Just saw this interesting nugget on a FB page

[BackroomBear]

IT is absolutely impossible to sort the freight onto pallets by isle at the dc this will never Be a reality,

It CAN be done. I see it all the time at Meijer. Our DCs would likely need huge revamps to do so

 

[Bosch]

We no longer sort repacks. The DTL feels it takes up too many carts and too much clutter for guests to move around. Team members work one at a time.

What a dumbass, you either spend the time to sort or you have an employee wandering around the fucking store for an hours to push it one item at a time.. Sort that shit and you can spend in total about a hour to sort and push with someone who knows what the fuck they are doing.

 

[qmosqueen]

we are stores not huge warehouses. lately i've seen so much back stock in the back room that i am believing that we are just a warehouse for SFS, which only brings in about 10 to 20 K per day, while food brings in 40 to 50 K per day.

 

[Rock Lobster]

IT is absolutely impossible to sort the freight onto pallets by isle at the dc this will never Be a reality,

I don’t even want by aisle, that was never my request. If the DC could be remodeled to allow for pallets by department and the repack people could get a system to sort slightly better, then we would save tons of hours in stores.

 

[Rock Lobster]

Store level payroll would be reduced since you will not have a 1.5 hour unload times 8 people. Those hours will not magically be kept.

Yes, that is fine and my point. Not only do you save the store payroll, but there are other benefits you get from palletized freight. Sure the trailer isn’t packed as full, but there are countless other things that make up for it.

 

[Rock Lobster]

What a dumbass, you either spend the time to sort or you have an employee wandering around the fucking store for an hours to push it one item at a time.. Sort that shit and you can spend in total about a hour to sort and push with someone who knows what the fuck they are doing.

We have one repack sorted for the crap ones, but HBA and Domestics/Beds are sorted well enough that you can just grab a cart and work right out of the boxes

 

[SFSFun]

IT is absolutely impossible to sort the freight onto pallets by isle at the dc this will never Be a reality,

It can be sorted to within a couple of aisles, and it is already being done that way at many grocery store DCs. It just requires renovating the DCs to accommodate it.

This is the DC that serves the grocery store I work for, and you can see them building pallets:

Another (very expensive) option is to go fully automated:

 

[IWishIKnew]

Are repacks sorted at all at the DC level right now? I would agree that sorting by aisle would be impossible, as there's so much variability by store and aisles change, but at my store sorting by fill group (at least for hardlines) would be a start, but for big ones like "home" (that covers domestics and everything in housewares except appliances) would need some sort of further breakdown (eg. bedding, bath, rugs/curtains, furniture, plastics, kitchen, etc.). Those cover about 2/3 of the store and would take forever if they weren't at least broken down by blocks.

 

[Bosch]

We have one repack sorted for the crap ones, but HBA and Domestics/Beds are sorted well enough that you can just grab a cart and work right out of the boxes

Ours are not. I have done the HBA break out enough times at least our DC doesn't sort well enough to just work the repacks. Cosmetics are a crap shoot either its one entire brand or its a hot mess.

 

[copycopy]

Our combo repacks are coming in with hba, electronics, softlines, security, office/stat, market, and salvage seasonal al mixed in together.

 

[RhettB]

Yes, that is fine and my point. Not only do you save the store payroll, but there are other benefits you get from palletized freight. Sure the trailer isn’t packed as full, but there are countless other things that make up for it.

Name 3.

Less filled trailers mean more trailers. Ever take an added truck? Do you get added payroll for it? Your unload team is more apt to sort things better than the DC. Transition? Bulk? Id rather have the team pull off 15 cases of bulk on the backstock than it be mixed on a palletized load. Does the company have enough trailers? Does the carrier have enough drivers and tractors?

How much space and manpower will the DC have to add? What about stores and the pallets? Many stores struggle with space as it is. You can't just put pallets back on the trailer outside of the sweep schedule. Backhauls are an important piece of our distribution channel.

I worked logistics 15 years. This model is not feasible. The payroll saved at the store would be far shadowed by the extra payroll spent at the DC.

 

[Fix It]

Trucks are going to be expected to be palletized by the end of the year from what I’ve been told and a pilot program is already starting in certain areas.

The couple DC guys who complain that “it can’t be done! We don’t have the set up!” Are going to have to learn to adapt pretty quick. Everyone’s pretty tired of the dogshit filled trucks with piles of boxes falling everywhere. We palletize our shit we sweep back, now you can too. Hopefully by 2019 the Us Vs Them sentiment will be gone. You guys can keep your OT but Spot caught on to you collecting it for untangling rubber bands for hours on end. Spots 30 year old archaic logistical process needs this facelift.

 

[Rock Lobster]

Name 3.

