MEGATHREAD End to End team PILOT

[Bosch]

I don't get this. Items being in location has little to do with inventory. If anything, a few things may flag to go to the floor, but without floor counts being updated it's useless. That's a huge waste of time better spent zoning, rubber banding, and checking details like bcodes.

We were catching that and salvage, assortments, multiple DCPI's rubber banded together that shouldn't have been. Stuff that was sitting there but never actually backstocked, expired shit that was back there for months, but they knew it was going to be a fuckered up inventory. They knew they had tons of shit back there that was never stowed. And just walking through to my breaks and lunch it was clear they were fucked either way, so I took the hours and the money. New ETL cleaning house was what I was feeling..

 

[anathema]

So softlines backstocks it?

BR backstocks anything immediately off the truck. Anything that softlines breaks out is theirs, backstock and all. New sets that softlines isn't trying to push to the floor is really all we should have.

 

[StockerAce]

Example of aforementioned snarky comment: "I don't know what the big deal with being backroom is. *plunks an item into a waco then walks away with no scanning/data entry* There. I just back stocked. Pretty frikin simple."

We've seen this too. 12 cases of product on one shelf that was on the "empty locs" print out...someone put them there and just walked away. We've had numerous supposedly empty wacos having product in them that was never located.

 

[graffiti]

As of this week all softlines comes to floor. When I detrash case packs are opened ( per Etl ge) and put in carts. Our softline e2e team is responsible for back stocking their own area.

My STL tried to make us do this. It took until the first time toddler tables set and it took the TL 2 hours to pull all the transition that had been open stock backstocked (instead of 10 minutes of pulling casepacks--we're a high volume SL store and were also being flooded by the DC purging clothes, so our wacos were insane) for that to go back to normal.

 

[Marcellow]

Just saw my week 3 schedule - officially in the Market team but the hours are short as hell. 5 to 5.75 shifts each. After almost 40 hours each week, this blows. I need to pick up a shift.

 

[No I in Team]

I researched E2E and discovered that it has been around for quite a while (10+ yrs.). The problem lies with how we're trying to implement it. We've started at the wrong end.

Apparently this a common mistake made by companies who do not fully understand the process or trying to use it to resolve a logistic problem. It causes all kinds of headaches when it starts in the last half of the logistics process. Most are not resolved either until every aspect of the organization is fully integrated.

It starts at the beginning and rolls forward. Transition issues anyone? What about getting research done? Pog issues? Every element of the business is part of the E2E process. These will be on going issues until the upstream processes that initiate these events are integrated.

The last place of implementation should have been at the store level by what I researched.

The pieces (eaches) thing is nothing new either. It simply combats shortages throughout the supply chain by allowing the DC's to break cases in order to spread product across their service areas. However, it is only recommended under certain circumstances and should never become a standard of practice.

This a short term solution to Spot's long term problem of shortages.

Also to what I mentioned previously, it's a short term solution in regards to expanding online fulfillment at the DC's until more cost effective methods can be developed.

All of the information I reviewed said the same thing: case quantities/dunnage (standard return container quantities) should be utilized whenever possible in order to reduce excess handling and spoilage. Standardization is one of the keys to a successful logistics process. Case breakdowns should only be used when quantities are excessive to demand/capacity, or multipaks, or there is not enough to maintain the supply chain volume.

We are a long ways off from full implementation. BTS/BTC are just a little test of things to come.

Can't wait till 4th qtr!

 

[BoxCutter]

I researched E2E and discovered that it has been around for quite a while (10+ yrs.). The problem lies with how we're trying to implement it. We've started at the wrong end.

Apparently this a common mistake made by companies who do not fully understand the process or trying to use it to resolve a logistic problem. It causes all kinds of headaches when it starts in the last half of the logistics process. Most are not resolved either until every aspect of the organization is fully integrated.

It starts at the beginning and rolls forward. Transition issues anyone? What about getting research done? Pog issues? Every element of the business is part of the E2E process. These will be on going issues until the upstream processes that initiate these events are integrated.

The last place of implementation should have been at the store level by what I researched.

The pieces (eaches) thing is nothing new either. It simply combats shortages throughout the supply chain by allowing the DC's to break cases in order to spread product across their service areas. However, it is only recommended under certain circumstances and should never become a standard of practice.

This a short term solution to Spot's long term problem of shortages.

Also to what I mentioned previously, it's a short term solution in regards to expanding online fulfillment at the DC's until more cost effective methods can be developed.

