At the cross dock, this need for speed represents a troubling conundrum for supply chain managers dedicated to ensuring the perfect order.

While trucks pulling up to a cross dock are assuredly more controlled, it's easy for mishaps to occur as multiple trucks arrive to unload and load their respective orders, often dispersing orders from one truck onto several different trucks. This is particularly true when you consider that today's companies increasingly must rely on outsourced transportation and delivery services from third party logistics providers to ensure items arrive as promised. Add in traditional paper-based tracking and inventory systems that must be handed off to multiple "owners," and companies are experiencing greater room for errors and greater challenges in identifying, backtracking, and rectifying those errors.

Still, it's up to companies to ensure the customer experience. That means ensuring transparency before, at and after the cross dock. One of the best ways to ensure that transparency is to have a common tracking system used by logistics personnel throughout the delivery process. Regardless of size, location, or product, every organization can benefit from an electronic proof of delivery system that connects companies and 3PLs, eliminating the waste and inaccuracies associated with paper tracking and streamlining delivery.

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