Reducing Labor Costs in an LTL Crossdocking Terminal

John J. Bartholdi () and Kevin R. Gue ()
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John J. Bartholdi: School of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332
Kevin R. Gue: Department of Systems Management, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California 93943

Operations Research, 2000, vol. 48, issue 6, 823-832

Abstract: Handling freight in a crossdocking terminal is labor intensive and therefore costly because workers must unload, sort, and transfer a wide variety of freight from incoming to outgoing trailers. The efficiency of workers depends in large part on how trailers are assigned to doors around the dock; that is, on its layout. A good layout reduces travel distances without creating congestion, but until now no tools have been available to construct such layouts. We describe models of travel cost and three types of congestion typically experienced in crossdocking terminals, and we use them to construct layouts that minimize the labor cost of transferring freight. We report on the use of our models in the less-than-truckload trucking industry, including an implementation at a terminal in Stockton, California that improved productivity by more than 11%.

Keywords: Material handling: freight terminals; congestion; layout; Facilities; design: layout of freight terminals; congestion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2000
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (32)

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