All of the information I reviewed said the same thing: case quantities/dunnage (standard return container quantities) should be utilized whenever possible in order to reduce excess handling and spoilage. Standardization is one of the keys to a successful logistics process. Case breakdowns should only be used when quantities are excessive to demand/capacity, or multipaks, or there is not enough to maintain the supply chain volume.

We are a long ways off from full implementation. BTS/BTC are just a little test of things to come.

Can't wait till 4th qtr!

What I've been saying since the beginning. Until the DCs are sending eaches, you can't have it working in the stores. We've been E2E in Market since the end of last year. The hours are not there for them. Quality TMs are not on the Market Team. But, what is really killing us is case packs. At least 2 times a week (occasionally 3 times a week) morning huddle is held in Market to push multiple vehicles of freight, pulls, and fills. Would it be perfect if we got in eaches? No. But, it would be more manageable. Yep, forth quarter is going to be a mess trying to find product that has not been pushed or backstocked yet. Not envying Flex and SFS TMs.

 

[graffiti]

Would it be perfect if we got in eaches? No. But, it would be more manageable.

Honestly though, one of my big concerns here is how much care is going to go into packing the repacks. Right now I have to unnecessarily defect a whole lot of stuff out of them because items with more delicate packaging end up with heavy, crushing (and occasionally leaking) items tossed on top. And the product is usually fine otherwise, but the packaging is unsellable. They really need to comb over every single detail of this process.

 

[Redzee]

This. Overflowing repacks throughout my trailer freight. Watch out they're headed your way.

 

[redeye58]

 

[BoxCutter]

Honestly though, one of my big concerns here is how much care is going to go into packing the repacks. Right now I have to unnecessarily defect a whole lot of stuff out of them because items with more delicate packaging end up with heavy, crushing (and occasionally leaking) items tossed on top. And the product is usually fine otherwise, but the packaging is unsellable. They really need to comb over every single detail of this process.

Sooner than later they will have to switch over to the plastic containers like the candy and magazines are delivered in. From other retailers that I've been in, they seem to be the standard. I could see them being returned to the DC daily, or on the next truck, intead of weekly on the sweep to limit the number the company has to purchase and keep the DCs well stocked with them.

 

[Rock Lobster]

I researched E2E and discovered that it has been around for quite a while (10+ yrs.). The problem lies with how we're trying to implement it. We've started at the wrong end.

Apparently this a common mistake made by companies who do not fully understand the process or trying to use it to resolve a logistic problem. It causes all kinds of headaches when it starts in the last half of the logistics process. Most are not resolved either until every aspect of the organization is fully integrated.

It starts at the beginning and rolls forward. Transition issues anyone? What about getting research done? Pog issues? Every element of the business is part of the E2E process. These will be on going issues until the upstream processes that initiate these events are integrated.

The last place of implementation should have been at the store level by what I researched.

The pieces (eaches) thing is nothing new either. It simply combats shortages throughout the supply chain by allowing the DC's to break cases in order to spread product across their service areas. However, it is only recommended under certain circumstances and should never become a standard of practice.

This a short term solution to Spot's long term problem of shortages.

Also to what I mentioned previously, it's a short term solution in regards to expanding online fulfillment at the DC's until more cost effective methods can be developed.

All of the information I reviewed said the same thing: case quantities/dunnage (standard return container quantities) should be utilized whenever possible in order to reduce excess handling and spoilage. Standardization is one of the keys to a successful logistics process. Case breakdowns should only be used when quantities are excessive to demand/capacity, or multipaks, or there is not enough to maintain the supply chain volume.

We are a long ways off from full implementation. BTS/BTC are just a little test of things to come.

Can't wait till 4th qtr!

Well we knew it was backwards already. Like I said, E2E won't work and will feel wrong until they change the DC's.

The eaches model should not be used under the conditions you explained, but these do not quite match up with what Target is facing. They are not using break down as a standard necessarily, but doing so in many of the areas where there is a problem with capacities on the floor and large casepack quantities. I can tell you from a store that takes 7 RDC trailers/week that many of my trucks are trash. I get 2-4 vehicles of HBA cases as push, and 1-2 full flats of backstock every truck. That is a 50% return to the stockroom (and double touch) of the cases currently, and that is with an already heavy repack structure. I get 10-12 vehicles of home/plastics/decor and 3-4 vehicles go to the backroom from push. Remember as well that this is not counting my truck backstock that is already pulling off cases (so HBA has one full pallet of truck backstock per truck as well). I understand where some of these efficiency metrics are coming from, but the amount of double work on the back end with backstock is outrageous. I (in some areas) have to touch the cases multiple more times before it reaches its final destination because Target is unable to flexibly fulfill the required outcome.