Less filled trailers mean more trailers. Ever take an added truck? Do you get added payroll for it? Your unload team is more apt to sort things better than the DC. Transition? Bulk? Id rather have the team pull off 15 cases of bulk on the backstock than it be mixed on a palletized load. Does the company have enough trailers? Does the carrier have enough drivers and tractors?

How much space and manpower will the DC have to add? What about stores and the pallets? Many stores struggle with space as it is. You can't just put pallets back on the trailer outside of the sweep schedule. Backhauls are an important piece of our distribution channel.

I worked logistics 15 years. This model is not feasible. The payroll saved at the store would be far shadowed by the extra payroll spent at the DC.

1) Flexibility in carrier delivery schedules. We don’t have to only unload between 4am to 6am for most stores since unloads could be performed during store operating hours without being disruptive.

2) Carrier would not need to unhook and move trailers around. If it’s not a backhaul they can just pull up, we unload, and they go on their way. This would mean we wouldn’t need to own so many trailers.

3) availability for segregated trailers. I often get forecasted for 7 trailers, and I can tell the product was not available at certain times of the week. By grouping stores into routes, you can average out the freight flow on a trailer (for example, the ULV store nearby regularly receives 1400 piece trailers at the end of the week, and I can at times be close to adding a trailer which requires an extra delivery while the half empty trailer is being delivered a mile away and not usable for us.

 

[qmosqueen]

and my distribution center is hiring ..
Warehouse Worker and Packer (starting @ $14.58/hr) job - Target Corporation - West Jefferson, OH - https://www.logisticsjobsite.com/jobs/warehouse-worker-and-packer-starting-14-58-hr-west-jefferson-oh-587069157-job.html

 

[RhettB]

1) Flexibility in carrier delivery schedules. We don’t have to only unload between 4am to 6am for most stores since unloads could be performed during store operating hours without being disruptive.

2) Carrier would not need to unhook and move trailers around. If it’s not a backhaul they can just pull up, we unload, and they go on their way. This would mean we wouldn’t need to own so many trailers.

3) availability for segregated trailers. I often get forecasted for 7 trailers, and I can tell the product was not available at certain times of the week. By grouping stores into routes, you can average out the freight flow on a trailer (for example, the ULV store nearby regularly receives 1400 piece trailers at the end of the week, and I can at times be close to adding a trailer which requires an extra delivery while the half empty trailer is being delivered a mile away and not usable for us.

We'll agree to disagree.

 

[notfit05]

It can be sorted to within a couple of aisles, and it is already being done that way at many grocery store DCs. It just requires renovating the DCs to accommodate it.

This is the DC that serves the grocery store I work for, and you can see them building pallets:

Another (very expensive) option is to go fully automated:

That’s assuming everything is picked from reserves which it’s not a good portion of what goes onto the trailer in outbound flows directly through the dc from receiving ( off of a vendor trailer transfer etc ) directly to outbound and goes on the stores trailer

 

[can't touch this]

Trucks are going to be expected to be palletized by the end of the year from what I’ve been told and a pilot program is already starting in certain areas.

The couple DC guys who complain that “it can’t be done! We don’t have the set up!” Are going to have to learn to adapt pretty quick. Everyone’s pretty tired of the dogshit filled trucks with piles of boxes falling everywhere. We palletize our shit we sweep back, now you can too. Hopefully by 2019 the Us Vs Them sentiment will be gone. You guys can keep your OT but Spot caught on to you collecting it for untangling rubber bands for hours on end. Spots 30 year old archaic logistical process needs this facelift.

I used to work for a company that palletized outbound at the DC, many fun experiences to tell including

- Burst-open cases of tuna and Campbells' tossed on the pallet like it was nothing, often writhing with maggots and C. botulinum colonies when it arrived at our dock
- Pallets loaded with 40 lb cases of cat litter on top and cases of Pringles on the bottom, causing the pallet to lean at a big angle and collapse as soon as it was touched, even before the pallet wrap was cut
- Many, many cases of refrigerated/frozen perishables loaded on ambient dry grocery pallets, a fuckton of spoiled cases of cheese and yogurt wasted

if Target DCs are already cool with chunking casepacks into the trailer all willy nilly now then you can bet everything you own (I already have) that palletizing at the DC will be its own new shitshow, but a shitshow all the same...instead of TMs crushed by random avalanches from the side of Mt. Casepack it'll be TMs crushed by the Leaning Tower of Persil and Easter grass

 

[RhettB]

I used to work for a company that palletized outbound at the DC, many fun experiences to tell including

