Stop sizing your staffing for the worst hour. Carriers book their own slots, the flow levels out, and arrivals are handled with digital check-in, queueing and SMS call-up instead of a crowd at the desk.
Four patterns that cost money at almost every warehouse and distribution center without time slot booking.
Trucks bunch up in the morning, the docks stand empty in the afternoon. Staffing has to handle the peak; the rest of the day you pay for overcapacity.
Supervisors spend hours every week answering calls, confirming emails and chasing changes. The knowledge of the flow lives in people's heads, not in a system.
Queuing trucks fill the yard, drivers without a shared language look for staff to get answers, and the waiting shows up as detention claims and tougher contract talks.
Which carrier arrives on time? Who disrupts the flow? Without bookings there is nothing planned to compare against, and you negotiate on gut feeling.
Two products in one system: Flow Management controls the booking and the flow, Arrival Management handles the arrival, from check-in to done.
You define loading docks, opening hours, capacity and durations per job type. Carriers book in an easy portal that cannot book wrong: right dock, right time, no overbooking.
With arrivals spread across the day, staffing can be planned for the real volume. The schedule shows the whole day per dock, and recurring deliveries are entered once.
The driver checks in on a tablet or computer in your reception area: booking, reference code and mobile number are verified, and your safety rules are shown and accepted with a documented record, all AI-translated into the driver's language. Reception stops interpreting, and you always know who is on site.
After check-in the driver waits in the cab instead of at the desk. Staff see the queue in real time and call the next truck in by SMS when a dock is free, with restrictions so the right truck ends up at the right dock. The status flow, arrived, at dock, done, is logged automatically.
Planned is compared with actual: punctuality per carrier, waiting times, time at dock. When contracts come up for renewal you bring numbers instead of recollections.
The same system, rules and follow-up across several facilities, including different countries and time zones. Dockai runs today at warehouses in Sweden and factories across Europe.
A level flow instead of sizing for the worst hour. Existing customers report up to 20% lower staffing needs.
Every arrival, wait and deviation is logged per carrier and booking.
Carriers book for themselves. The hours of email and phone are freed up.
Yes. Unbooked arrivals are handled at check-in and slotted in where the schedule has gaps. Over time the booked share tends to grow by itself, because booked trucks are handled faster.
No. Start with the biggest flows: a handful of carriers often account for most arrivals. The rest can be phased in as the routine settles.
Dockai controls the meeting between carrier and loading dock; your WMS controls what happens inside the warehouse. The systems complement each other and can be connected via API whenever you want, but Dockai delivers full value standalone. Read more in the dock scheduling guide.
Book a 30-minute demo, using your volumes and loading docks as the starting point.
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