Archived Modernization Routine

[allnew2]

Looking to create consistency for my team in HL. Wondering if anyone has suggestions for creating routines for both inbound and non-inbound TMs in Gen Merch areas. What you or your TL have set as regular expectations, that seem to work well?

We're stuck in the freight-focused push and it's ruining productivity for other things, like pricing, zoning, auditing and setting. Want to create habits so everything is addressed better.

Inbound tm supports the area that got hit the most that day. Pp1 comes in at 6 am , zone , returns than drops manual , pull manual stocks the manual, push freight and then shoots the exf. Same as for priority 2 they come in at 10. That’s how you gonna end like this . Whoever has revisions or pogs to set , then inbound supports that person with pulls and freight.

 

[allnew2]

The whole purpose of this process is to have your floor full and your Backroom empty . Push manual autofill first, to minimize backstocking open case pack from freight. Shoot exf after everything for the same reason. What you might scan exf for might be in your manual autofill or freight then you have doubles . Best practice to work is manual first , freight second , exf at the end .

 

[allnew2]

A lot of GVPs are wanting EXFs shot first with the idea of draining the backroom of eaches and backstocking casepacks. So don’t blame your TLs ETLs and STL when something is changed that seems counterintuitive; we’re being made to do it by someone who’s never actually worked in a store.

Blame your tl if he can’t fight for what’s efficient. I went head to head with the Stl about wanting exf first . I said no I’m the logistic person I know the process better than the one that sits in the office coming up with ideas .

 

[BackroomAlpha]

Only way to create a solid routine for every inherited task is to have 2 business owners in each department. One scheduled to work freight, one scheduled later to set SPL and REV, price change, zone, exempt fill etc. For the on coming shift which is the stocker. The issue that's is forthcoming for every store is they're buried in freight and 2-3 days behind on filling because it's got to be abandoned with the other important tasks I just mentioned.

The problem.....PAYROLL PAYROLL PAYROLL. Corporate needs to understand that we will succeed with this process ONLY if we have the payroll to complete it. And there are other important aspects to running this business such as keeping the employee morale a steady level. TMs are becoming worn out, we've had 32 call ins this month alone! Why? Because they are worn out, it's a lot to handle and the minor pay raise is not enough to be worth it.

 

[busyzoningtoys]

Blame your tl if he can’t fight for what’s efficient. I went head to head with the Stl about wanting exf first . I said no I’m the logistic person I know the process better than the one that sits in the office coming up with ideas .

I’m good on losing my job over fighting modernization. What I will fight for 100% of the time is not expecting the team to simply finish everything despite not being given enough time. I make it clear that the expectation is that for those 4.5 hours, they are giving their best and working hard and efficiently and being productive with their time. I refuse to coach them for not meeting unrealistic expectations.

 

[gsa4lyfe]

Why would you push freight before manual autofill?

Because the whole point of a manual is to fill the holes the truck didn’t. Same reason you acknowledge your truck before your autos drop. So that you're not working against yourself.

 

[Fluttervale]

Only way to create a solid routine for every inherited task is to have 2 business owners in each department. One scheduled to work freight, one scheduled later to set SPL and REV, price change, zone, exempt fill etc. For the on coming shift which is the stocker. The issue that's is forthcoming for every store is they're buried in freight and 2-3 days behind on filling because it's got to be abandoned with the other important tasks I just mentioned.

The problem.....PAYROLL PAYROLL PAYROLL. Corporate needs to understand that we will succeed with this process ONLY if we have the payroll to complete it. And there are other important aspects to running this business such as keeping the employee morale a steady level. TMs are becoming worn out, we've had 32 call ins this month alone! Why? Because they are worn out, it's a lot to handle and the minor pay raise is not enough to be worth it.

And my team is doing modernization correctly with the payroll we are given and have had zero call outs in five weeks now.

It is a leadership issue in your store. I've been at the ETL level in retail for 20 years, until Target (family medical issues require that I be able to leave work at a moment's notice). There are a LOT of leaders that don't know how to make it work. That feel bad pushing their team. That think that Susan can go slower because she zones really well. That think the problem comes from corporate. They get too much of the wrong freight, and SFS jacks up their back room. If other people just did their jobs right...

