Inbound process

T

TargetKing2020

Joined
Jun 2, 2020
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Hello everyone! I was just wondering if I could get some ideas for my team to a new way of inbound. We are expected to get truck done by 930 everyday but we never do we get done around 1015-1030. So we have 5 people total. Not counting the two softlines people. One throwing in the truck and two on each side of the line. On one side of the line we have the first person do plastics, baby’s, pets and chem while the other person does hba and market as well as all the repacks. The other side is p2. Our problem seems to be neither of the two on the p1 side ever are standing there for the chem. The one us always doing plastic and pets while the other normally is stuck with market and repacks. Does anyone do something different with repacks or an idea of how we can better work that side of the line? Thank you
 
First thing first you are missing a person on the line . So I suggest you bring that up to your Etl and make sure inbound is staffed properly . You should have 2 in the back 3 in the front and 1 thrower . The person on the back should be sorting 4 and combos. The 3 people in the front each should be in charge of 2 bays . You are putting way to much work on those two people on the front.
If you are a 6 am ( still) unload and you get one truck a day you should be done with your truck by 8:00 -8:30 the latest depending on the size of the truck .
You problem is that simply because you are not giving the proper team schedule . It’s not 5 people for inbound with thrower included . It’s 5 people + 1 thrower. If your team would be complete you would be able to achieve the time goal your ETLs wants the truck done by.
I get 2 trucks a day and both need to be done in 4.5 everyday doesn’t matter the size .
 
Is any of your inbound team also dbo’s. I myself am the seasonal dbo and we only have one of that. We also have our paper, pets, and sporting goods dbo’s that do unload
 
We run our truck exactly like @allnew2 stated. None of our inbound team are DBOs; they unload the truck and help work flats if they finish with time to spare, which is often- I rarely have to work my plastics freight. I have worked on the line a couple times when needed and will say if one side is caught up and the other is heavy, I've jumped over to that side to help out for a few minutes.
 
To make this thing work, you have to have team members who can handle the physical nature of this job. It's great having dependable team members, but it does you no good if they struggle with the pace and/or the weight of the cartons. Plus you need to be able to rotate your team from time to time when necessary.

We are constantly struggling due not having team members who can keep pace with the pace/physical nature of the job. To compound that problem is the less than poor condition the trailers are in. No changing that one either until the DC's under go some major restructuring.

Your leadership must be proactive on identifying the contents of the inbound shipment. Waiting until you pop the door open is too late. It's never too early to plan with your team.

Last thing, learn Modernization and systematically get there asap. After reading through allnew2's post, we're all heading that way within the next year.
 
Ive had girls that are sub 5 foot and weigh less then 120 pounds on the line do fine sure they don't pick up the desks and furniture its a work ethic issue at that point. Doesnt seem like thats an issue here, having the proper amount of people on the unload team seems like the biggest issue. The only other thing i can think of is that with not having proper amount of people has also lead to burn out do to having to work harder to try and compensate an possible be discouraged from continuously missing goals. Again that should be fixed with the proper amount of tms. Lastly when my store is down a person we usually have 3 on front 1 in back and do the sort after the truck. 1 person should be able to handle the back if they are not sorting the entire time. Although they should still sort to the best of their ability if they have time to not be overwhelmed in the end.
 
MrT said:
Ive had girls that are sub 5 foot and weigh less then 120 pounds on the line do fine sure they don't pick up the desks and furniture its a work ethic issue at that point. Doesnt seem like thats an issue here, having the proper amount of people on the unload team seems like the biggest issue. The only other thing i can think of is that with not having proper amount of people has also lead to burn out do to having to work harder to try and compensate an possible be discouraged from continuously missing goals. Again that should be fixed with the proper amount of tms. Lastly when my store is down a person we usually have 3 on front 1 in back and do the sort after the truck. 1 person should be able to handle the back if they are not sorting the entire time. Although they should still sort to the best of their ability if they have time to not be overwhelmed in the end.
Click to expand...

As long as you have more than one team member that can throw, you can get by. But if you go back through the process, we are supposed to be rotating. Eventually that will be on the list too.

I always thought about the ability to lift heavy objects, but it hit home while a female team member was on truck and couldn't lift a case of liquid while bulk pallets were being off loaded/sorted. She ain't no slouch either.

We have another female team member smaller than her and I've noticed with the increase in freight she starts to fatigue more and more towards the end of the truck. Another person who just can kick it into another gear when needed.

It's simply the weight and the number of touches that takes the toll. You right when it comes to being short handed. It really gets exponentially worse then.
 
No I in Team said:
As long as you have more than one team member that can throw, you can get by. But if you go back through the process, we are supposed to be rotating. Eventually that will be on the list too.

I always thought about the ability to lift heavy objects, but it hit home while a female team member was on truck and couldn't lift a case of liquid while bulk pallets were being off loaded/sorted. She ain't no slouch either.

We have another female team member smaller than her and I've noticed with the increase in freight she starts to fatigue more and more towards the end of the truck. Another person who just can kick it into another gear when needed.

It's simply the weight and the number of touches that takes the toll. You right when it comes to being short handed. It really gets exponentially worse then.
Click to expand...
My team is 4 females 2 guys (2 trucks , 2 throwers) and back of the line , pets , chem and market are handled by women. They do just fine. The whole purpose is to have them on the same bay so they anticipate what is coming way before it gets to them. Almost like a dbo for their own bays . You supposed to rotate the throwers every 30 minutes .
 
Last edited:
our entire truck crew are dbo's. we are a lower volume (30M) store so it works for us. we are given 2-3.5 hrs after tuck to get everything done
 
allnew2 said:
My team is 4 females 2 guys (2 trucks , 2 throwers) and back of the line , pets , chem and market are handled by women. They do just fine. The whole purpose is to have them on the same bay so they anticipate what is coming way before it gets to them. Almost like a dbo for their own bays . You supposed to rotate the throwers every 30 minutes .
Click to expand...

As for weight per person to lift , when I was involved in material movement process, the process engineers told me that the max weight for repetitive movement/lifting was ideally less than 20% of person's body weight on average. Ideally 10 - 15% max is what you shoot for.

A person can do more, however the risk of joint, muscle fatigue, and injury increase substantially more per 10#s over 20%.

A sister store near by with a similar volume had a all female inbound crew. It lasted less than two years from what I was told. The crew just did not have enough size.

A former flow team member took a PML position at the same store at the beginning of that short tenure. He saw the same thing, but his remarks where along the line that we we're lucky in that we had a lot of size. I had no idea that it was an all female crew.

My wife now works with the former Logistics ETL.
 
Wow. We only have 1 thrower and 3 people on the line. One works the P2 side of the line and sorts the 4's during and the 3's and combos after the unload. We have 2 people working the P1/Market side, with the plastics/chem person also pushing and with the market person pulling out shoes, infant hardlines and masks out of the softlines repacks and placing the OTC, Personal Care and Beauty repacks. We have no DBO's on our unload.
 

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