Even if there are lots of businesses who begin employees in the receiving area, they would be much better off to assign pro's to handle the put-away jobs. Experienced individuals who truly know and understand the products rarely mix objects which are similar in appearance but are quite different and they know how to stock bins and shelves properly and thus, work more effectively.
The best suggestion for new staff is to start them out filling orders. This provides them with a terrific chance to know the products, paperwork and customers along with any electronic inventory system that can take some getting used to. Furthermore, it is very easy to check their efficiency by going over their work orders when they are packed for shipment.
The next suggestion is to plan the truck arrival, because you truly do not want all trucks to come at the same time. By being organized and scheduling arrivals, you would eliminate too much 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 have to operate which would truly save you a lot of money on utilities in the long run.
Work with different shifts for shipping and receiving. If you can, receive goods in one shift and separate your shipping to a different shift. Organizing yourself in this manner could allow you to lessen the staging area needs by 50%. You may also be able to get rid of time-wasting bottlenecks in the warehouse. What's more, 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.
Speed up the process of unloading. This will tremendously help you out because the longer a truck sits at your door for loading or unloading, the more congested your yard can become. Based on research, around 60 percent of mass merchants can unload trucks in under an hour, whereas roughly 20 to 30% of the grocery business works at a similar standard. Take time to watch and time operations in order to see exactly how your facility measures up overall.
Floor maintenance is key because floor defects could cause forklift operators to slow down or take detours. This could result in a reduction of efficiency. Deteriorating floor section seams or uneven floors or potholes also cause vehicle damage and wheel wear. In certain cases, really damaged floors can result in loads tipping and product damage.