Even if there are lots of companies that begin workers in the receiving area, they would be a lot better off to assign professionals to deal with the put-away jobs. Experienced individuals who truly understand and know the products seldom mix items which are similar in appearance but are somewhat different and they know how to stock shelves and bins properly and thus, work more efficiently.
The best tip for new employees is to start them out filling orders. This provides them with an excellent opportunity to know the products, clients and paperwork along with any electronic inventory system which could take some getting used to. Moreover, it is really easy to check their effectiveness by going over their work orders as soon as they are packed for delivery.
Since you do not want to have a lot of trucks arriving at the same time, the next step is to schedule truck arrival. 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 plan the arrival of your trucks, the less dock doors you will need to work which will truly 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 during one shift and separate the shipped items to a different shift. Organizing yourself in this manner may allow you to reduce the staging area needs by 50 percent. You might also be able to eliminate time-wasting bottlenecks within the warehouse. Also, by separating your shipping and receiving, you could keep track of orders more efficiently and will know which shift to look over if any discrepancies occur down the road.
If the process of unloading is sped up, this will really help you out as the unloaded truck can congest your yard. Based on research, around 60 percent of mass merchants are capable of unloading trucks in less than an hour, whereas roughly 20 to 30% of the grocery business performs at a similar standard. Take time to observe and time operations to be able to see precisely how your facility measures up overall.
Maintain your floors as any defects in the floor's surface can cause a lift truck operator to take a detour or slow down. The uneven floors can greatly reduce efficiency. Potholes or deteriorating floor section seams or uneven floors also result in wheel wear and vehicle damage. In certain cases, floors that are really damaged can lead to loads tipping and product damage.