Archived Another major change coming to Logistics?

[SrTLall]

Had a visit recently and one of the group leaders hinted at the speed of trailer unloading going faster in the coming year. They said that most, if not all, of the product will be palletized. Sounds good for stores, not so much for DCs. Anyone else hear anything about this?

 

[Yetive]

I think I remember reading something on here about that.

 

[Kezz]

We've only been palletizing the city target stores. as anal as they are about cubing out trailers I find it highly unlikely they will start palletizing regular stores. Logistically from a DC standpoint it would make zero sense. How would we load trailers? We'd never be able to double stack pallets without them falling over. In fact the entire outbound chutes would need redone to allow room to build pallets at the end of the coveyers if we're expected to continue to load 10 trailers at once for an entire shift.

 

[Rock Lobster]

We've only been palletizing the city target stores. as anal as they are about cubing out trailers I find it highly unlikely they will start palletizing regular stores. Logistically from a DC standpoint it would make zero sense. How would we load trailers? We'd never be able to double stack pallets without them falling over. In fact the entire outbound chutes would need redone to allow room to build pallets at the end of the coveyers if we're expected to continue to load 10 trailers at once for an entire shift.

I am guessing a remodel to DCs would likely result. Our CEO is from Sam's/Walmart, and he is aware of what other retailers do. We are the only ones I know of that do it this way, while others use pallets. Doing it this way adds flexibility to your stores in multiple ways. First, it obviously reduces the total amount of people it takes to unload a trailer. Second, it allows for split or segregated trailers (ULV stores that only take 3 trucks a week could go up to 5 if they were split with a nearby store). This increases the combinations and opens up options (before 1 trailer = 1 store could mean wasted trips). Third, it gives stores the flexibility of working freight at different times, which I know is a big thing.

Store's could get rid of their "line" and it would be replaced by more receiving shelving. The unloaders could just pull the pallets out of the truck and put them right into that space (to be worked), and then as the team rolls in throughout the day (anytime), they could just work and backstock their pallets. I am guessing this is all rumors until I hear something more substantiated though

 

[SFSFun]

Our CEO is from Sam's/Walmart, and he is aware of what other retailers do. We are the only ones I know of that do it this way, while others use pallets.

Walmart stores unload at least some of their trailers box by box.

 

[smashandthrash]

Yes, this is true. We had a meeting about this at the DC. I want to say back in October. I don't know about the coming year, but the final goal is to have distribution so fine tuned that you will have no more than what you need to stock the shelves. It aims to eliminate cart after cart of backstock.

The company has been testing this in a single store and "oh, it's working" of course no details were given about how well it's working or what needs to be ironed out.

 

[BigEyedPhish]

We've only been palletizing the city target stores. as anal as they are about cubing out trailers I find it highly unlikely they will start palletizing regular stores. Logistically from a DC standpoint it would make zero sense. How would we load trailers? We'd never be able to double stack pallets without them falling over. In fact the entire outbound chutes would need redone to allow room to build pallets at the end of the coveyers if we're expected to continue to load 10 trailers at once for an entire shift.

Considering the DC:Store ratio, re-modeling DC's to me seems as if it would be MUCH cheaper than an in-store re-model.

Also I am of the opinion that anything marked as "Transition" should come on its own Pallets already, rather than to be sorted through at the Store level, the amount of Home/Domestics transition we have received in the past 2-3 days has been insane to try and sort through.

If everything was palletized I would imagine that the actual "Loading" of the truck would be done much much quicker. Maybe certain Departments will receive a truck on different days of the week.


The last 2 days, I have seen the morale of our Logistics team (Leadership included) start to show that they are about to lose it lmao.

 

[Rock Lobster]

Considering the DC:Store ratio, re-modeling DC's to me seems as if it would be MUCH cheaper than an in-store re-model.

Also I am of the opinion that anything marked as "Transition" should come on its own Pallets already, rather than to be sorted through at the Store level, the amount of Home/Domestics transition we have received in the past 2-3 days has been insane to try and sort through.

If everything was palletized I would imagine that the actual "Loading" of the truck would be done much much quicker. Maybe certain Departments will receive a truck on different days of the week.


The last 2 days, I have seen the morale of our Logistics team (Leadership included) start to show that they are about to lose it lmao.

Yes, there are tons of benefits that could eventually make the process smoother. My point is that there are benefits I have likely not even realized and the options would become available with pallets. Transition is a great one. EOS Pushes would suddenly become extremely easy to manage. Imagine your EOS Halloween push coming all on pallets already... you know it won't fit so you can stage it in the steel and work a bit at a time.

