How to organize cross-docking in a warehouse¶

Cross-docking moves goods from the receiving area straight to the shipping area, without storing them in stock. In Viindoo, set the warehouse to receive and deliver in two or more steps, create a Cross-Dock route with a push rule from the input location to the output location, tick the route on the product, then validate a receipt of that product: Viindoo creates a Cross Dock transfer from the input location to the output location instead of a Storage transfer, and then a delivery order to the customer.

Who	Users with the Inventory Administrator access right to configure the route; Inventory User to process the transfers.
App	Inventory ‣ Configuration, Inventory ‣ Operations

Before you start

Install the Inventory app.
Turn on Multi-Step Routes in Inventory ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings.
The warehouse receives in two or three steps and delivers in two or three steps (see How to choose the receipt flow of a warehouse). Each warehouse has an operation type Cross Dock; the input and output locations used by the route exist once both flows have more than one step.

How do I turn on the routes and set the warehouse?¶

Go to Inventory ‣ Configuration ‣ Settings, tick Multi-Step Routes in the Warehouse section and click Save.
Open the warehouse in Inventory ‣ Configuration ‣ Warehouse Management ‣ Warehouses. On the Warehouse Configuration tab, choose Receive then Store (2 steps) under Incoming Shipments and Pick then Deliver (2 steps) under Outgoing Shipments, then click Save.

How do I create the Cross-Dock route?¶

Go to Inventory ‣ Configuration ‣ Warehouse Management ‣ Routes and click New. Enter the name Cross-Dock, tick Products under Applicable On so that you can choose the route on a product, then click Save.
Go to Inventory ‣ Configuration ‣ Warehouse Management ‣ Rules and click New. Enter a name, choose the Action Push To, the Operation Type Cross Dock of the warehouse, the Source Location Input and the Destination Location Output of the warehouse, choose the route Cross-Dock in Route, then click Save.

The rule is now listed in the Rules section of the route.

How do I use cross-docking for a product?¶

Open the product in Inventory ‣ Products ‣ Products. On the Inventory tab, tick the route Cross-Dock under Routes, then click Save. Every receipt of this product that arrives in the input location now follows the route, including receipts created from purchase orders if you also install Purchase.
Receive the product: create a receipt, as in How to receive goods in two steps (receive, then store), and click Validate. The goods enter the input location.
Viindoo creates a Cross Dock transfer from the input location to the output location instead of a Storage transfer. Open it with the Cross Dock card of Inventory ‣ Overview and click Validate.
When you validate the Cross Dock transfer, Viindoo creates a Delivery Orders transfer from the output location to the customers location, already Ready.
Open the delivery order from the Delivery Orders card and click Validate.

You should now see the delivery order Done. The goods never entered the stock location.

The delivery order created this way has no Delivery Address: fill it in on the transfer if you print the delivery slip.

Which fields matter?¶

Field	Effect	If wrong or empty
Incoming Shipments and Outgoing Shipments (warehouse)	Two or three steps on both sides give the warehouse an input and an output location.	With one step on a side, the rule has no location to work with.
Applicable On ‣ Products (route)	Lets you choose the route on products.	The route does not appear on the product form.
Action, Source Location and Destination Location (rule)	Push To from the input location to the output location moves the received goods to the output location.	The goods go to stock as usual, or to the wrong location.
Operation Type (rule)	Cross Dock gives the transfer its own number and its own card in the overview.	The transfer is created with another operation type.
Routes (product)	Receipts of the product are pushed to the output location instead of stock.	Goods are stored as usual.

Common errors¶

Symptom	What to do
There is no Cross-Dock route on the product form.	Tick Products under Applicable On on the route.
The receipt creates a Storage transfer instead of a Cross Dock transfer.	The route is not ticked on the product, the Source Location of the rule is not the input location of the warehouse that receives, or the receipt belongs to another warehouse.