Even though there are a lot of companies who begin employees in the receiving area, they would be a lot better off to assign pro's to deal with the put-away tasks. Qualified people who know and understand the products seldom mix things that may look the same but are quite different and they know how to stock shelves and bins correctly and thus, work a lot more effectively.
The best suggestion for new staff is to start them out filling orders. This provides them with a great chance to learn the products, customers and paperwork along with any electronic inventory system which might take some getting used to. Furthermore, it is easy to check their efficiency by going over their work orders once they are packed for delivery.
The next tip is to plan the truck arrival, since you truly do not want all trucks to come at the same time. By planning arrivals and being organized, you will eliminate excessive waiting time in the yard and also eliminate pressure on receivers and shippers. The more effectively you can schedule the arrival of your trucks, the fewer dock doors you would have to operate which would really save you money on utilities in the long run.
If you are able to, operate different shifts for shipping and receiving. One method is to receive products during one shift and separate the shipped products to another shift. Organizing yourself in this way may enable you to lessen the staging area needs by 50 percent. You may also be able to eliminate time-wasting bottlenecks in the warehouse. In addition, by separating your shipping and receiving, you would know which shift to look over if any discrepancies occur down the road and can keep track of orders more efficiently.
Speed up the unloading process. This would 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% of mass merchants are capable of unloading trucks in less than 60 minutes, whilst roughly 20 to 30 percent of the grocery industry works at a similar standard. Make time to watch and time operations to be able to see how your facility measures up overall.
Maintain your floors because any defects in the floor's surface can cause a forklift operator to take a detour or slow down. The uneven floors can greatly decrease productivity. Potholes or uneven floors or deteriorating floor section seams also result in wheel wear and vehicle damage. In some cases, floors that are really damaged can result in loads tipping and product damage.