Fulfillment being phased out?

I’m getting flak for them taking long when they’re doing it in the middle of the day fully stocked with people who have no clue how there fixtures work. And I tell them that target based this workload off the trays being stripped and the team working uninterrupted overnight.
 
ahhd4mn said:
"Gm leadership around fulfillment or separating it into its own umbrella."
What exactly do you mean by either of those things?
Click to expand...
Additional fulfillment leadership. That’s been a. Given in the region recaps the vps sent out last week. And I’m sure come after February we’ll get a hardcore “here’s you’re fulfillment modernization don’t miss these metrics” rollout.
 
ahhd4mn said:
where did you hear about it? planning on asking my ETL and TL about it tomorrow
Click to expand...
Found a handout from a 2017/2018 Stores Modernization Roadmap
Looks like eliminating the flex team (after instocks, flow, Backroom, pricing and Plano teams) has been part of the plan for years - flex team will just be the last to go.
page 25 titled General Merchandise and Food Sales - describes The Mission of GM Team as “experts of operations, process and efficiency....GM experts own pick, pack and ship fulfillment work”.
That may be why HR is bent on getting every DBO 100% on process and SD saying DBO’s can expect consistent 30-40 hours in the future - cause they will need it to get everything done.

And just lately - ALL TL -
(Not ONLY the flex TL)
are required to monitor flex numbers throughout the day.

Get ready for the next phase of modernization, 2021 edition.
 

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Far from newbie said:
And just lately - ALL TL -
(Not ONLY the flex TL)
are required to monitor flex numbers throughout the day.

Get ready for the next phase of modernization, 2021 edition.
Click to expand...
LOL I did this when I came back from my run of construction projects- OD was hell bent on my stating leaders were following up not just my dedicated TL/myself. So when we leave at 2/3p, numbers consistently drop so made sense for handoff to another leader, but no. Oh and don’t get me started on the old school ways of keeping track of the team - whiteboard or binder, etc.
 
Far from newbie said:
Found a handout from a 2017/2018 Stores Modernization Roadmap
Looks like eliminating the flex team (after instocks, flow, Backroom, pricing and Plano teams) has been part of the plan for years - flex team will just be the last to go.
page 25 titled General Merchandise and Food Sales - describes The Mission of GM Team as “experts of operations, process and efficiency....GM experts own pick, pack and ship fulfillment work”.
That may be why HR is bent on getting every DBO 100% on process and SD saying DBO’s can expect consistent 30-40 hours in the future - cause they will need it to get everything done.

And just lately - ALL TL -
(Not ONLY the flex TL)
are required to monitor flex numbers throughout the day.

Get ready for the next phase of modernization, 2021 edition.
Click to expand...
This came out 2-3 years ago before fulfillment was the life line of our business. They’re starting to remodel stores this year to have capacity to have 15,000+ sqft of hold space and walk in coolers for GPU. We hit 2030 projections this year with drive up and order pick up. Fulfillment isn’t going anywhere
 
We used to think the same about the pricing and presentation teams. And instocks before them. It didn't make sense for Target to "get rid" of those teams either, but they did -- and we're still seeing the consequences of such decisions.

On paper, having every DBO be responsible for helping clear the daily fulfillment workload is easier to work with and much more flexible than trying to accurately distribute payroll based on forecasts that are usually wrong. In pretty much every store in the chain, I can guarantee that Flex Experts are either overwhelmed and need to be bailed out by other areas anyway or underwhelmed and helping other areas come clean. If it's impossible to hit that sweet spot, why not fold fulfillment into GM and be able to scale up your potential workforce to meet an ever-changing workload?

Again, makes sense on paper. But when GM can't come clean as it is, adding more to their plate just means something else won't be getting done instead.

Far from newbie said:
That may be why HR is bent on getting every DBO 100% on process and SD saying DBO’s can expect consistent 30-40 hours in the future - cause they will need it to get everything done.
Click to expand...
I'm also hesitant about such things. Anyone remember the questionnaire we received before Q4, asking us if we'd like to work 50 hours each week? And the video by someone in the upper echelons of Target leadership saying that the priority last year would be giving existing TMs overtime instead of just hiring more seasonals?

Yeah, we got two weeks of overtime at my store during Q4. That's it.
 
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As a former pog TM and signing ninja, I can tell you what happens to these experts when they are deemed unnecessary on paper: they get placed elsewhere and then get pulled right back in to fix whatever it is that they make look so easy to accomplish. I'm a DBO now and I haven't been in my own areas for 3+ weeks now because I am setting pog transitions.

Stores are great(ish) at making it look good on paper, and they can even fake it out in practice on occasion when people are looking, but realistically, they revert back to what actually works.
 
Don’t attack me for this but I really see the benefits of the DBO IDEA. End to end, soup to nuts, all process ownership - what is new, what is marked down, what we have too much of, what we are out of - what sells, what doesn’t. things you know cause you see it everyday.

My greatest challenge with it is TURNOVER ! I am CONSTANTLY training someone cause there are SO MANY things to learn !
then, when they are 75% on process And light can be seen at the end of this training tunnel, the day is sooo close when they will be independent....they quit.
Now Start from the beginning with yet another newbie, Rinse and repeat. I oversee 7 DBO’s - only 1 is ALMOST Independent- all others have gaps in training, ability, will, drive, and knowledge to be independent. One won’t backup cashier, another won’t answer the phone, only 2 can set a SPL, many leave vehicles and trash on the salesfloor, most will not go to guest service for reshop, few complete back stock, all ignore price change, all leave push Undone.

I’m tired of “I don’t care” . Few responsible adults want to work retail.
 
