Even though there are lots of businesses that start workers in the receiving area, they would be much better off to assign professionals to deal with the put-away jobs. Qualified individuals who understand and know the products seldom mix things which are similar in appearance but are quite different and they truly know how to stock shelves and bins properly and hence, work more effectively.
It is a great idea if you have new employees to start them out by filling orders. This provides them with a great chance to know the products, paperwork and customers along with any electronic inventory system that can take some getting used to. Furthermore, it is easy to check their efficiency by going over their work orders once they are packed for delivery.
The next tip is to schedule the truck arrival, as you truly do not want all trucks to come at the same time. By being organized and planning arrivals, you would eliminate pressure on shippers and receivers and also eliminate excessive waiting time in the yard. The more efficiently you can schedule the arrival of your trucks, the less dock doors you would have to work which will save you a lot of money on utilities in the long run.
If you can, work different shifts for shipping and receiving. One method is to receive products in one shift and separate the shipped items to another shift. Organizing yourself in this manner could allow you to lessen the staging area needs by 50 percent. You might also be able to eliminate time-wasting bottlenecks within the warehouse. Additionally, by separating your shipping and receiving, you could keep track of orders more effectively and will know which shift to look over if any discrepancies happen down the road.
If the process of unloading is sped up, this would tremendously help you out because the unloaded truck can congest your yard. According to 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 works at a similar standard. Take time to observe 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 could cause a lift truck operator to slow down or take a detour. The uneven floors can greatly reduce efficiency. Deteriorating floor section seams or uneven floors or potholes also cause wheel wear and vehicle damage. In some situations, really damaged floors can result in product damage and loads tipping.