Cross-docking, Production Orders, Batch Management, Reports, Handling Units, Gatehouse, Weighbridge
🆕 Improvements & New Functionalities
🌐 Web Application
⚠️ NEW CROSS-DOCKING FUNCTIONALITY
The Cross-Docking functionality has been developed, allowing product volumes to be sent to a destination through intermediate warehouses — significantly optimizing intercompany logistics.
This functionality is especially useful in situations where it is possible to take advantage of routes and vehicles that are already scheduled, avoiding the need to book dedicated transport for each shipment.
Practical example:
In a business group with several factories, a unit located in Albufeira (factory A) places an order with another factory in the same group, located in Figueira da Foz (factory D). The order includes 3 pallets of empty trays.
It would not be efficient to reserve a vehicle only to transport these pallets directly from Figueira da Foz to Albufeira. By using cross-docking, the goods can be routed in several stages, taking advantage of routes and vehicles that are already planned.
For example, the load can pass through one of the group’s factories in Caldas da Rainha (factory B), then through another in Setúbal (factory C), and only then continue to the Albufeira factory — all integrated into the existing logistics operation.
This scenario would be handled in BRAINR with the following operations:
Factory A: Normal Shipping
Factory B: Cross-docking (Reception and Shipping)
Factory C: Cross-docking (Reception and Shipping)
Factory D: Normal Purchase Reception
Although this type of chain logistics was already technically possible through normal receptions and shipments, the new cross-docking functionality makes the process much simpler in BRAINR.
Main operational differences in the centers where cross-docking takes place:
Reception: quality control is not required.
Shipping: there is no preparation; only direct picking of the volumes to the vehicle.
Visibility: users in cross-docking reception/shipping centers do not have visibility over the contents of the volumes, either on the scanner or on the label. In the picking interface, the reference shown will be something generic such as "Cross-docking Material".
Improvements have been made to the Batch Management functionality, where:
users can now deactivate product batches in bulk, and inactive batches are excluded from document generation. Users can reactivate them if necessary, but one by one;
The possibility of having duplicate batch numbers for the same product, as happened previously, has also been removed.
Several improvements have been implemented in the Production Orders applications to provide users with greater visibility and control. It is now possible to:
On list pages, search production orders by line types (example: labeling)
On production order detail pages, see which related production order exists — if any
Also on production order detail pages, in the Products tab, the table shows: i) whether it is a co-product or product; ii) if it originated from planning, the planning number is displayed; iii) and consumed materials.
Visual improvements have been made to all BRAINR reports so that they are more personalized for each customer, making the working experience in BRAINR even more pleasant.
📱 Mobile
In the Shipping applications, the user experience in handling unit classification tasks has been improved: i) when selecting the "unclassified handling units" option, the user first sees a list of handling unit types; ii) when choosing a specific type, only the handling units in that category are shown. Users can therefore classify handling units in a more organized and efficient way. Previously, users saw all existing handling units without organization by category, making the process more time-consuming.
🪩 Back-Office
A new functionality has also been implemented that allows centers to perform receptions and shipments with or without a gatehouse; with or without a weighbridge — through simple back-office configurations. For centers that already operated with a gatehouse and weighbridge, no changes are required, as the configurations remain enabled by default. In cases where there is no gatehouse and/or weighbridge, configuration is required.