 

[StockerAce]

I don't know how the DC operates now with repacks and eaches for grocery, but the one we get stuff from isn't very well organized. Like pointed out, many of the items end up defective for a variety of reasons. And we get this one item in a couple times a week...two or three at a time...and it's been expired since April. So the lady that does the morning sweep has to look for them every day to make sure they aren't on the shelf. We still keep getting them and the date is always the same.

My point being, if they are going to transition to eaches, they need to figure out a better system to keep track of slow moving product.

 

[StockerAce]

Well we knew it was backwards already. Like I said, E2E won't work and will feel wrong until they change the DC's.

The eaches model should not be used under the conditions you explained, but these do not quite match up with what Target is facing. They are not using break down as a standard necessarily, but doing so in many of the areas where there is a problem with capacities on the floor and large casepack quantities. I can tell you from a store that takes 7 RDC trailers/week that many of my trucks are trash. I get 2-4 vehicles of HBA cases as push, and 1-2 full flats of backstock every truck. That is a 50% return to the stockroom (and double touch) of the cases currently, and that is with an already heavy repack structure. I get 10-12 vehicles of home/plastics/decor and 3-4 vehicles go to the backroom from push. Remember as well that this is not counting my truck backstock that is already pulling off cases (so HBA has one full pallet of truck backstock per truck as well). I understand where some of these efficiency metrics are coming from, but the amount of double work on the back end with backstock is outrageous. I (in some areas) have to touch the cases multiple more times before it reaches its final destination because Target is unable to flexibly fulfill the required outcome.

We get a RDC truck 7 days a week. We don't have even near the problems you do...sounds like something is wrong with your counts? We usually get anywhere from 3-5 pallets of push HBA and hardly any cases come back to the backroom. A lot of eaches (usually from repacks), but hardly any cases. Our backstock off the truck is usually less than 30 cases total for HBA. For our domestics, appliances, home stuff we get probably 7-10 pallets of product in a night...and rarely do I have to send back more than a flat worth of backstock. Usually only in plastics with a few items from the other sections.

 

[SFSFun]

Sooner than later they will have to switch over to the plastic containers like the candy and magazines are delivered in. From other retailers that I've been in, they seem to be the standard. I could see them being returned to the DC daily, or on the next truck, intead of weekly on the sweep to limit the number the company has to purchase and keep the DCs well stocked with them.

Except magazines are delivered and stocked by a vendor and checklane candy no longer comes in those. It now comes in regular cardboard repacks on the RDC truck or loose on the FDC truck.

Also, limiting the number of containers wouldn't save money in the long run if they have to pay people at the DC to unload far more return trailers (even with a small amount of stuff) and then move those trailers around. It's not like a trailer goes straight from the loading dock at the DC to your store, then straight back to the same dock at the DC where the sweep is immediately unloaded and your stores next load is immediately started.

 

[Rock Lobster]

We get a RDC truck 7 days a week. We don't have even near the problems you do...sounds like something is wrong with your counts? We usually get anywhere from 3-5 pallets of push HBA and hardly any cases come back to the backroom. A lot of eaches (usually from repacks), but hardly any cases. Our backstock off the truck is usually less than 30 cases total for HBA. For our domestics, appliances, home stuff we get probably 7-10 pallets of product in a night...and rarely do I have to send back more than a flat worth of backstock. Usually only in plastics with a few items from the other sections.

We don't have full cases go to our backroom, we organize our backstock and send it back (as in a case of 6 goes push, but 3 go out and 3 to the back). Again it depends on the freight flow. If I take a 1800 piece it will mostly go out, if I take a 2800 its a waste of product. The DC does not trigger based on what is selling completely, they will just push you what they have to fill the truck.

 

[StockerAce]

The DC does not trigger based on what is selling completely, they will just push you what they have to fill the truck.

I've noticed that a bit...but thought it was a conspiracy theory. Do DC's actually do that!?

Breaking cases really depends on the product and the quantity in a case. We'd break a case of 6 if 3 go out. But we backstock a lot of cases too (we have a ton of backroom space, at least to what I've noticed people talking about on here). For some items we get two or three cases and only half of the first case will go out. That's just numbers being screwy (or the DC just pushing product). I stopped trying to figure out the ordering between the store and the DC...there is no way to figure it out based on what I see stocking shelves. So there's no point.

