scheduling]] where materials are delivered directly from a manufacturer or a mode of transportation to a customer or another mode of transportation. Cross-docking often aims to minimize overheads related to [[Warehousing|storing goods]] between shipments or while awaiting a customer's order.<ref>Álvarez-Pérez, González-Velarde, Fowler. ''Crossdocking— Just in Time scheduling: an alternative solution approach''. Journal of the Operational Research Society, 2009.</ref> This may be done to change the type of conveyance, to sort material intended for different destinations, or to combine material from different origins into transport vehicles (or containers) with the same or similar destinations.

Cross-docking takes place in a distribution docking terminal; usually consisting of trucks and dock doors on two (inbound and outbound) sides with minimal storage space.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Sehgal|first=Vivek|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/428439918|title=Enterprise supply chain management : integrating best-in-class processes|date=2009|publisher=Wiley|isbn=978-1-119-19834-5|location=Hoboken, N.J.|oclc=428439918}}</ref>

In the [[Less than truckload shipping|LTL]] trucking industry, cross-docking is done by moving cargo from one transport vehicle directly onto another, with minimal or no [[warehousing]]. In retail practice, cross-docking operations may utilize staging areas where inbound materials are sorted, consolidated, and stored until the outbound shipment is complete and ready to ship.