people would make the right decisions at the right time. Standardized
work was needed to have consistency in timing. Truck drivers were
inspectors checking that all the right parts were being collected from
the suppliers.
Teams of workers needed to be highly trained, with team leaders
carefully checking the work at each point to be sure no errors slipped
through. And every one was a thinker driven to continually improve
the process.
The result was a relatively low-tech solution. For example, a ticket
system was developed. Pallets of parts from suppliers were taken off
the truck and immediately tagged with a specific ticket listing critical
information like the part number, quantity, and main route to the
assembly plant. It was color coded according to where the part would
sit in the cross-dock. Specific lanes were set up for different main routes
to the assembly plants. Other physical areas were set aside for parts
that needed to be repacked or parts that needed to “go to sleep” and
wait more than a day to be delivered. The cards were kept in a large
visual board with cubby slots by supplier subroute and assembly plant
main route. As one Transfreight executive stated:
Our process for managing the cross-docks is all manual. We use [Microsoft]
Access and Excel, but it’s largely manual. There’s no optimization software,
no RF technology to scanning of freight. I mean, we do have a system to
calculate cube, miles, etc., but our processes are largely manual.
Now let’s consider an American competitor to Toyota that set up a
cross-docking system in part to imitate Toyota’s just-in-time system. This
auto maker also set up a joint venture, of which it owned a controlling
60 percent. When speaking to one of the executives of the joint venture,
the purpose of the joint venture was described as follows:
Our vision is [centered on] our IT. This is a global, integrated system that
provides both inbound and outbound visibility so we have visibility of
all material and the product. We will have database management and
warehouse database management globally. We will be the central clear-
inghouse for all data. We will have plug and play capability with any
system that any company has, whether it is SAP, i2, CAPS, or Manugistics.
The last part is supplier or logistics or partner compliance. So it is the
measurement, the drive for Six Sigma, that we signed up for. We are
delivering all the process management through the companies and the
partners. That is our scope; that’s it.
Interestingly, while Toyota invested heavily in applying TPS within
each cross-dock in Transfreight, the American joint venture put each
new contract for different collections of parts up for bid to competi-
tive logistics companies that ran cross-docks. Transfreight owned the
cross-docks and ran each using a uniform set of management principles.
singke
(singke)
#1