Hey. I am a Flow Team Lead (overnight 9:30-6:30) in New Jersey. I can sit here and give you awesome tips and tricks to survive your new role but in essence, you will soon learn that my tips might not work for your store. Your team will already have their own set of routines set in play. So step back and tweak anything that comes off as unproductive, too many steps taking place. I've been a flow team lead for a year and half and I'm still correcting and coming up with new ideas to make my nights run smoothly. My best advice is manage talent like crazyyyyyy! I trained numerous tm's, giving them the opportunity to run the floor in my absence, taught them how to pull up reports, acknowledge trucks, run the unloads all alone. Although they will not be running the floor when you are there, they will be your second pair of eyes and follow up on other processes that are going on throughout the store. "Hey can you check on the softlines team for me? Ensure they understand that their goal time is 3 am". Get your team to respect you but also enjoy working with you. Cut out the weeds instantly. Without a productive team, you will be unsuccessful. Its not about the quantity of team members you will have but the quality. I've had successful 2500 piece truck nights with 15 TM's in total. Sometimes you have to bribe... requisition out some snack and drinks, get them going, put some music on, talk to them, joke with them. It'll all pay off in the long run. WHen your team enjoys working with you, everything else falls in place.
WHen it comes to the actual process, this is how i start my night (very detailed but remember, I am the team lead, you are the ETL)
-Come in, check the call out log, print out all reports needed for the truck unload (truck size, bulk, security reports, load summary etc.)
-Check schedule, make a plan according to the team you have. WHos going where?
- Set up unload, ensure receiving is 100%. Check for empty jailers to start your night.
-acknowledge truck, put in push mode, scan about 5 items ( this will allow you to see what exactly is going to be pus and backstock from the truck unload. this doesnt include autofills)
-follow up with the overnight backroom team or dayside closing etl to see if they have any CAF pulls that werent pushed. One team one dream...those CAFs are now added to our autos)
-once the team comes in, ensure every team member comes to the unload before sending them out to do specific things. the unload is the most important. this will make or break your night. One tm will be the difference between a one hour unload, or hour and a half. keep in mind, any time lost, should be seen as (if there are 15 tms, you lost 30 minutes at the unload, multiply that together...thats the official time you are losing)
-ensure you have a quick huddle, let them know truck size, whats push whats backstock, make sure they quickly stretch, double check that your unloaders have their step stools. ((never ever ever unload or scan the truck yourself. utilize the team, step back and jump in when needed) (unloaders must be swapped every 30 minutes)
- during the unload, you want to be sure the teams productively stacking their pallets, from front to back. Let them know to call out when they need their pallet pulled. If you must, grab a jack and take it out for them. If a tm is getting swamped with freight, jump in and help or call out to another tm who isnt getting too much freight, to help their peer. I let everyone know that they are not just responsible for their own custom block, but for everyones custom block.
- tip: if there is bulk coming out, trap it at the front of the line. If you let it roll down, your line will get backed up ultimately leaving the unloaders to stop unloading.
- before the team leaves receiving, you push an empty repack box on the line and let them know it is for chargeback. they will have broken items under the line. Have them put it in and continue to send it down the line. No one leaves receiving until it is 100%.
-Your store might be different but I let my team have a quick 15 min break right after. It gives me enough time to walk the floor and see whats going on, what needs to be going on.
-I have one or two people designated to bowl out the entire store all night. In most cases, they are bowling out during the unload and even during the teams 15 min break. They go on break for 45 min at 1:45. (our 30 min break begins at 2)
- before the team comes out, have blades ready for them. No matter how many times you give these tm's blades, they will always come to work unprepared. I laugh it off now.
- for productivity, I let the team know they must have two carts with them at all times while in the aisle. One cart will be for backstock the other is for plastics and cardboard. As soon as they are done, they come out their aisle, pass me their backstock cart, empty out their cardboad and plastics and keep it moving. Speed is key, if a team member is taking too long, correct it.
- as for repacks and autofill cart, I designate a group of 3 or 4 to complete all throughout the store. They wave them together. One person will break down that department, push the rest of the carts with the other 3, then jump to the next department. When help is needed (when our autofills are 37 hours, I have the team pushing the ground quickly help out giving them a boost)
- electronics and cosmetics is done by one tm as well. WHen he or she is done with both, she joins either the cart team or push on the ground, whichever is falling behind.
- now softlines.... this is my headache because I cannot be babysitting them. The quote "when the cats away, the mice will play"....yea thats what occurs at my store. Most times I have to continuously follow up...every 10 minutes which is annoying. With that process, I have 4 tms (usually girls just because their isnt much heavy lifting occuring) I will have one tm breakout all their repacks for sort (basics) first, babies, then jump into the Z's while the other three are pushing babies, jumping onto the carts of sort, shoes, then helping with the z's. Giving them their goal time is crucial because at the end of the night, if goal time wasnt met, a coaching conversation must take place with the entire team.
Everything else is quick decision making. Sometimes I must run the backroom team as well but thats another detailed process as well. lol.
As I said, your team has a routine already but if it isnt working, change it up. Any of questions please feel free to send me a direct message.