- Burst-open cases of tuna and Campbells' tossed on the pallet like it was nothing, often writhing with maggots and C. botulinum colonies when it arrived at our dock
- Pallets loaded with 40 lb cases of cat litter on top and cases of Pringles on the bottom, causing the pallet to lean at a big angle and collapse as soon as it was touched, even before the pallet wrap was cut
- Many, many cases of refrigerated/frozen perishables loaded on ambient dry grocery pallets, a fuckton of spoiled cases of cheese and yogurt wasted

if Target DCs are already cool with chunking casepacks into the trailer all willy nilly now then you can bet everything you own (I already have) that palletizing at the DC will be its own new shitshow, but a shitshow all the same...instead of TMs crushed by random avalanches from the side of Mt. Casepack it'll be TMs crushed by the Leaning Tower of Persil and Easter grass

No.. the DC would never load half assed. Just look at my avatar pic.

 

[Stocker]

What a dumbass, you either spend the time to sort or you have an employee wandering around the fucking store for an hours to push it one item at a time.. Sort that shit and you can spend in total about a hour to sort and push with someone who knows what the fuck they are doing.

Just saw this on a TM/TL rant/confession FB page.

Brace yourselves folks. Monday will reveal monumental changes in target leader structure
* no more flow team
* no backroom leader
* same leader closing Monday through Friday
*No more log leaders
Probably the most earth shattering changes in a very long time


Haven’t had a BR TL for a while at my store, but this rest of this just seems pretty crazy to me. But interesting if it turns out to be somewhat true.

You will always have extra people show up early to help stock the truck. Call them salesfloor instead of flow if you want, maybe fewer with less hours. After the first 3 or 4 hours they will leave and whatever is left the rest of the salesfloor can try and finish. I seriously have my doubts if this will completely happen. I know all of this would have been a lot easier on everyone if they decided to start on the DC side first rather then the salesfloor.

As far as DC palletizing freight it can be done...they just need to care. The way most of our trucks our loaded they don't seem to give a sh**.

 

[Lazy]

Well I got told today that were having a 1-2 hour meeting on Monday to discuss big changes.

 

[No I in Team]

After reading through this post, we're in trouble.

We can't do "just in time" inventory replenishment or anything remotely close to it. It requires a lot of control at the end users position along with constant monitoring by both people and a capable inventory management system. We don't have the hours nor is our inventory management system accurate enough to generate correct quantities for replenishment.

To operate to such a replenishment system would require the entire system be optimized to maximize inventory turns while controlling cost and preventing shortages. We can't do that now. What in the world makes anyone think we could do this by shipping pieces?

Not to mention the DC's haven't change over nor is there any apparent movement in that direction company wide. This type of system is going to take time to implement. Wait, what am I thinking!?! This is Target, we'll wait till Fourth Quarter and do it all at once!

I'll go out on a limb here and say that no one on this board could tell me what Target's optimal turn around time for the internal supply chain is currently. I'm talking about the time it takes to move not a case, but a piece (eaches?!?) through our process. What about optimal levels of inventory for every item in the store? This include peak and non peak demands. This would have to be monitored closely and changed as needed if we change to replenishment by the piece vs case quantity. If not, we'll have all kinds of inventory issues. Hello Canada part 2!

What I have learned is that we have no idea what the actual cost are associated with steps within our process. That's why we are often under staffed and scheduled short. Then we have equipment or the lack there of along with the discipline of allocation.

Eventually the ugly truth is going to surface of what it is going to take to staff a store to support all of the wonderful "Minneapolis" ideas. When that hits, a lot of us low volume stores will not have the margins to support the company plan.

 

[can't touch this]

It's almost like these changes are made arbitrarily by people who are very far removed from the conditions on the ground

 

[StockerAce]

How long did your store try it for? Are your trucks/backroom back to normal now?

It was at least a couple months...during 4th quarter too. LOL. They abandoned it a month or so ago. Our backroom is always packed. We are a Super and our DC just likes to send us cases and cases of product to clear out their own space. Then we have no space. It makes zero sense to me and everyone knows the DC does it because they assume we'll sell it. The replenishment system is broken now...they should fix it before trying to 'update' or refine it.

 

[StockerAce]

If its done the way the currently do repacks, it will be a disaster. It has to be sorted at the DC per aisle to work. IN fact all repacks need to be sorted per aisle right now.

It wasn't sorted by aisle...it was sorted by fillgroup. Fruit (like fruit cups, applesauce squeezers) are in the snacks fillgroup, so they would come mixed with chips/snacks. They are on completely opposite ends of grocery. Baking is mixed with cereal and spices. Spices and baking are in different aisles, but it's all in the same fillgroup so it was put into one repack. It was very poorly done.

 

[commiecorvus]

It's almost like these changes are made arbitrarily by people who are very far removed from the conditions on the ground