 

[SrTLall]

I don't know how the DC operates now with repacks and eaches for grocery, but the one we get stuff from isn't very well organized. Like pointed out, many of the items end up defective for a variety of reasons. And we get this one item in a couple times a week...two or three at a time...and it's been expired since April. So the lady that does the morning sweep has to look for them every day to make sure they aren't on the shelf. We still keep getting them and the date is always the same.

My point being, if they are going to transition to eaches, they need to figure out a better system to keep track of slow moving product.

I have no idea why some companies do this, but some expiration dates are actually 'made on' dates. I know the Tazo Tea cartons (maybe not Tazo, but one brand of tea), had a made on date instead of an expiration date. I'm sure some of the market folks on here can list some others as well.

 

[BigEyedPhish]

I have no idea why some companies do this, but some expiration dates are actually 'made on' dates. I know the Tazo Tea cartons (maybe not Tazo, but one brand of tea), had a made on date instead of an expiration date. I'm sure some of the market folks on here can list some others as well.

pretty much all the budweiser has "Born on Date". It doesn't even recognize as such, just a Date.

 

[StockerAce]

I have no idea why some companies do this, but some expiration dates are actually 'made on' dates. I know the Tazo Tea cartons (maybe not Tazo, but one brand of tea), had a made on date instead of an expiration date. I'm sure some of the market folks on here can list some others as well.

True, but this is most definitely an expiration date. Checked it myself one day.

 

[No I in Team]

Well we knew it was backwards already. Like I said, E2E won't work and will feel wrong until they change the DC's.

The eaches model should not be used under the conditions you explained, but these do not quite match up with what Target is facing. They are not using break down as a standard necessarily, but doing so in many of the areas where there is a problem with capacities on the floor and large casepack quantities. I can tell you from a store that takes 7 RDC trailers/week that many of my trucks are trash. I get 2-4 vehicles of HBA cases as push, and 1-2 full flats of backstock every truck. That is a 50% return to the stockroom (and double touch) of the cases currently, and that is with an already heavy repack structure. I get 10-12 vehicles of home/plastics/decor and 3-4 vehicles go to the backroom from push. Remember as well that this is not counting my truck backstock that is already pulling off cases (so HBA has one full pallet of truck backstock per truck as well). I understand where some of these efficiency metrics are coming from, but the amount of double work on the back end with backstock is outrageous. I (in some areas) have to touch the cases multiple more times before it reaches its final destination because Target is unable to flexibly fulfill the required outcome.

There lies the problem my friend. E2E is not going to solve those excessive inventory receipts. Whether it's the current method or E2E, your going to get a 53' trailer filled with things you need and don't need until such time that Spot looks at things bilaterally.

We operate under a unilateral process and apparently will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. In other words, we cannot prevent nor stop such shipments when necessary. Our end goals are not the same throughout the process. That does not appear to be changing either.

E2E is a bilateral process. It does not work successfully unilaterally from what I researched. This is one of the reasons we are experiencing problems with it. It's not just how the trucks are loaded, but it's the contents of the truck. You receive only what you need and nothing else. Deviation is not an element of the E2E process unless it is approved by the recipient prior to shipment. This allows the ability to address the exception created by the deviation. All exceptions are recorded and addressed as part of the ongoing continuous improvement process. I think Spot was sleeping when this was being discussed.

Back to your issue. TAT (turn around time) should not be an issue considering your store shipment frequencies. Given Spot's system and setup, it should literally be truck to shelf. Volume could be offset easily with an increase in PIPO shipments for those qualifying DPCI's requiring increased frequencies.

You will have some backstock. It comes with the territory.

That being said, there is nothing out there, nor through my personal experiences (tier 1 JIT to retail) that justify not utilizing case quantities where ever possible. Minneapolis has become complacent or lazing in that regards. We're all experiencing that at the store level.

Don't get me wrong, I see merits in E2E, but I don't see it as a solution to our problem of inventory control. There are other reasons lurking out there that's causing shortages/overages. While some may be justifiable, most are not given our system. Spot failed to address this issue years ago when life was good. That's obvious.

We currently have the ability to control our inventory while taking in consideration all of the other aspects of the business like end of season, transition periods, and other merchandise sets. We're just not willing to undertake the discipline to do such.

