Some companies may prefer to utilize new employees in the shipping and receiving area, though they might be better served to assign professionals to deal with these challenging jobs. Experienced people who understand and know the products rarely mix objects that are similar in appearance but are quite different and they truly know how to correctly stock bins and shelves and hence, work much 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 opportunity to know the products, customers and paperwork as well as any electronic inventory system that may take some getting used to. Additionally, it is easy to check their efficiency by going over their work orders when they are packed for delivery.
Because you do not want to have a lot of trucks arriving at the same time, the next step is to plan truck arrival. By being organized and planning arrivals, you would eliminate pressure on receivers and shippers and also eliminate too much waiting time in the yard. The more effectively you could schedule the arrival of your trucks, the fewer dock doors you will have to work which will save you money on utilities in the long run.
Work 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 manner could 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. In addition, by separating your shipping and receiving, you can keep track of orders more effectively and would know which shift to look over if any discrepancies happen down the road.
If the unloading process is sped up, this will tremendously help you out since the unloaded truck could congest your yard. Based on studies, about 60 percent of mass merchants are capable of unloading trucks in less than an hour, whereas about 20 to 30% of the grocery business performs at a similar standard. Make time to observe and time operations in order to see how your facility measures up overall.
Floor maintenance is crucial because floor defects could cause lift truck operators to take detours or slow down. This may lead to a reduction of efficiency. Deteriorating floor section seams or uneven floors or potholes also result in vehicle damage and wheel wear. In some situations, really damaged floors can lead to product damage and loads tipping.