Most warehouse operations invest very little time and money in their dock scheduling solutions, and quite frankly in the past there were not a lot of options out there. Most warehouse management systems have limited capabilities and, unless you manage all of your inbound freight, your transport management system won’t help you either. Consequently the most common solution we see out there is the good old Excel spread sheet.
The costs of not managing your dock properly are high, both from an opportunity and monetary perspective. Are you able to get more throughput from your dock with the same work force? Will you be able to respond to the pressure from your carriers to become more “carrier friendly”? More importantly what is that tipping point that makes taking action a no-brainer?
When do you reassess your dock scheduling processes?
Here are 10 signs that you should get started right now:
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Your best people are constantly on the phone with vendors and carriers setting up appointments.
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You can’t answer simple queries (in under five minutes) from your buyers wanting to know if particular POs have been booked and when they are expected to arrive.
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Carriers call to know if their driver has already arrived on site and you have no clue.
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You need to pay overtime to your dockworkers since everyone shows up at the end of the day.
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You spend too much time every week compiling “On Time Arrival” reports and half the time you’re not sure the data is accurate.
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You realize that “first come first serve” is not the most effective means to managing your dock appointments but you have no way of improving the process.
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You wish you could find a way to limit those very time consuming loads to 2 (insert your number here) per shift because your dock productivity is suffering.
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Your carriers send you driver demurrage invoices and you have no way of knowing if they are valid or not.
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Your carriers are threatening to boycott you because you are constantly delaying their drivers.
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You dream of the day that you will be able to send scorecards to either your vendors or carriers, ranking their performance based on standard criteria.
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Bonus Sign: You’re reading this blog!!
With the advent of software as a service (SaaS) solutions, warehouse operators have the opportunity to dramatically improve their scheduling capabilities without having to break the bank.
To find out more on how a web based dock scheduling system can help your business, we invite you to download our white paper: Understanding the True Value of Automated Dock Scheduling.
