Even though there are many businesses who begin employees in the receiving area, they will be much better off to assign pro's to handle the put-away jobs. Qualified people who know and understand the products seldom mix items which might seem the same but are somewhat different and they know how to stock shelves and bins correctly and hence, work more effectively.
The best tip for new staff is to start them out filling orders. This provides them with a terrific chance to learn the products, paperwork and customers as well as any electronic inventory system that might take some getting used to. In addition, it is easy to check their efficiency by going over their work orders as soon as they are packed for shipment.
The next tip is to schedule the truck arrival, since you truly do not want all trucks to arrive at the same time. By scheduling arrivals and being organized, you would eliminate excessive waiting time in the yard and also eliminate pressure on shippers and receivers. The more effectively you could schedule the arrival of your trucks, the fewer dock doors you would need to operate which would truly save you a lot of money on utilities in the long run.
Operate with different shifts for shipping and receiving. If you can, receive goods in one shift and separate your shipping to a different shift. Organizing yourself in this manner could 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. As well, by separating your shipping and receiving, you can keep track of orders more effectively and would know which shift to look over if any discrepancies occur down the road.
If the unloading process is sped up, this would tremendously help you out as the unloaded truck can congest your yard. Based on studies, roughly 60 percent of mass merchants are capable of unloading trucks in less than 60 minutes, whereas about 20 to 30% of the grocery business performs at a similar standard. Make time to watch and time operations in order to see how your facility measures up overall.
Maintain your floors since any defects in the floor's surface could cause a forklift operator to take a detour or slow down. The uneven floors can greatly decrease productivity. Potholes or uneven floors or deteriorating floor section seams also lead to wheel wear and vehicle damage. In some situations, really damaged floors could result in loads tipping and product damage.