The 17th September 2001 the distributor Schenker started to cooperate with the computer
systems manufacturer Dell to deliver Dell?s products to the Nordic market. In the beginning
of a new cooperation new processes are formed and they are often developed to solve the
local, immediate problems without considering the overall picture.
In the distribution network from Dell?s plants in Ireland and Holland to the Nordic customers,
the cross-docking centre in Copenhagen is a central part as a hub in the network. Almost all
boxes are distributed through this hub in order to be sorted to one of the nine split point
destinations located in Norway, Denmark, Sweden or Finland.
In order to improve the packet hand ling and the effectiveness at the cross docking centre in
Copenhagen different scenarios have been developed with the simulation tool AutoMod1
within the boundaries of this master thesis. On the basis of the simulation models various
changes and how they affect the flow have been studied in order to find a packet handling that
improves the effectiveness at the cross-docking centre.
Eight different models have been studied. One original model that shows how the material
flow is working today, three basic models that include one alteration each in comparison to
the original model and four models that include all possible combinations of the basic models.
Today the cross-docking process is divided in three sub processes, one for each of the box
sizes; small, medium and large. Only the medium sized boxes can use the sorting conveyor
while the small and large boxes are scanned, sorted and transported manually. The basic
models are:
Ø The Värnamo model, which, via an extra conveyor, enables a faster cross-docking of
the boxes that are going to the split-point in Värnamo, Sweden.
Ø The Single Process model, where all boxes are sorted by the conveyor.
Ø The RFID2 model, where all scanning of the boxes is made automatically.
The flow of Dell?s computers from Ireland to the Nordic market has been studied but only the
cross-docking centre in Copenhagen has been modelled in Automod. That means that the
manufacturing sites and the transport ways have not been included in the model. The different
models? cross-docking time and need of resources have been compared, but no thorough
comparisons between the costs of the different packet handling strategies have been made.
The Original model is somewhat optimized to the basic conditions that are equal for all the
models. Therefore the original model handles the competition from the other models well in
terms of cross-docking time. On the other hand several of the new models require less
resources and by that holds potential to enhance their performance.
In a short-term point of vie w it is realistic to implement the Single Process model if it is
possible to increase the velocity of the conveyor and do a complete identification of the new
bottlenecks that will arise. The model uses four resources less tha n the original model but
gives a longer cross-docking time due to that only one truck is unloaded at a time. A great
advantage by loading all boxes on the conveyor is that the cross-docking process is equal for
all box sizes.
1 See Section 3.1.2 for a presentation of the software Automod
2 Radio Frequency Identification.
The RFID model has the best performance of all simulation models and uses five resources
less than the original model. Today the technology for RFID is too expensive and the
performance is not good enough, but when the day comes that the price and performance on
RFID is at a realistic level, the organisation and the technologies should be prepared for the
RFID technology.
In a long-term point of view the RFID-Single Process combination is the future for the crossdocking
centre. One process for all box sizes and automatic radio frequency scanning ensures
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