Even though there are many companies who start employees in the receiving area, they would be much better off to assign pro's to handle the put-away jobs. Experienced people who truly know and understand the products seldom mix items that are similar in appearance but are somewhat different and they know how to properly stock shelves and bins and therefore, work much 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, customers and paperwork along with any electronic inventory system which might take some getting used to. Additionally, it is easy to check their effectiveness by going over their work orders when they are packed for shipment.
The next suggestion is to plan the truck arrival, since you truly do not want all trucks to arrive at the same time. By being organized and planning arrivals, you would eliminate excessive waiting time in the yard and also eliminate pressure on shippers and receivers. The more efficiently you could schedule the arrival of your trucks, the less dock doors you will have to work which would truly save you money on utilities in the long run.
Operate with different shifts for shipping and receiving. If you are able to, receive products during one shift and separate your shipping to a different shift. Organizing yourself in this manner can enable you to reduce the staging area needs by 50 percent. You may also be able to eliminate 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.
If the unloading process is sped up, this would really help you out as the unloaded truck could congest your yard. According to research, approximately 60% of mass merchants could unload trucks in under 60 minutes, whereas about 20 to 30% of the grocery business works at a similar standard. Make time to watch and time operations in order to see how your facility measures up overall.
Floor maintenance is key since floor defects could cause lift truck operators to take detours or slow down. This may lead to a reduction of productivity. Uneven floors or deteriorating floor section seams or potholes also lead to vehicle damage and wheel wear. In some cases, really damaged floors could lead to loads tipping and product damage.