Some companies may prefer to use new employees in the shipping and receiving area, though they may be better served to assign professionals to handle these challenging jobs. Experienced people who know and understand the products seldom mix items that may look the same but are quite different and they really know how to correctly stock bins and shelves and thus, work more effectively.
It is a good idea if you have new staff to start them out by filling orders. This provides them with an excellent chance to learn the products, customers and paperwork as well as 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.
As you do not want to have many trucks arriving at the same time, the next step is to schedule truck arrival. By scheduling arrivals and being organized, you will eliminate pressure on shippers and receivers and also eliminate too much waiting time in the yard. The more efficiently you could schedule the arrival of your trucks, the less dock doors you would have to operate that will really save you money on utilities in the long run.
Operate with different shifts for shipping and receiving. If you can, receive goods during one shift and separate your shipping to another shift. Organizing yourself in this way may enable you to lessen the staging area needs by 50%. You may also be able to get rid of time-wasting bottlenecks in the warehouse. Furthermore, by separating your shipping and receiving, you will know which shift to look over if any discrepancies happen down the road and could keep track of orders more efficiently.
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, about 60% of mass merchants are capable of unloading trucks in less than an hour, whilst about 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.
Floor maintenance is important since floor defects can cause forklift operators to slow down or take detours. This can result in a reduction of productivity. Potholes or uneven floors or deteriorating floor section seams also result in vehicle damage and wheel wear. In some cases, floors that are really damaged can cause product damage and loads tipping.