Plant dock appointments

A plant arrival needs a reservation the receiving team can honor. The Dispatcher records the plant, dock and appointment time against the load, along with planned pallets and the dock capacity used for review. The Dock Reviewer decides whether that reservation can proceed. The appointment keeps its own progress, from Draft through Submitted to an Approved or Rejected decision, and eventually Completed when the dock work has occurred.

The Dock approval inbox brings submitted reservations to the reviewer with their load and revision. This keeps the decision focused on the actual request. A reservation approved for a smaller pallet quantity needs attention when the load changes; the team should compare the revised request with the capacity basis before relying on the earlier decision.

• Prepare the reservation. The Dispatcher selects the parent load and organization, identifies the plant and dock, and enters the appointment time. Planned pallets and the capacity note explain the request in terms the receiving team can check.
• Request the review. Submission moves the appointment into the review queue. A submission receipt records that handoff. The Dispatcher can use the receipt when tracing an interrupted submission without changing the appointment merely to produce another acknowledgement.
• Decide independently. The Dock Reviewer compares the request with the published dock capacity and records the decision, its time and the reviewed revision. Approval confirms the appointment; the Dispatcher still controls the load’s separate departure and progress.

Agree who supplies dock capacity and how it is interpreted for each reservation. The team must know whether a capacity value refers to a handling limit or an agreed operating allowance at that appointment. Record the explanation in the capacity note so the reviewer can resolve an unusual request with the plant contact.

Choose consistent plant and dock names and confirm the time convention with both plants. Name the Dock Reviewer and the person covering absences. Review should remain independent from the Dispatcher who submitted the request. Agree how a rejected request is corrected and presented again, preserving the earlier reason and the revision used for each decision.

Use an inbound component load with 18 planned pallets and a dock capacity of 16 pallets. The Dispatcher submits the reservation with the plant’s capacity note. The Dock Reviewer rejects the request and records the reason. The team arranges a suitable dock and prepares the revised appointment for another review. Increasing the recorded capacity without confirmation from the plant would leave the reviewer with an unreliable basis.

Repeat the rehearsal with a reservation that fits its confirmed capacity. Inspect the decision time, review record and operation receipt. Then inspect the load: approval should have left its transport status alone. Complete the appointment only after the dock activity happens, keeping the departure, delivery and dock outcomes understandable to the next shift.

• Dock approval inbox — Submitted appointments with planned pallets, dock capacity and the revision awaiting a decision.
• Plant appointment register — Drafts, reviewed reservations and completed dock visits linked to their loads.

Rehearse dock appointment review and follow its load through dispatch.