Even if there are a lot of businesses who start employees in the receiving area, they will be a lot better off to assign pro's to handle the put-away tasks. Experienced people who really understand and know the products seldom mix objects which are similar in appearance but are quite different and they really know how to stock shelves and bins correctly and therefore, work more efficiently.
It is a great idea if you have new staff to start them out by filling orders. This provides them with an excellent opportunity to know the products, clients and paperwork as well as any electronic inventory system that may take some getting used to. In addition, it is really easy to check their efficiency by going over their work orders when they are packed for delivery.
The next suggestion is to schedule the truck arrival, as you truly do not want all trucks to come at the same time. By being organized and scheduling arrivals, you will eliminate too much waiting time in the yard and also eliminate pressure on shippers and receivers. The more efficiently you can schedule the arrival of your trucks, the less dock doors you would have to work which will really save you money on utilities in the long run.
If you can, operate different shifts for shipping and receiving. One method is to receive products in one shift and separate the shipped products to another shift. Organizing yourself in this way may allow you to reduce the staging area requirements by 50 percent. You might also be able to get rid of time-wasting bottlenecks in the warehouse. Additionally, 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.
If the unloading process is sped up, this would really help you out since the unloaded truck can congest your yard. Based on research, approximately 60% of mass merchants are capable of unloading trucks in less than an hour, while around 20 to 30% of the grocery business works at a similar standard. Take time to observe and time operations in order to see how your facility measures up overall.
Maintain your floors as any defects in the surface of the floor can cause a forklift operator to take a detour or slow down. The uneven floors can greatly decrease efficiency. Deteriorating floor section seams or uneven floors or potholes also cause vehicle damage and wheel wear. In some situations, floors which are really damaged can lead to product damage and loads tipping.