My other point was mainly on ULV stores. The problem with these is you are talking 3 trucks a week (generally 2200, 1800, then like 1400) and its only 3 days. This is an issue around staffing because you have to staff 25-30 people on these 3 days, and 3-4 on the non-truck days. Its hard to find people that many people for 3 days a week. It also makes "truck to shelf" less efficient since they go the whole weekend without a truck. It would be much smarter to break those pieces down to 5 days instead of 3. It would lower their average carton per truck to 1000, but you could then split it with another ULV store. The UL could then bring in less people per truck (knowing they were always around 1000 pieces) but on 5 days.

 

[graffiti]

So would the pallets already be sorted by department or would they have to be unloaded and then sorted on the line anyway? As someone in an A/A+ volume store with ULV backroom space, I'm hoping for the former!

(ULV stores that only take 3 trucks a week could go up to 5 if they were split with a nearby store)

If that went anything like FDC trailers do, they'd have to unload the entire other store's merchandise in order to get to their own.

 

[BigEyedPhish]

Yes, there are tons of benefits that could eventually make the process smoother. My point is that there are benefits I have likely not even realized and the options would become available with pallets. Transition is a great one. EOS Pushes would suddenly become extremely easy to manage. Imagine your EOS Halloween push coming all on pallets already... you know it won't fit so you can stage it in the steel and work a bit at a time.

My other point was mainly on ULV stores. The problem with these is you are talking 3 trucks a week (generally 2200, 1800, then like 1400) and its only 3 days. This is an issue around staffing because you have to staff 25-30 people on these 3 days, and 3-4 on the non-truck days. Its hard to find people that many people for 3 days a week. It also makes "truck to shelf" less efficient since they go the whole weekend without a truck. It would be much smarter to break those pieces down to 5 days instead of 3. It would lower their average carton per truck to 1000, but you could then split it with another ULV store. The UL could then bring in less people per truck (knowing they were always around 1000 pieces) but on 5 days.

This would make sense, and is how C&S arrives.

For Markets that have multiple Targets who are ULV for sure. I don't see how Palletizing Product would create alot, if any, more work for the DC since they were going to have to touch each product anyways to put on the truck. Sorting wise, I find it hard to believe that this wouldn't be able to be automatized, as I would not be surprised if 90% of all Logistic systems in the developed world are by now.

 

[Rock Lobster]

So would the pallets already be sorted by department or would they have to be unloaded and then sorted on the line anyway? As someone in an A/A+ volume store with ULV backroom space, I'm hoping for the former!


If that went anything like FDC trailers do, they'd have to unload the entire other store's merchandise in order to get to their own.

I would hope they could either sort by department or custom blocks depending on how they decide to structure the DC.

I don't know what happens at the FDC's... There are too many problems at those.

 

[BigEyedPhish]

I would hope they could either sort by department or custom blocks depending on how they decide to structure the DC.

I don't know what happens at the FDC's... There are too many problems at those.

Custom blocks would be awesome, all they would have to do is setup a DC like your average Target, then palletize in order.

You know, similar to the way our BR's are setup, then instead of creating "pulls" they could create Pallets, using a similar function as CAF's (but really big ones).

 

[Rock Lobster]

Custom blocks would be awesome, all they would have to do is setup a DC like your average Target, then palletize in order.

You know, similar to the way our BR's are setup, then instead of creating "pulls" they could create Pallets, using a similar function as CAF's (but really big ones).

Well, I do not know enough about the DCs to know exactly how to set it up, but I know there is a way to do it. Custom Blocks would likely be hard as I think the product is coming out of their conveyor's as departments. At the end of the day, it may slow down the DC's ability to load, but again the benefits would likely outweigh that. I mean, how many things are broken in the trailer after the unload? It takes us upwards of 10-11 people just to unload it, not counting bowlers. The problem is essentially that the DC has the product by department, they system throws it in the trailer jumbled up, and then we have to sort it back out by department essentially. Anybody can tell you this is a process problem, as we are spending payroll to undo the middle step.

 

[tgtguy]

In theory it sounds like it would /could save a lot of payroll on the flow side of things. Would make things easier to just roll pallets off the truck onto floor and work them...versus coming in setting the line, unloading the truck, bowling etc.

 

[SrTLall]

If that went anything like FDC trailers do, they'd have to unload the entire other store's merchandise in order to get to their own.

