Accelerated logistics and reduced effort in logistics - thanks to Cross Docking. This modern logistics system is particularly effective for large orders and is currently being deployed very successfully at Metro Cash & Carry. 
Reaching Destinations Quickly
Logistics staff at spirits manufacturer Bacardi have to return to their desks from their lunch break earlier on Tuesdays, because Metro Cash & Carry’s omnibus order comes in at 1 pm sharp. The week’s demand of 60 German Cash & Carry stores for Bacardi drinks reaches the manufacturers order system and has to be dispatched as quickly as possible.
Bacardi dispatch staff put the goods on one-product pallets, which are only filled with one kind of product such as Bacardi Breezer Orange. These goods are then loaded onto trucks the next morning and driven to the central warehouse – METRO Group’s Cross Docking platform – in Unna. The warehouse in Varena is being operated the METRO cross-company METRO Group Logistics (MGL) since February 2006. Varena staff unload the goods and moves them to other pallets, which are destined for individual Cash & Carry stores. After a maximum of 24 hours the Bacardi shipment is dispatched to the stores from Unna.
Bacardi dispatch staff put the goods on one-product pallets, which are only filled with one kind of product such as Bacardi Breezer Orange. These goods are then loaded onto trucks the next morning and driven to the central warehouse – METRO Group’s Cross Docking platform – in Unna. The warehouse in Varena is being operated the METRO cross-company METRO Group Logistics (MGL) since February 2006. Varena staff unload the goods and moves them to other pallets, which are destined for individual Cash & Carry stores. After a maximum of 24 hours the Bacardi shipment is dispatched to the stores from Unna.
Logistics without Inventory
This logistics system does without any stock-keeping and is termed Cross Docking. The term itself alludes to an almost uninterrupted flow of goods from dispatch by the manufacturer to arriving at the recipient. Metro Cash & Carry has been operating the system since the mid nineties. The sales division is processing 20 percent of its goods orders with Cross Docking. METRO Group Logistics’ bases in Varena (Unna), Altlandsberg, Reichenbach, Gimbsheim, Essen and Sarstedt are hubs for German Cross Docking activities.
