Even if there are many businesses who start workers in the receiving area, they would be a lot better off to allot pro's to handle the put-away jobs. Experienced individuals who know and understand the products seldom mix things which might seem the same but are quite different and they really know how to correctly stock bins and shelves and therefore, work a lot more efficiently.
The best tip for new employees is to start them out filling orders. This provides them with a great opportunity to learn the products, clients and paperwork along with any electronic inventory system which could take some getting used to. Furthermore, 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 plan the truck arrival, since you really 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 receivers and shippers. The more efficiently you can schedule the arrival of your trucks, the fewer dock doors you will have to operate that would truly save you a lot of money on utilities in the long run.
If you are able to, operate different shifts for shipping and receiving. One method is to receive products during one shift and separate the shipped products to a different shift. Organizing yourself in this way may allow you to reduce the staging area needs by 50%. You might also be able to get rid of time-wasting bottlenecks within the warehouse. What's more, 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 tremendously help you out as the unloaded truck could congest your yard. Based on research, approximately 60 percent of mass merchants are capable of unloading trucks in less than an hour, while roughly 20 to 30% of the grocery industry performs at a similar standard. Make time to watch and time operations to be able to see how your facility measures up overall.
Maintain your floors because 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 production. Potholes or deteriorating floor section seams or uneven floors also result in vehicle damage and wheel wear. In certain cases, floors which are really damaged can lead to product damage and loads tipping.