MILLER MOVING AHEAD ON CROSS-DOCKING

JOHN KAROLEFSKI

TAMPA, Fla. -- Miller Brewing Co. is using cross-docking to deliver a better beer. The Milwaukee-based brewer relies on this trendy technique in logistics to provide "optimum product freshness" and reduce product damage.

For promotions and everyday business, more brand marketers like Miller are using this flow-through replenishment technique to get product on the retailer's shelves and in the consumer's hands more efficiently. Chet Willey, senior planning engineer, described Miller's program at a cross-docking conference here sponsored by The Marketing Institute, a division of the Institute for International Research, New York. "Miller's definition of cross-docking," he said, "is the direct transfer of product from a palletizer to an active order."

This transfer, he added, can be from the palletizer to one of three places: into a truck, to a stretch-wrapper and then into the truck, or to a railcar staging area. As well as helping to enhance product quality, Willey said, cross-docking reduces warehouse space, minimizes moves per pallet and enables Miller to ship products rather than store them.

To improve its cross-docking operation, Miller plans to install in-line stretch-wrappers and start full-pallet conveyance from palletizers to the loading area. Willey described the three parts of Miller's cross-docking: (1) the truck arrives at the dock needing products for order; (2) the computerized Finished Goods System checks the palletizer for product availability; (3) the system directs the forklift drivers at the palletizer to a cross-dock location or to storage.

Among the keys to success in cross-docking, Willey listed providing training and tools to dispatchers, and minimizing changes to production and carrier scheduled arrival times. One challenge for cross-dockers, according to Willey, is shorter production runs because of more brands. Another is increasing stockkeeping units on each order. "This is where cross-docking doesn't work well," he said.