Far from newbie said:
Found a handout from a 2017/2018 Stores Modernization Roadmap
Looks like eliminating the flex team (after instocks, flow, Backroom, pricing and Plano teams) has been part of the plan for years - flex team will just be the last to go.
page 25 titled General Merchandise and Food Sales - describes The Mission of GM Team as “experts of operations, process and efficiency....GM experts own pick, pack and ship fulfillment work”.
That may be why HR is bent on getting every DBO 100% on process and SD saying DBO’s can expect consistent 30-40 hours in the future - cause they will need it to get everything done.

And just lately - ALL TL -
(Not ONLY the flex TL)
are required to monitor flex numbers throughout the day.

Get ready for the next phase of modernization, 2021 edition.
Click to expand...
So what happens if we don’t have a DBO for a certain area of the store...who picks those orders? What happens if they call out , vacation, left for the day or are not on the schedule that day?
 
keep in mind - change is slow.
- you continue all fulfillment work for one part of the store while you are learning many other things.
slowly you add the other stuff in between picking and some day you can ‘do it all” too.

changes to the schedule will happen to
dbo in every area every day -
time off/call-outs will need to be covered just like we do now by rearranging people or making the TL cover.
 
Far from newbie said:
Don’t attack me for this but I really see the benefits of the DBO IDEA. End to end, soup to nuts, all process ownership - what is new, what is marked down, what we have too much of, what we are out of - what sells, what doesn’t. things you know cause you see it everyday.

My greatest challenge with it is TURNOVER ! I am CONSTANTLY training someone cause there are SO MANY things to learn !
then, when they are 75% on process And light can be seen at the end of this training tunnel, the day is sooo close when they will be independent....they quit.
Now Start from the beginning with yet another newbie, Rinse and repeat. I oversee 7 DBO’s - only 1 is ALMOST Independent- all others have gaps in training, ability, will, drive, and knowledge to be independent. One won’t backup cashier, another won’t answer the phone, only 2 can set a SPL, many leave vehicles and trash on the salesfloor, most will not go to guest service for reshop, few complete back stock, all ignore price change, all leave push Undone.

I’m tired of “I don’t care” . Few responsible adults want to work retail.
Click to expand...
I like it too. It just doesn’t work when “DBOs” are given 15-20 hours a week. Target needs to step up with the payroll to facilitate their vision.
 
Far from newbie said:
keep in mind - change is slow.
- you continue all fulfillment work for one part of the store while you are learning many other things.
slowly you add the other stuff in between picking and some day you can ‘do it all” too.

changes to the schedule will happen to
dbo in every area every day -
time off/call-outs will need to be covered just like we do now by rearranging people or making the TL cover.
Click to expand...
Just looking at the DBO’s for my store, I don’t see this happening. We don’t have DBO’s for every area of the store. Most of our DBO’s are gone around noon and a lot of the OPU’s pick up in the afternoon. Here is another issue, when we have a double truck and they are pushing their entire shift, how will they pick orders. We have times where we have 10 people picking and that would be all of our DBO’s.
 
SigningLady said:
For real!!?! I want details if you got 'em. In a PM if you don't want it public.
Click to expand...
Store over 65mil are getting a Plano tl and team back , it will be a signing specialist which is in charge of ordering parts and all , a PPA team member I think it’s called it’s a team member that does all sfq, audits walks transitions and puts in a tablet . That’s as far as I know for now . We are starting it in about 2 months
 
allnew2 said:
Store over 65mil are getting a Plano tl and team back , it will be a signing specialist which is in charge of ordering parts and all , a PPA team member I think it’s called it’s a team member that does all sfq, audits walks transitions and puts in a tablet . That’s as far as I know for now . We are starting it in about 2 months
Click to expand...

Damn. My store is only around $30mil/year so we won't get the position. That's the one TL position I'd be willing to consider taking since that's basically the job I do when they schedule me in Plano.
 
I totally see the Presentation Team making a come back soon. The way they have been leveraging the Presentation Team as of late kinda shows they understand it’s still a needed team. However Presentation workload for transitions can vary from being almost nothing one week to a full 270 hour set the next week so you have to constantly grow and shrink the number of TMs you put on the Plano Team.

The way my store has been doing it has been working pretty well. We have 6 team members total that know POGs very well and are the ones that are used when a Plano team is needed for a big set. However those same team members are actually Fulfillment Experts in the system and are used for Fulfillment unless there is a large set in need of a Plano team. In my opinion it’s good because you leave DBOs to do their thing and Fulfillment can pretty much pull any extra person when OPUs get heavy.

I’m on Presentation this week with 5 other Plano TMs assisting the Beauty team with their transition while they just focus on pulls, push, and helping guests. Plano Team is focused only on the set. There is no way in hell that the Beauty Team could do this set while also keeping up on DBO routines. The Beauty Transition is a huge amount of work.
 
SigningLady said:
As a former pog TM and signing ninja, I can tell you what happens to these experts when they are deemed unnecessary on paper: they get placed elsewhere and then get pulled right back in to fix whatever it is that they make look so easy to accomplish. I'm a DBO now and I haven't been in my own areas for 3+ weeks now because I am setting pog transitions.

Stores are great(ish) at making it look good on paper, and they can even fake it out in practice on occasion when people are looking, but realistically, they revert back to what actually works.
Click to expand...
I had a big fit last year when they were pulling me to set pogs and didn’t put anyone in my area. I was setting pogs in someone else’s dept with no help. The dbo of the area wasn’t even helping. They haven’t scheduled me to help pog at all this month. Lol. Made me a little nervous until I watched the dept not get toys done in 2 weeks and all the signing is still in the fixture room.
 

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