Several businesses may choose to utilize new workers in the shipping and receiving area, though they might be better served to allocate professionals to handle these demanding tasks. Qualified individuals who understand and know the products rarely mix things that might look the same but are somewhat different and they really know how to correctly stock bins and shelves and therefore, work more effectively.
The best suggestion for new employees is to start them out filling orders. This provides them with an excellent chance to learn the products, paperwork and customers along with any electronic inventory system that can take some getting used to. Furthermore, it is really easy to check their effectiveness by going over their work orders when they are packed for delivery.
The next suggestion is to plan the truck arrival, because you truly do not want all trucks to arrive at the same time. By being organized and scheduling arrivals, you would eliminate excessive waiting time in the yard and also eliminate pressure on shippers and receivers. The more efficiently you can plan the arrival of your trucks, the less dock doors you will have to work that will truly save you money on utilities in the long run.
Work with different shifts for shipping and receiving. If you are able to, receive goods during one shift and separate your shipping to another shift. Organizing yourself in this manner could allow you to reduce the staging area requirements by 50 percent. You may also be able to eliminate time-wasting bottlenecks in the warehouse. Additionally, by separating your shipping and receiving, you would know which shift to look over if any discrepancies occur down the road and could keep track of orders more effectively.
If the process of unloading is sped up, this would tremendously help you out as the unloaded truck can congest your yard. According to studies, approximately 60% of mass merchants could unload trucks in less than 60 minutes, whilst around 20 to 30% of the grocery industry works at a similar standard. Make time to watch and time operations to be able to see how your facility measures up overall.
Maintain your floors as any defects in the surface of the floor can cause a forklift operator to take a detour or slow down. The uneven floors can really reduce efficiency. Potholes or deteriorating floor section seams or uneven floors also lead to wheel wear and vehicle damage. In some cases, floors which are really damaged can lead to loads tipping and product damage.