It is a mindset issue. The team will never believe it is possible if the TL doesn't. The TL will never believe it is possible if the ETL doesn't. And so on. Susan can push faster, she just doesn't think she can and she won't until her leader makes it harder for her to go slow than it is to go fast. The zone doesn't have to be perfect (5 minutes per valley is more than enough). Salesplanners don't have to be perfect. But you do have to get the product out of the back room.

Get out of the mindset that corporate is screwing you. You are screwing yourself by choosing to stay and choosing not to change, if that is your mindset. If you can't get in the "I can make this work" mindset, your team won't either.

 

[Fluttervale]

Oh, and if you have 32 call offs a month, you are handling call outs wrong. Every single call out gets a conversation about how you need them here and what went wrong because they called out. No matter why. You can be sympathetic to their reasons while still being firm in that they need to be here.

They will stop calling out because they don't feel like working. They might call out sick, but it won't be because they feel like doing something else. Make it more emotionally unpleasant to call out.

 

[Far from newbie]

The whole purpose of this process is to have your floor full and your Backroom empty . Push manual autofill first, to minimize backstocking open case pack from freight. Shoot exf after everything for the same reason. What you might scan exf for might be in your manual autofill or freight then you have doubles . Best practice to work is manual first , freight second , exf at the end .

EXACTLY THIS is the issue, and reason for 1. Auto, 2. Exf 3. Freight last (albeit - next day):
“what you might scan exf for might be in your manual auto fill or freight THEN YOU HAVE DOUBLES

O.K. So I would rather push the double that is an older EACH from the backroom and keep the newer case pack untouched in backstock than to open the freight, keep the older item in the backroom and create additional eaches from the partially pushed new case pack

Dated to expire items and DPCI’s with changing packaging - push all the same/older stuff before opening new stuff !
Remember when we had identical DPCI’s with RE packaging and Made By Design packaging ? RE in the backroom while MBD being delivered new
Ever push pharmacy and find 5 different expiration dates on the shelves - some YEARS apart ?

Leave freight for LAST after ALL backroom push is done
If you Fix on-hands as you go - your pulls going forward will be smaller and more accurate

The closer should shoot/pull/push/backstock exf batches to prep the area for the freight inbound pusher in the morning

3 tm’s per day -
all must come clean or it is impossible to correctly fix on-hand counts

8-12 Opening - inbound - pushes truck - bulk of floor fill (should be the only one opening case packs)
12-4 Mid - GM - push AUTO fill batch - less fill than truck but fills to capacity what is in backroom - should only be eaches fill
4-8 Closer - shoots EXF - a MANUAL fill batch - closes the gaps with the smallest final fill from backroom locations (again - eaches )
readies area for next day truck push.
Closer is like the old in-stocks team that would shoot for fill of outs/lows of items erroneously in the backroom
If these batches are large then your inbound is backstocking push

Area is prepped and filled from backroom the day before new inbound stock is delivered.
Afternoon and evening tm’s fill in salesfloor gaps before truck comes next day.
Rinse and repeat.
***Each tm must:
1. come clean - pull/push/backstock
2. Fix on-hands to minimize erroneous fills
Really should be ; 1. AUTO-fill (purges backroom of fill BEFORE next truck ). 2. EXF- (MANUAL FILL - of older stuff in BR) 3. TRUCK (most fill of new merch )
But we push truck in the am , not pm so we have to ready the day before.

EXF SHOULD BE DONE : AFTER AUTO-FILL PUSH AND BEFORE TRUCK PUSH

 

[Go2TL]

And my team is doing modernization correctly with the payroll we are given and have had zero call outs in five weeks now.

It is a leadership issue in your store. I've been at the ETL level in retail for 20 years, until Target (family medical issues require that I be able to leave work at a moment's notice). There are a LOT of leaders that don't know how to make it work. That feel bad pushing their team. That think that Susan can go slower because she zones really well. That think the problem comes from corporate. They get too much of the wrong freight, and SFS jacks up their back room. If other people just did their jobs right...

It is a mindset issue. The team will never believe it is possible if the TL doesn't. The TL will never believe it is possible if the ETL doesn't. And so on. Susan can push faster, she just doesn't think she can and she won't until her leader makes it harder for her to go slow than it is to go fast. The zone doesn't have to be perfect (5 minutes per valley is more than enough). Salesplanners don't have to be perfect. But you do have to get the product out of the back room.

