Some companies may prefer to use new employees in the shipping and receiving area, although they might be better served to allocate professionals to deal with these difficult jobs. Experienced people who know and understand the products seldom mix items which are similar in appearance but are somewhat different and they really know how to stock shelves and bins properly and therefore, work much more effectively.
It is a great idea if you have new staff to start them out by filling orders. This provides them with a great chance to learn the products, paperwork and clients as well as any electronic inventory system that could take some getting used to. Furthermore, it is easy to check their efficiency by going over their work orders once they are packed for shipment.
Since 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 excessive waiting time in the yard and also eliminate pressure on receivers and shippers. The more effectively you could schedule the arrival of your trucks, the less dock doors you would have to work that would truly save you a lot of 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 items to another shift. Organizing yourself in this way can 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 would know which shift to look over if any discrepancies occur down the road and could keep track of orders more effectively.
If the unloading process is sped up, this would tremendously help you out since the unloaded truck can congest your yard. According to research, around 60 percent of mass merchants are capable of unloading trucks in less than 60 minutes, while approximately 20 to 30 percent of the grocery business performs 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 surface of the floor can cause a forklift operator to slow down or take a detour. The uneven floors could really reduce efficiency. Uneven floors or deteriorating floor section seams or potholes also lead to vehicle damage and wheel wear. In some cases, floors which are really damaged could result in product damage and loads tipping.