Some businesses may prefer to use new workers in the shipping and receiving area, although they may be better served to assign pros to handle these difficult tasks. Qualified people who know and understand the products rarely mix items which might seem the same but are quite different and they know how to correctly stock bins and shelves and hence, work a lot more effectively.
The best tip for new employees is to start them out filling orders. This provides them with an excellent opportunity to learn the products, clients and paperwork as well as any electronic inventory system that can take some getting used to. Moreover, it is very easy to check their effectiveness by going over their work orders when they are packed for delivery.
The next tip is to schedule the truck arrival, because you truly do not want all trucks to come at the same time. By being organized and planning arrivals, you would eliminate too much waiting time in the yard and also eliminate pressure on shippers and receivers. The more effectively you can plan the arrival of your trucks, the fewer dock doors you will need to work which would truly 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 manner may allow you to reduce the staging area needs by 50%. You may also be able to get rid of time-wasting bottlenecks in the warehouse. Furthermore, by separating your shipping and receiving, you could keep track of orders more effectively and would know which shift to look over if any discrepancies happen down the road.
If the unloading process is sped up, this would really help you out as the unloaded truck could congest your yard. Based on research, approximately 60 percent of mass merchants can unload trucks in under 60 minutes, whereas around 20 to 30% of the grocery industry works at a similar standard. Make time to observe and time operations to be able to see how your facility measures up overall.
Maintain your floors since any defects in the floor's surface can cause a lift truck operator to take a detour or slow down. The uneven floors can greatly decrease productivity. Uneven floors or deteriorating floor section seams or potholes also result in vehicle damage and wheel wear. In certain cases, really damaged floors can cause product damage and loads tipping.