The Ford CDP (Consolidated Delivery Platform) is a platform designed around the existing concept of consolidated delivery. The CDP adapts Ford commercial vehicles to this new way of delivering, with a set of different assets.
As mentioned before, the CDP is a system that strives to seamlessly integrate the different components throughout the delivery chain. To allow the aforementioned flexibility and seamless transitions between links in the chain, the system relies upon two main components: the CDP modules which act as containers to unify the packages and the new vans that will act as mobile distribution centres.
An overview of two different distribution centres using the Ford CDP, visualising how the components of it fit together. The different sized modules are loaded with the packages before being attached to the van when ready to deliver. Not in scale.
As the name hints, consolidated delivery relies on bringing packages together (consolidation) for distribution in one go. Packages for a single address or multiple joint addresses have now to come together in the distribution centres and be shipped in flexible schedules, at the client's convenience.
This means new ways of sorting and distributing the packages inside the warehouses are needed, for volumes that suit effiecient delivery, as well as adaptability to different means of transportation. Transportation that is allowed access to new pedestrianized urban areas.
There are three different sized modules.
To ensure that the modules can easily be loaded onto vans and transition down the logistic chain, they are easy to attach and detach and load into whatever means of transport will be used for the last-mile, whether it is a pedestrian courier or a cargo bike. The CDP is designed for transitions on the go, with a signalling code that communicates to messengers which module they have to take and where to drop off the returns.