Get out of the mindset that corporate is screwing you. You are screwing yourself by choosing to stay and choosing not to change, if that is your mindset. If you can't get in the "I can make this work" mindset, your team won't either.

I have to ask, "If modernization is working well for you at your store, How long have you been doing moderation? What does your routines for your DBO'S look like? What are samples of their scheduled hours? How are they getting through their revisions/SPL's/ Price Change? Payroll? ETL's/SD working right along side TM's?" I'm happy it's working for your store but it's not just the mindset it's actual facts that you can't make something out of nothing. For my store, payroll is the biggest factor and obstacle. Can't make someone push 6 hours worth of workload if they're only scheduled 4.
I can eventuality see this modernization working but until we get the right formula for our store it's going to be a long road with many bumps and potholes.

 

[Far from newbie]

Oh, and if you have 32 call offs a month, you are handling call outs wrong. Every single call out gets a conversation about how you need them here and what went wrong because they called out. No matter why. You can be sympathetic to their reasons while still being firm in that they need to be here.

They will stop calling out because they don't feel like working. They might call out sick, but it won't be because they feel like doing something else. Make it more emotionally unpleasant to call out.

Exactly.
My leadership is WEAK on call-outs, drives me crazy how they act like it’s all o.k.
I think they are thankful that payroll is saved, But the work isn’t getting done ! Or it is made harder for the rest of the team cause the call-out is not replaced.
It seems like call outs are getting positive reinforcement through sympathy and lighter workloads instead of punishment and guilt that they made their peers work harder.

 

[Fluttervale]

I have to ask, "If modernization is working well for you at your store, How long have you been doing moderation? What does your routines for your DBO'S look like? What are samples of their scheduled hours? How are they getting through their revisions/SPL's/ Price Change? Payroll? ETL's/SD working right along side TM's?" I'm happy it's working for your store but it's not just the mindset it's actual facts that you can't make something out of nothing. For my store, payroll is the biggest factor and obstacle. Can't make someone push 6 hours worth of workload if they're only scheduled 4.
I can eventuality see this modernization working but until we get the right formula for our store it's going to be a long road with many bumps and potholes.

I outlined the work in my previous post on this thread.

They show up and do autofills, and drop fill to capacity before pulling. Then push truck, zoning and auditing as they go, amd backstocking. Afterwards they do price change. I do salesplanners, 12 steps, and pick up any slack. I often pull their pulls, especially if they are big.

My produce person does meat and deli, and pulls the dry pulls (she's good and needs the hours). I also have a dairy person and grocery person on non truck days.

On truck days I add 2 more grocery people, and on frozen days I ass a frozen person. On non frozen days the grocery people handle frozen.

You really need to look at whether people are beinv asked to do 6 hours worth of work in 4 hours, or whether you think 4 hours worth of work looks like six. Add up how many minutes the vehicle should take (1 minute per box plus 10 minutes for backstock and trash). Set a timer and see what happens. Note your obstacles (each box was in a different aisle, everything was stocked in the wrong place so I had to move it, the system said zero but the home was full, I kept dumping trash on the floor because it was on a flat) and change those things.

 

[jenna]

It is a leadership issue in your store. I've been at the ETL level in retail for 20 years, until Target (family medical issues require that I be able to leave work at a moment's notice). There are a LOT of leaders that don't know how to make it work. That feel bad pushing their team. That think that Susan can go slower because she zones really well. That think the problem comes from corporate. They get too much of the wrong freight, and SFS jacks up their back room. If other people just did their jobs right...

It is a mindset issue. The team will never believe it is possible if the TL doesn't. The TL will never believe it is possible if the ETL doesn't. And so on. Susan can push faster, she just doesn't think she can and she won't until her leader makes it harder for her to go slow than it is to go fast. The zone doesn't have to be perfect (5 minutes per valley is more than enough). Salesplanners don't have to be perfect. But you do have to get the product out of the back room.

You lost me there.

Plus some tm's, TL's and ETL's just don't give a shit. We have a small applicant pool. We can't fire everyone that is mediocre at their job.

 

[jenna]

Oh, and if you have 32 call offs a month, you are handling call outs wrong. Every single call out gets a conversation about how you need them here and what went wrong because they called out. No matter why. You can be sympathetic to their reasons while still being firm in that they need to be here.

They will stop calling out because they don't feel like working. They might call out sick, but it won't be because they feel like doing something else. Make it more emotionally unpleasant to call out.

