Even though there are numerous businesses that start employees in the receiving area, they will be a lot better off to assign professionals to deal with the put-away tasks. Qualified individuals who really know and understand the products seldom mix objects that are similar in appearance but are quite different and they truly know how to stock shelves and bins properly and hence, work a lot more effectively.
The best tip for new staff is to start them out filling orders. This provides them with an excellent opportunity to learn the products, customers and paperwork as well as any electronic inventory system which could take some getting used to. In addition, it is easy to check their effectiveness by going over their work orders as soon as they are packed for shipment.
The next tip is to schedule the truck arrival, because you truly do not want all trucks to arrive at the same time. By scheduling arrivals and being organized, you will eliminate pressure on receivers and shippers and also eliminate excessive waiting time in the yard. The more effectively you could plan the arrival of your trucks, the less dock doors you would have to operate that would save you money on utilities in the long run.
Work with different shifts for shipping and receiving. If you can, receive products during one shift and separate your shipping to another shift. Organizing yourself in this way can allow you to reduce the staging area requirements by 50 percent. You may also be able to get rid of time-wasting bottlenecks in the warehouse. Additionally, by separating your shipping and receiving, you will know which shift to look over if any discrepancies occur down the road and can keep track of orders more efficiently.
If the unloading process is sped up, this will really help you out as the unloaded truck can congest your yard. Based on research, approximately 60 percent of mass merchants could unload trucks in under 60 minutes, whilst about 20 to 30% of the grocery business works at a similar standard. Make time to watch and time operations in order to see how your facility measures up overall.
Maintain your floors because any defects in the floor's surface can cause a lift truck operator to slow down or take a detour. The uneven floors could really reduce productivity. Potholes or deteriorating floor section seams or uneven floors also result in wheel wear and vehicle damage. In some situations, floors which are really damaged could lead to product damage and loads tipping.