Cross dock scheduling: Classification, literature review and research agenda

At cross docking terminals incoming deliveries of inbound trucks are unloaded, sorted, moved across the dock and finally loaded onto outbound trucks, which immediately leave the terminal towards their next destination in the distribution chain. Accordingly, a cross dock is a consolidation point in a distribution network, where multiple smaller shipments can be merged to full truck loads in order to realize economies in transportation. In this context, the truck scheduling problem, which decides on the succession of truck processing at the dock doors, is especially important to ensure a rapid turnover and on-time deliveries. Due to its high real-world significance, several truck scheduling procedures have been introduced during recent years, which all treat specific cross dock settings. In order to structure and promote scientific progress, this paper introduces a classification of deterministic truck scheduling. With the help of this classification, existing literature is reviewed and future research needs are identified. Moreover, we represent a yet unexplored class of truck scheduling problems which is highly relevant in real-world distribution networks.