This does not correspond with your own post:

It is a leadership issue in your store. I've been at the ETL level in retail for 20 years, until Target (family medical issues require that I be able to leave work at a moment's notice).

I don't need a "talking to" because my kid is sick and I am calling out to take care of him.

🙄

 

[vngoghlvr]

I dont know how they expect me to be a DBO with 4 hours a day and only on truck days. They want autofills first, but there is never equipment available until an hour into my shift. I try to zone but I get told to do truck. Then I finally get around to autofills, and my fillgroup has 2 other departments so I'm pulling their stuff too. Oh and the bath person is out for a bit so I'm covering their stuff too plus hardware when that person is off. WTF? I'm told I should be able to get it all done according to the computer, but my job before didn't involve freight so it's taking me time to gain speed. We were told to not worry about pricing or labels yet, so the store has at least 2500 items in price change. And Plano and the VMG want me to train for my resets but when can I do that? It's only been a week and I want to quit, it is so frustrating. We had people from district and corporate in the other day and I told them I had no training or direction. We were told by our SD to know everything and to get ourselves trained. While barely getting enough hours for our old jobs. It's a mess.

 

[Fluttervale]

You lost me there.

Plus some tm's, TL's and ETL's just don't give a shit. We have a small applicant pool. We can't fire everyone that is mediocre at their job.

You don't have to fire anyone. I've only fired one person and had one quit in 4 months; both screamed at an ETL.

You just have to make it harder to be mediocre than it is to be good. You push everyone, all the time. I check in with my team hourly. "This is your second vehicle? Great, push the whatever one next. Try to get four before your lunch." If they always have to tell you they aren't meeting expectations, that hurts emotionally, and they will work harder. When they do, you constantly tell them they are awesome.

 

[Fluttervale]

This does not correspond with your own post:



I don't need a "talking to" because my kid is sick and I am calling out to take care of him.

🙄

Sure it does. I don't mind getting a conversation when I need to leave. It happens to everyone. Shit happens, people need to call out. Historically I call out about 3 days a year.

It's about justifying it to yourself. I can justify calling out because my kid is sick (which, btw, we are intermittent fmla eligible). I can justify it to myself and my boss. But I bet it stings when someone tries to justify "I was hungover." "I forgot to ask for the weekend my boyfriend is home." "I didn't feel like working."

My point is that you can't discriminate on "valid" vs "not valid" reasons or they will just lie. It doesn't matter why. I care if shit is going down and I can tell you I put people on intermittent fmla all the time and refer the eap. I don't WANT to discipline for attendance and I will do what I can to keep that from happening.

But I also will not tolerate saving 50 hours of payroll a week due to call outs either, which is what I inherited. If I was looking at one absence a month from each team member I wouldn't be having these conversations. But I had multiple tms calling out multiple times a week because they "have a test tomorrow" or their "girlfriend is in town."

 

[YourPPTL]

I'm a GM2 lead former PPTL. I Have pets, paper, chemicals, personal care, o. I have one expert in each dept. They are scheduled four-hour shifts. We receive 6 trucks a week. It's a challenge to finish the push each morning. Pull their autos and back stock. This week we had sales planners in ever dept but pets, they were scheduled a few extra hours but honestly, I set most of the end caps and helped with push. Too much fright not enough hours.

 

[ShortTM]

I think stationary push could be a lot faster if 1) bullseye wasnt mixed in with #6 repacks and 2) boxes of product from the repacks were sent as casepacks or at least had a pick label so we don't need to scan every item. In the ideal world casepacks would be sorted by aisle but I know that would never happen. I've never been able to push a 12 repack stationary u-boat with combos and regular casepacks mixed in too after the unload but before it's time to clock out. I usually give myself 30 minutes to get to the backroom, take care of backstock (our backroom is a mess and part of the stationary/office aisle has part of market), move bullseye onto the bullseye flat, take care of any trash/defects, and make it up to the time clock. So pretty much I only get 90 minutes of push time. Can't wait for longer shifts starting next week.

Oh yeah, and whoever helped push the rollover on a non-truck day didn't take products out of wrappers (like tissue paper or notepads) before putting it in the salesfloor and didn't locate some of their backstock.

 

[allnew2]

Because the whole point of a manual is to fill the holes the truck didn’t. Same reason you acknowledge your truck before your autos drop. So that you're not working against yourself.

