What happens when trucks show up at your dock with little or no notice?
This type of unpredictability can cause a bottleneck of inbound and outbound orders. Outbound shipments get delayed, errors and mis-shipments result as processes are rushed. For executives, it is challenging to plan and schedule the appropriate amount of labor. Why not plan ahead and make it easier on everyone
Scheduling appointments for your warehouse dock doors will help you to avoid charges for detention fees with costs that can range significantly depending upon the carrier, location, and type of freight. Planning ahead using dock door appointment scheduling can help you keep operational costs under control and avoid detention fees which can impact overall profitability of your warehouse operation.
Simple, Fast and Easy to Use
Dock door appointment scheduling is the answer!
By having the ability to schedule dock door appointments for your warehouse, you can significantly improve the efficiency and performance of your warehousing operation.
Here are some of the ways this can help your business:
Enables you to allocate resources more effectively
Knowing when shipments will arrive enables managers to plan and allocate the necessary level of labor and equipment ahead of time. This reduces downtime, enhancing productivity.
Streamline Bottlenecks and Helps to Relieve Congestion
To prevent bottlenecks at the dock and reduce the incidence of traffic jams, arrivals and departures can be staggered using dock door appointment scheduling. This simple effort improves both efficiency and worker safety.
Facilitates Carrier Coordination
Booking appointments at your warehouse dock enables you to help ensure that truck arrivals and departures are coordinated so that work can proceed as scheduled. This will result in reduced dwell time and fewer detention fees.
Improves Inventory Management Capabilities
Having arrival visibility makes all the difference in being able to plan inventory storage locations and movement within the warehouse with ease. By leveraging dock door appointment scheduling, warehouse operators are better positioned to reduce overstocks and stock outs. Imagine how it would change your operation if you could eliminate inventory shortages and overstock situations.
Enables Your Team to Provide Better Customer Service, Resulting in Customer Satisfaction and Referrals
Ready for reliable deliveries? Scheduling dock appointments increases the reliability with which orders are filled, enabling better coordination of inbound shipments as well as inventory ready for outbound deliveries. Having visibility into scheduled appointments improves communication with customers and makes everyone’s job easier.
Enables Better Tracking and Reporting
Many, if not most warehouses track key performance indicators (KPIs) such as dock door utilization, unloading times, and carrier performance, critical for facilitating continuous improvement initiatives and better performance. This data can then be analyzed to find patterns and trends in receiving and shipping so that peak periods of peak activity can be anticipated for future planning.
Reduces Human Errors
We’ve all heard the saying that “we all make mistakes”. Now you can keep it to a minimum. Scheduling dock appointments in advance reduces the risk of human errors involved with double-booking, miscommunication, and missed appointments and helps to ensure efficient warehouse operations.