Dock Scheduler Helps Warehouse Workers Stay Safe
Managing loading dock traffic with old-fashioned spread sheets, whiteboards and paper schedules can lead to overlapping arrivals. Instead, use a tool that enables you to book dock appointments in real time, reduce congestion at the dock doors, and help keep everyone safe, on schedule and efficient.
The loading dock is both important and vulnerable, since dock workers must interact with truck drivers and their cargo during both inbound and outbound warehouse activities. Instead of having drivers show up to your facility and wait around, by planning and managing appointments, staff, and loading bays you can eliminate problems related to resource availability and overbooking.
The days of attempting to maintain appointments and schedules via an office white board are over! Add a large TV monitor to display a full graphical dashboard of all the scheduled carrier and customer appointments for easy viewing by your entire team.
Connected with your warehouse management software (WMS), a dock door management app can easily reschedule appointments, change dock door assignments, and have notifications sent automatically with any updates.
Dock door schedulers are also powerful data tools that let you easily search, filter and generate reports, including full audit trails of schedule compliance. By integrating it with, for example, Cadence WMS Receiving and Shipping, the dock scheduler becomes a seamless part of your warehouse operation.
Convenience and Real-Time Visibility for Dock Door Management
Warehouse Managers and CSRs use the Cadence Dock Scheduler module to manage inbound and outbound shipments. The software allows users to identify when doors will be blocked for maintenance or other activities too, so they won’t be scheduled for use.
Connect your company warehouse calendar and the module will ensure that all appointments and activities are scheduled at valid times. This feature automatically takes into consideration your operating hours, holiday schedule, lunch and break schedules, etc. Conflicts are quickly identified via an intuitive graphical user interface.
Integrating the Dock Scheduler module with the Cadence Customer portal (Web Access) allows you to further tailor all aspects of the system, including security and messages. And, since it’s fully integrated, there’s no need to re-enter data into the Cadence WMS system. Any changes are reflected real-time in the Cadence WMS, so mobile workers always have the latest information on their scheduled inbound or outbound activities.
Quick lookups into the status of any appointment, inbound receiving, and outbound shipping activities are available on-line, reducing the need to run reports for this information. Reporting is, of course, also included and can be helpful to audit carrier compliance with scheduled appointment times, changes to schedules, etc.
Ready for a clear and organized dock schedule? Assigning dock doors in advance and providing real-time updates will keep things organized while reducing the need for person-to-person interactions. Having up-to-date information accessible from any location or device enables your shipping and receiving operation to meet the latest recommended procedures for driver check-ins and dock worker safety. During this uncertain time, there is nothing more important than all of us working together to minimize physical contact and to limit the transmission of the novel COVID-19 virus.
If you would like more information on the Dock Scheduler module, or other Cadence WMS features from Cadre Technologies to help you operate safely and more efficiently, please contact us. We’re here to help.
