Hub
A hub is a central point for handling shipments in a given area, the operation of which is essential to the operation of a transportation company. Most companies design hubs to provide faster distribution and reduced wait times for the end customer, employing hundreds of skilled workers. Interestingly, a hub is also the pick-up and drop-off point for most different courier companies.
What is a transport hub?
A transport hub usually takes the form of a warehouse or a free-standing building with appropriate infrastructure to ensure that vans and trucks can freely enter the area. For this reason, most courier companies erect their hubs outside of large cities, mainly due to the much higher costs associated with the acquisition of a large area of land. A characteristic feature of hubs is their functionality.
In hubs, a number of processes are performed to further handle parcels in a given area. They include, among other things, parcel collection and sorting, which takes by far the most time for employees. During sorting, parcels and letters are redirected to subsequent locations. In transport hubs, transshipment also takes place, usually from large trucks to smaller delivery vehicles, as well as distribution of goods, i.e. their delivery to the recipient at the destination. In practice, a hub is one of the most important facilities in every courier company, which influences the speed of delivery of parcels and their correct sorting, as well as avoiding costly returns and mistakes connected with forwarding a parcel to the wrong hub.
Why is a transport hub so important in logistics?
A correctly designed and located transport hub has a decisive impact on the operation of the entire transport company, which is why it is one of the most important facilities in any company. Forwarding companies try to employ transport economists and engineers when arranging the point, who will be able to adjust the efficiency and effectiveness of the facility to the company's expectations. Some transport companies have smaller and others much larger requirements, as they have to distribute thousands of parcels every day, without delays, downtime or errors.
The existence of a hub is fundamental to the speed of delivery to the recipient, which is why every hub is located in a place that provides easy communication with nearby towns and villages. Incorrect location of this facility can cause not only long delays in terms of sorting shipments, but also increases the cost of operations in a very significant way. Longer commutes mean that the delivery courier has to spend much more time getting to the destination, which means less time delivering the parcels themselves. When designing a hub, knowledge of the nearby area is also essential, as there are usually hundreds of trucks commuting to this location every day. Hub and Spoke is a modern transport model involving a single hub and several feeder lines known in the industry vocabulary as spokes.
Is a hub required?
A transport hub is not a legally required facility, however it is a location that greatly facilitates the sorting of shipments and their further distribution. Until recently the majority of transport companies had one hub for many square kilometres of their area of operation, however, now every company providing logistic services has hundreds of smaller and bigger hubs, which significantly accelerate all processes connected with further handling of each shipment. It's worth putting in the effort to design the hub as expected in order to create an efficient delivery network. What is more, the correct location of a hub also has an impact on customer satisfaction, and thus also on further development opportunities of a transport company.
- Read also in polish - HUB
- also read in German - Knotenpunkt
- also read in Czech - Středisko
- also read in Slovak - Stredisko
- also read in Romanian - Hub