Transshipment
Hub & Spoke Model
Transshipment is the shipment of goods or containers to an intermediate destination, then to another destination. There can be multiple reasons for transshipment, like:
- to change the means of transport during the journey (e.g., from ship transport to road transport), known as transloading. OR
- to combine small shipments into a large shipment (consolidation), OR the opposite:
- to divide a large shipment into smaller shipments (deconsolidation).
In this module, we are going to discuss:
- Transshipment using Hub & Spoke configuration,
- Benefits of using Hub & Spoke model
- How eRetail helps in Transshipment via central hub.
Hub & Spoke Model
Orders are raised to the mother warehouse which is a bigger warehouse by the small stores. Instead of directly sending these orders from mother warehouse to the destination, these B2B orders are always received at the Central hub. From this hub, the goods travel to smaller locations Or Dark Stores or Pods owned by the company called Spokes for further processing or distribution. This is also called Hub and Spoke configuration.
The central hub can receive material from:
- Mother warehouse
- Local supplier
- Other hubs
and it distributes the supplies to the dark stores/pods.
Benefits:
- Enables fast delivery as the deliveries can be planned from the dark stores with a provided route map.
- Simplified Shipping process as the pickup is happening at a designated central hub.
- Reduced logistical cost as the inventories are managed centrally not at dark stores which are inside the cities.
Process in eRetail
Pre-requisite: Mother Warehouse will share the import details either via mail/Common import in eRetail
Navigation: Admin>Imports>Common Import
Choose Import Type as “Transhipment” and import the data in the *.CSV format.
(In future, this data can be imported using API from the mother warehouse directly.)
The import will contain both original location and destination location along with other details like LPN (Box ID), Invoice No., Invoice Amount, LBH, weight, Address Information, Doc Order No., expected received date, expected shipped date etc.
Important Note: Customer Code should be created & saved in eRetail without which the eRetail system will not work.
A sample report is given below:
Steps of Transhipment Processing in eRetail
Step:1 In eRetail, the “Pending” screen will show the data that is expected to be “Received” at hub.
Let’s take an example of LPN ID – H7.
Step 2: After receiving the physical boxes, the Central Hub will scan these boxes. For marking these boxes received at the central hub, LPN, Doc. No. will be scanned.
The Box ID will move from “Pending” status to “Receiving” status.
User can also do “Reverse Receiving” in case the Box ID is not supposed to be received. This will make the LPN ID move from “Receiving Status” to the “Pending” status.
Step 3: QC is a mandatory step. Either Central hub can pass or reject the respective LPN after providing the reason for rejection from the dropdown box.
Step 4: Once QC is Passed, Manifest process can be initiated by scanning these Boxes with respect to the Pods location.
User can also do “Undo QC” to the Box ID in case of any issue. That will make the Box ID go back to the receiving stage and QC can be done again.
Step 5: Central hub generates the manifest, which includes the “transporter' information. At this stage, The LPNs are scanned before handover to transporter.
- Self-processed B2B orders and transhipment LPNs of the same customer can be combined at the Central Hub during manifest so that the items for the same customer can go with the same docket number.
Step6: Once you Confirm the manifest, Delivery Challan is created.
Step 7: User can download the delivery chalan in the required format.
All the dispatched data can be seen in the “Dispatched” screen.
In the “All” screen, user can see Document No and LPN ID details with their status.