Just wrong all around . The manual is to be drop fill for depth not capacity. Your exf fills your holes and whatever didn’t get filled your truck will. I acknowledge the truck 30 minutes before the auto fill.

 

[allnew2]

I have to ask, "If modernization is working well for you at your store, How long have you been doing moderation? What does your routines for your DBO'S look like? What are samples of their scheduled hours? How are they getting through their revisions/SPL's/ Price Change? Payroll? ETL's/SD working right along side TM's?" I'm happy it's working for your store but it's not just the mindset it's actual facts that you can't make something out of nothing. For my store, payroll is the biggest factor and obstacle. Can't make someone push 6 hours worth of workload if they're only scheduled 4.
I can eventuality see this modernization working but until we get the right formula for our store it's going to be a long road with many bumps and potholes.

5:30 I come in acknowledge the truck , 6 am the inbound comes in . 6:30 to 2:30 dbo’s for pp1 comes , 1 baby, one pets and paper, one chem, 2 hbo, one otc all are scheduled full shifts everyday and the days are off the backups are scheduled for full shifts, pp2 comes in at 10 to 6:30 , one bpls, one home, one seasonal, one toys, one stat and office , one beds , bath and dom, . They all have same strategy per my direction. Manual autofill, exf and freight. If someone’s have salesplaners or price change to do that’s when I take my inbound team and support them with auto and freight.

 

[gsa4lyfe]

Just wrong all around . The manual is to be drop fill for depth not capacity. Your exf fills your holes and whatever didn’t get filled your truck will. I acknowledge the truck 30 minutes before the auto fill.

Alright 😂 you’re working against yourself. So if you drop a full for depth for a fillgroup and it has you pull 10 bags of m&ms so you push those m&ms. Now you just got a case of M&Ms off the truck that you have to work regardless of dropping a manual. Oh whoops the M&Ms are full now I have to backstock this case. You’re telling me that’s more efficient? No. I also could see your argument that if you acknowledge the truck before you drop manuals the system already thinks that product you will be pushing is on the floor but it still doesn’t make sense. You should be:

1.) push the truck because it has to be worked regardless.
2.) drop a fill for depth to well “fill in depth”
3.) EXF and product that didn’t pull and fix SFQ because that’s likely why it didn’t pull.

Edit: the only reason I could see for doing manuals and exf first is if your store has an issue with out of dates but the rest of the store should always push the truck first

 

[seasonaldude]

O.K. So I would rather push the double that is an older EACH from the backroom and keep the newer case pack untouched in backstock than to open the freight, keep the older item in the backroom and create additional eaches from the partially pushed new case pack

Flex fill is just going to come through, rip open those case packs for the one item we need, and shove the rest of it in any open stock location where there is space. People complain about FF messing up their backroom aisles. Well, if you wanted a clean backroom you'd leave stuff in open stock for us so we could grab just what we need and be on our way. We don't have the time to take care of your backroom aisles like you would take care of them. And, it makes no difference to us. As long as something is located it really doesn't matter where exactly.

I'm just saying. 🤷‍♂️

 

[allnew2]

So if you drop a full for depth for a fillgroup and it has you pull 10 bags of m&ms so you push those m&ms. Now you just got a case of M&Ms off the truck that you have to work regardless of dropping a manual. Oh whoops the M&Ms are full now I have to backstock this case. You’re telling me that’s more efficient?

So if you work your m&m from your freight and then pull you manual auto and m&m is in your auto fill is that efficient? No, why? Because you opened your m&m from the freight and backstock remaining in a open stock , then you pull your manual auto with m&m in it and you touch it twice to pull and backstock back and then you are on the report for suspect pull. It’s more efficient to backstock a case pack than open stock. And since I started this process I have come clean and current everyday .

 

[allnew2]

Flex fill is just going to come through, rip open those case packs for the one item we need, and shove the rest of it in any open stock location where there is space. People complain about FF messing up their backroom aisles. Well, if you wanted a clean backroom you'd leave stuff in open stock for us so we could grab just what we need and be on our way. We don't have the time to take care of your backroom aisles like you would take care of them. And, it makes no difference to us. As long as something is located it really doesn't matter where exactly.

I'm just saying. 🤷‍♂️

No disrespect you would be out of sfs or logistics if I was your lead.