Some businesses may choose to use new workers in the shipping and receiving area, although they might be better served to allocate pros to handle these challenging jobs. Experienced people who understand and know the products seldom mix things that may seem the same but are somewhat different and they know how to stock shelves and bins properly and therefore, work more effectively.
It is a great idea if you have new employees to start them out by filling orders. This provides them with an excellent chance to learn the products, customers and paperwork as well as any electronic inventory system that can take some getting used to. Moreover, it is easy to check their efficiency by going over their work orders when they are packed for shipment.
As you do not want to have many trucks arriving at the same time, the next step is to plan truck arrival. By being organized and planning arrivals, you will 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 need to operate which would really save you a lot of money on utilities in the long run.
If you are able to, work different shifts for shipping and receiving. One method is to receive products in one shift and separate the shipped products to another shift. Organizing yourself in this way may allow you to lessen the staging area requirements by 50%. You may also be able to eliminate time-wasting bottlenecks within the warehouse. Additionally, by separating your shipping and receiving, you will know which shift to look over if any discrepancies occur down the road and could keep track of orders more efficiently.
Speed up the unloading process. This would really help you out as the longer a truck sits at your door for unloading or loading, the more congested your yard could become. According to research, around 60% of mass merchants can unload trucks in under an hour, whereas roughly 20 to 30 percent of the grocery industry performs 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 because any defects in the surface of the floor could cause a lift truck operator to slow down or take a detour. The uneven floors can greatly decrease efficiency. Deteriorating floor section seams or uneven floors or potholes also cause wheel wear and vehicle damage. In some cases, floors which are really damaged can result in product damage and loads tipping.