Even if there are a lot of businesses that begin employees in the receiving area, they will be a lot better off to allot pro's to handle the put-away tasks. Qualified individuals who understand and know the products rarely mix items which may look the same but are somewhat different and they know how to stock shelves and bins properly and thus, work more effectively.
It is a great idea if you have new staff to start them out by filling orders. This provides them with an excellent opportunity to learn the products, clients and paperwork as well as any electronic inventory system which might take some getting used to. Furthermore, it is really easy to check their efficiency by going over their work orders when they are packed for shipment.
The next suggestion is to schedule the truck arrival, since you truly do not want all trucks to come at the same time. 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 plan the arrival of your trucks, the fewer dock doors you would need to work which will save you a lot of money on utilities in the long run.
Work with different shifts for shipping and receiving. If you can, receive products in one shift and separate your shipping to a different shift. Organizing yourself in this way may allow you to reduce the staging area needs by 50%. You may also be able to get rid of time-wasting bottlenecks in the warehouse. As well, by separating your shipping and receiving, you can keep track of orders more efficiently and would know which shift to look over if any discrepancies occur down the road.
Speed up the unloading process. This would tremendously help you out as the longer a truck sits at your door for loading or unloading, the more congested your yard can become. Based on research, approximately 60% of mass merchants are capable of unloading trucks in less than 60 minutes, whereas roughly 20 to 30 percent of the grocery business works at a similar standard. Make time to watch and time operations to be able to see exactly how your facility measures up overall.
Maintain your floors since any defects in the surface of the floor can cause a forklift operator to slow down or take a detour. 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 some cases, really damaged floors can result in product damage and loads tipping.