Some companies might choose to utilize new employees in the shipping and receiving area, although they might be better served to assign pros to handle these demanding tasks. Experienced individuals who truly know and understand the products seldom mix objects that might look the same but are somewhat different and they know how to stock bins and shelves properly and therefore, work a lot more effectively.
The best suggestion for new employees is to start them out filling orders. This provides them with a great chance to know the products, clients and paperwork along with any electronic inventory system which may take some getting used to. Moreover, it is very easy to check their efficiency by going over their work orders once they are packed for shipment.
The next suggestion is to plan the truck arrival, since you really do not want all trucks to come at the same time. By being organized and planning arrivals, you will eliminate excessive 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 less dock doors you would need to operate which will really save you a lot of money on utilities in the long run.
If you can, operate different shifts for shipping and receiving. One method is to receive goods in one shift and separate the shipped items to another shift. Organizing yourself in this way can allow you to reduce the staging area requirements by 50 percent. You may also be able to eliminate time-wasting bottlenecks within the warehouse. In addition, by separating your shipping and receiving, you could keep track of orders more efficiently and would know which shift to look over if any discrepancies occur down the road.
If the unloading process is sped up, this would really help you out as the unloaded truck can congest your yard. Based on studies, about 60% of mass merchants can unload trucks in under 60 minutes, whilst roughly 20 to 30% of the grocery industry works at a similar standard. Take time to observe and time operations in order to see precisely how your facility measures up overall.
Maintain your floors since any defects in the floor's surface could cause a forklift operator to take a detour or slow down. The uneven floors could really decrease productivity. Uneven floors or deteriorating floor section seams or potholes also cause vehicle damage and wheel wear. In certain situations, really damaged floors can cause loads tipping and product damage.