Q: Who are the intended users of DOCKsim?
The intended users of DOCKsim include everyone interested in significantly improving operations of a Distribution Center.
Q: How long does it take to train new DOCKsim users?
Typically users can be trained to become proficient with DOCKsim in less than one full day. DOCKsim provides a graphical user interface that has been designed to facilitate "what-if" scenario creation and many ease-of-use features such as tooltips, navigational aids, and shortcuts have been included to help users that are not familiar with the software. In addition, the user interface has been developed with a consistent look and feel throughout.
Q: What outputs are produced by DOCKsim?
DOCKsim provides the following output to users:
These graphs illustrate the times that all loads reach specific milestones while being processed at the DC. Bottlenecks are readily identified by these graphs.
These graphs illustrate utilization of each DC resource over time in order to give users a picture of resources that are constrained or that are being under-utilized. These graphs help users identify expensive capital equipment that may be unnecessary, or identify when a capital purchase is justified to improve throughput.
These graphs illustrate how many trucks are turned-around over time. They portray the overall DC's throughput capability given the user's custom defined scenario.
Reports
This report provides a detailed view of all DC resources, including number of items processed, minimum/average/maximum number of items queued waiting for processing, minimum/average/maximum amount of time that items needed to wait, etc.
This report lists all the processing steps and the time and cost expended for each process. This report clearly illustrates where money is being lost in operations.
This report lists all trucks processed over time at the DC, including detailed milestones for each load.
Q: Can I integrate data from DOCKsim easily with my existing software tools?
Yes. Data interoperability is a definite strength of DOCKsim and has been developed from day one with this in mind. DOCKsim stores all scenario input and scenario output data in XML, an open-standards based format that allows for easy data interchange between software tools. In addition, graphs, reports, and charts output from DOCKsim can be easily incorporated into PDF, Word, and PowerPoint.