Archived CAF Triggers

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So I heard my ETL-LOG say that our CAF triggers will be "increased" in the next upcoming weeks which would increase the workload in the backroom. I am not familiar with the trigger term that much, so I have some questions about it. Is the CAF trigger (for an item I'm assuming) a number that correlates to the sales accumulator and the sales floor capacity? How do CAF triggers compare with the size of different items as well as quantity out on the sales floor? Are CAF triggers typically the same throughout the day or do they change depending on the volume of the store? Is there a difference between them for Autofills, Scheduled CAFs, and Manual CAFS? How do they get changed and for what reasons would they be changed?
 
you are correct the triggers are once x% of the capacity is sold through(varies by item and casepack size) it will trigger it on a batch, I believe the hourly ones are the same trigger but the autofills are different because they are much heavier pulls than the hourlys, kleenex is a good example, it may not pull any all day because a casepack is 27 and there is room for a couple cases on the floor location but overnight it could pull a full case of it .
 
Yep, you've got it just about right, but the trigger percentages are in terms of remaining capacity, not in terms of sell-through. That is to say: an item might have a trigger at 30% for the Scheduled CAFs, meaning that it won't pull any of the item until the accumulator thinks the shelf is only 30% full (so for a shelf capacity of 30, it won't pull until the accumulator value or "need" reaches 21 (70%)). For the Autofill, though, the trigger will be higher--say, 60%, so it will pull some of the item if the accumulator value is at 12 (40%) or more, because it's easier to pull and stock things during the Autofill process (and it increases the number of items that will start the day with a full shelf). And for a manual CAF, unless things have changed since I left, there are no trigger percentages. It should pull any item that has a backroom location and a non-zero accumulator value--this is why manual CAFs sometimes pull things that don't even have sales floor locations (or, again, at least they used to).

As to consistency throughout the day, I was never aware of any triggers that changed from one CAF to the next, though it certainly wouldn't be impossible to set the system up that way. It might even make sense--you might leave a low trigger for the 11am-2pm batches, letting the shelf get a bit emptier when there's nobody shopping anway, but set the triggers higher (meaning it pulls the item after fewer units have sold) for the 3pm-5pm batches in order to keep the shelves looking extra full and impactful during the hours people actually shop.

And as to why they'd be increased, well, that's just an extension of the last point--it keeps the shelves closer to full at all times, which improves the presentation/brand. You'll pull the item more often, but fewer of it each time; apparently HQ has decided that for your store, the extra work will be justified by the improved appearance.
 
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According to my ETL-Log, the hourly CAF batches focus on different departments in different hours. I assume this means the trigger has to change or it wouldn't really affect anything.
 
According to my ETL-Log, the hourly CAF batches focus on different departments in different hours. I assume this means the trigger has to change or it wouldn't really affect anything.

Some fill groups simply aren't run in certain hours. E.g., there may only be batches for the TOY groups at 11, 2, and 4. It isn't that the trigger percentages are different at 12, 1, 3, and 5--there just won't be batches, period. I'm pretty sure the trigger percentages are the same for all three of the batches, though, like I said above.
 
I think this is effective April 1st, pulls will be heavy at first but will level out after a week or two. Everyones triggers are different based on sales and region I believe. My area hourly cafs = 65%, manuals are 30%, autofills range from 35%-50% depending on department (grocery, hba, pharmacy and cosm I think are at the higher end of the triggers = bigger pulls). I'm not really expecting to see the increased workload they warn of.
 
I think this is effective April 1st, pulls will be heavy at first but will level out after a week or two. Everyones triggers are different based on sales and region I believe. My area hourly cafs = 65%, manuals are 30%, autofills range from 35%-50% depending on department (grocery, hba, pharmacy and cosm I think are at the higher end of the triggers = bigger pulls). I'm not really expecting to see the increased workload they warn of.
The last time they made a change, I was told they would be heavy for awhile and level out. Still waiting for them to level out.
 
With the last change ours was heavy for like 2-3 days after that didnt really seem to be any bigger. Even the changes theyve done in the holidays never impacted us heavily of course we did a solid week of misc manuals before they changed.
 
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