Several businesses might choose to use new employees in the shipping and receiving area, although they may be better served to assign professionals to handle these challenging tasks. Qualified people who truly know and understand the products rarely mix items which are similar in appearance but are quite different and they really know how to correctly stock shelves and bins and therefore, work a lot more efficiently.
It is a great idea if you have new staff to start them out by filling orders. This provides them with a great opportunity to learn the products, paperwork and clients along with any electronic inventory system which 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 schedule truck arrival. By scheduling arrivals and being organized, you would eliminate excessive waiting time in the yard and also eliminate pressure on shippers and receivers. The more effectively you could plan the arrival of your trucks, the less dock doors you will have to operate that would save you 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 during one shift and separate the shipped products to another shift. Organizing yourself in this manner could allow you to lessen the staging area requirements by 50%. You might 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 effectively and will know which shift to look over if any discrepancies happen down the road.
Speed up the process of unloading. This would tremendously help you out as the longer a truck sits at your door for unloading or loading, the more congested your yard can become. Based on research, approximately 60% of mass merchants could unload trucks in less than 60 minutes, whereas about 20 to 30% of the grocery business performs at a similar standard. Take time to observe 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 take a detour or slow down. The uneven floors could really decrease production. Uneven floors or deteriorating floor section seams or potholes also result in vehicle damage and wheel wear. In certain cases, floors which are really damaged can result in loads tipping and product damage.