Some companies may prefer to utilize new workers in the shipping and receiving area, although they may be better served to assign professionals to handle these difficult tasks. Experienced individuals who understand and know the products seldom mix objects that are similar in appearance but are somewhat different and they truly know how to correctly stock bins and shelves and therefore, work a lot more efficiently.
It is a good idea if you have new employees to start them out by filling orders. This provides them with a terrific opportunity to know the products, paperwork and customers along with any electronic inventory system which may take some getting used to. In addition, it is easy to check their effectiveness by going over their work orders once they are packed for delivery.
Since you do not want to have many trucks arriving at the same time, the next step is to plan truck arrival. 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 fewer dock doors you will need to operate which would save you a lot of 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 manner could allow you to lessen the staging area needs by 50%. You may also be able to get rid of time-wasting bottlenecks within the warehouse. Furthermore, by separating your shipping and receiving, you would 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 because the unloaded truck could congest your yard. According to research, approximately 60% of mass merchants are capable of unloading trucks in under an hour, whilst around 20 to 30 percent of the grocery industry performs at a similar standard. Make time to observe and time operations to be able to see how your facility measures up overall.
Floor maintenance is key since floor defects can cause lift truck operators to take detours or slow down. This may result in a reduction of efficiency. Uneven floors or deteriorating floor section seams or potholes also result in wheel wear and vehicle damage. In certain situations, floors that are really damaged can result in loads tipping and product damage.