Isn't the only reason you have to unload an entire FDC trailer because the freezer is in the nose? That would be a non-issue for RDC trailers visiting multiple stores.

 

[DoWork]

Isn't the only reason you have to unload an entire FDC trailer because the freezer is in the nose? That would be a non-issue for RDC trailers visiting multiple stores.

We frequently have to unload two stores' pallets before our own on non-frozen days. Two weeks ago, there were six pallets sitting outside our receiving door(we didn't have the room) and another 3 stashed by the balers until we were done unloading.

 

[Tyrant]

I've heard this teased multiple times, not going to believe it until I see a trailer with wrapped pallets of regular cartons.

 

[Kezz]

I'll give a bit more insight on this from a DC stand point when I have more time. Butt not to be rude it's clearly obvious none of you know how it works on the DC level. It would take an entire overhaul of our system to properly sort things out the way you're asking.

 

[BigEyedPhish]

I'll give a bit more insight on this from a DC stand point when I have more time. Butt not to be rude it's clearly obvious none of you know how it works on the DC level. It would take an entire overhaul of our system to properly sort things out the way you're asking.

I understand I have next to no idea how Target runs their DC, nor the process they currently use. what I do know is that if they do plan to improve the process I think it would be much cheaper to do it at a DC, how many Target DCs are there compared to the ~1800 stores we have?

Working in a store, I know that we have seen our fair share of "Overhauls/Rollouts" within the last 2 years, while hearing little to no news on any DC operations changing, nor seeing any of the promised improvements "said" rollouts/overhauls would have created/solved for us.

 

[Kezz]

I understand I have next to no idea how Target runs their DC, nor the process they currently use. what I do know is that if they do plan to improve the process I think it would be much cheaper to do it at a DC, how many Target DCs are there compared to the ~1800 stores we have?

Working in a store, I know that we have seen our fair share of "Overhauls/Rollouts" within the last 2 years, while hearing little to no news on any DC operations changing, nor seeing any of the promised improvements "said" rollouts/overhauls would have created/solved for us.

Don't get me wrong, I agree and we're way overdue for an overhaul but ill believe it when I see it. we were also promised mini-load, rover-pick and a warehouse expansion...none of which happened.

 

[Rock Lobster]

Don't get me wrong, I agree and we're way overdue for an overhaul but ill believe it when I see it. we were also promised mini-load, rover-pick and a warehouse expansion...none of which happened.

I think a big difference here is that our CEO blames the DCs for the instocks performance at the store level, and is already willing to bring the pressure/change to them if that is what would be best. I'm not saying this is a for sure thing (I said I will believe it when I see it), but I think a change HAS to be coming with what I have seen/heard indirectly about overhauls to supply chain in the company.

 

[marketteamember87]

When I worked nightcrew at a grocery store after I left spot. High Volume store trucks mon, wens,fri,sat. We averaged 10 pallets and usually 4 guys working and 1 in frozen/dairy. Pallets where mixed had to break down everything by asile then two guys would stage in asiles as two broke down the Pallets. Non delivery nights one maybe 2 working out overstock, water, and paper. Oh and dressing down(zoning) the whole store in 8 hours and you super zoned the whole store. Basically it had to look like the day it first opened every morning.

 

[SFSFun]

When I worked nightcrew at a grocery store after I left spot. High Volume store trucks mon, wens,fri,sat. We averaged 10 pallets and usually 4 guys working and 1 in frozen/dairy. Pallets where mixed had to break down everything by asile then two guys would stage in asiles as two broke down the Pallets. Non delivery nights one maybe 2 working out overstock, water, and paper. Oh and dressing down(zoning) the whole store in 8 hours and you super zoned the whole store. Basically it had to look like the day it first opened every morning.

That's exactly how they do it at my grocery store, except they take more trucks with more pallets. It's impossible to overstate just how well this system works.

 

[qmosqueen]

That's exactly how they do it at my grocery store, except they take more trucks with more pallets. It's impossible to overstate just how well this system works.

Target the last to do things the right way.

 

[Tyrant]

Target the last to do things the right way.

The people at corporate have no ideas of their own. They only do what other companies did ~5 years ago. myDevices? Yeah home depot and lowes were using those ages ago. Look at how long it took for Target to do instore pickup for online orders and how atrociously that's been implemented. There's no actual leadership, just execs that CYA for their golden parachutes.

I'm convinced if Target ever gets anything right these days it's completely unintentional.