Even if there are a lot of businesses that begin workers in the receiving area, they will be a lot better off to assign professionals to deal with the put-away tasks. Qualified individuals who know and understand the products rarely mix objects that may look the same but are quite different and they really know how to properly stock bins and shelves and therefore, work much more effectively.
It is a good idea if you have new employees to start them out by filling orders. This provides them with a terrific chance to learn the products, paperwork and customers as well as any electronic inventory system which may take some getting used to. Moreover, it is easy to check their efficiency by going over their work orders once they are packed for delivery.
The next suggestion is to schedule the truck arrival, since you truly do not want all trucks to come 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 efficiently you could schedule the arrival of your trucks, the fewer dock doors you will have to operate which would truly save you money on utilities in the long run.
Operate with different shifts for shipping and receiving. If you can, receive products in one shift and separate your shipping to another shift. Organizing yourself in this manner may enable you to lessen the staging area needs by 50%. You may also be able to eliminate time-wasting bottlenecks within the warehouse. Moreover, by separating your shipping and receiving, you can keep track of orders more effectively and will know which shift to look over if any discrepancies occur down the road.
Speed up the process of unloading. This will really help you out as the longer a truck sits at your door for loading or unloading, the more congested your yard could become. Based on research, roughly 60% of mass merchants are capable of unloading trucks in less than 60 minutes, whilst approximately 20 to 30% of the grocery business performs at a similar standard. Take time to watch and time operations in order to see how your facility measures up overall.
Floor maintenance is key since floor defects could cause forklift operators to slow down or take detours. This could result in a reduction of efficiency. Potholes or uneven floors or deteriorating floor section seams also result in wheel wear and vehicle damage. In some situations, really damaged floors could result in loads tipping and product damage.