Several companies may choose to utilize new employees in the shipping and receiving area, though they may be better served to allocate professionals to deal with these demanding jobs. Experienced people who truly know and understand the products seldom mix items that may look the same but are quite different and they really know how to stock bins and shelves properly and thus, work more efficiently.
The best tip for new employees is to start them out filling orders. This provides them with a terrific opportunity to learn the products, paperwork and clients along with any electronic inventory system that might take some getting used to. Furthermore, it is very easy to check their effectiveness by going over their work orders once they are packed for delivery.
The next tip is to plan the truck arrival, as you truly do not want all trucks to come at the same time. By planning arrivals and being organized, you would eliminate too much waiting time in the yard and also eliminate pressure on receivers and shippers. The more efficiently you could schedule the arrival of your trucks, the less dock doors you would have to operate that would really save you a lot of money on utilities in the long run.
If you are able to, work different shifts for shipping and receiving. One method is to receive products in one shift and separate the shipped products to a different shift. Organizing yourself in this manner could allow you to lessen the staging area needs by 50%. You might also be able to eliminate time-wasting bottlenecks within the warehouse. In addition, by separating your shipping and receiving, you can keep track of orders more efficiently and will know which shift to look over if any discrepancies happen down the road.
Speed up the process of unloading. This would really help you out since the longer a truck sits at your door for loading or unloading, the more congested your yard could become. According to research, about 60 percent of mass merchants could unload trucks in less than 60 minutes, whereas approximately 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.
Maintain your floors since any defects in the surface of the floor could cause a lift truck operator to slow down or take a detour. The uneven floors could greatly reduce efficiency. Deteriorating floor section seams or uneven floors or potholes also result in vehicle damage and wheel wear. In some cases, floors that are really damaged could result in product damage and loads tipping.