Cross-docking: increasing platform efficiency by sequencing incoming and outgoing semi-trailers

摘要

Cross-docking involves use of a transhipment platform to consolidate incoming products for outgoing destinations. Research in cross-docking mostly studies the cross-dock network (platform location) and the platform design (door locations). In this study, we consider a platform's internal operation and we focus on the direct flow of products from receiving to shipping doors. This flow can be improved by the synchronisation of incoming and outgoing semi-trailers. Two methods - dynamic programming and a heuristic approach integrated with a stochastic evolutionary algorithm - are proposed as a resolution approach for this problem.