 

[Rock Lobster]

There lies the problem my friend. E2E is not going to solve those excessive inventory receipts. Whether it's the current method or E2E, your going to get a 53' trailer filled with things you need and don't need until such time that Spot looks at things bilaterally.

We operate under a unilateral process and apparently will continue to do so in the foreseeable future. In other words, we cannot prevent nor stop such shipments when necessary. Our end goals are not the same throughout the process. That does not appear to be changing either.

E2E is a bilateral process. It does not work successfully unilaterally from what I researched. This is one of the reasons we are experiencing problems with it. It's not just how the trucks are loaded, but it's the contents of the truck. You receive only what you need and nothing else. Deviation is not an element of the E2E process unless it is approved by the recipient prior to shipment. This allows the ability to address the exception created by the deviation. All exceptions are recorded and addressed as part of the ongoing continuous improvement process. I think Spot was sleeping when this was being discussed.

Back to your issue. TAT (turn around time) should not be an issue considering your store shipment frequencies. Given Spot's system and setup, it should literally be truck to shelf. Volume could be offset easily with an increase in PIPO shipments for those qualifying DPCI's requiring increased frequencies.

You will have some backstock. It comes with the territory.

That being said, there is nothing out there, nor through my personal experiences (tier 1 JIT to retail) that justify not utilizing case quantities where ever possible. Minneapolis has become complacent or lazing in that regards. We're all experiencing that at the store level.

Don't get me wrong, I see merits in E2E, but I don't see it as a solution to our problem of inventory control. There are other reasons lurking out there that's causing shortages/overages. While some may be justifiable, most are not given our system. Spot failed to address this issue years ago when life was good. That's obvious.

We currently have the ability to control our inventory while taking in consideration all of the other aspects of the business like end of season, transition periods, and other merchandise sets. We're just not willing to undertake the discipline to do such.

Just to clarify my position slightly. When I support E2E, it is under the assumption that these changes are in preparation for the eaches replenishment model. I do not foresee E2E being sustainable long term without changes being made upstream as soon as they are capable.

I also support cases shipment when the capacities allow. This is to say that if its possible for a case of 12 to fit on the shelf (say a capacity of 24), then the goal should be for said product to arrive in a case when its at 50%. This should be the goal. This does not seem to be the case for Target's supply chain model currently.

I support an eaches replenishment model as it would allow the flexibility to perform in this way. It allows the option to break down cases (in a productive manner) to prevent over shipment to stores which is currently happening consistently. Are there times I receive bulk of a certain paper item that has no ad rots coming up? Sure, but this is not the issue I am discussing. My problem is that I get two full u-boats for aisle 1 in grocery, and 1 large one goes back as backstock once broken down. This excess is a sign of inefficiency.

And yes, they will fill at trailer with whatever they can because it is locked into one store. At the very least, the implementation of palletized freight (and the ability to segregate trailers) should be priority #1 (even before eaches model, although both go together to Target right now).

 

[SFSFun]

There lies the problem my friend. E2E is not going to solve those excessive inventory receipts. Whether it's the current method or E2E, your going to get a 53' trailer filled with things you need and don't need until such time that Spot looks at things bilaterally.

Once they start sending pre-sorted pallets or move to eaches replenishment, it should give the flexibility to only send what stores need while also filling trailers*. Not much needs to be sent? Add another store to the route. Stores are blowing through inventory? Just add more trailers and keep it to only a handful of stores per trailer.

This is basically what the FDC is doing in my area right now. We get daily deliveries and the trailer is always full (we're the first stop usually 4 days a week), with pallets for a varying amount of stores. Our pfresh coolers have such a small amount of backstock compared to what it used to be, and I'm confident they could be almost empty if we had the hours to locu and push it all.

*filling trailers with pallets, which will of course be less boxes than filling it by the box.

 

[Flow Warrior]

I noticed that Market at my store is not a true E2E process - some people come in at 5am to start pushing before the store opens and I observed a backroom TM pulling the Market CAFs. Isn't it one team having to do EVERYTHING themselves with absolutely no help from anyone that isn't in Market? From what people wrote in here, it looks like doing it the way corporate wants it (pushing and doing tasks only while store is open) doesn't make logical sense. Like how can we service guests when we have 346753563463 things to do and little time to do them?

Let me tell you something I was told in the 'delightful' huddle to celebrate that RVP picked our store to train the remaining stores in how to do E2E (we all got free chick-fil-a out of it, so yea for that!) 'Headquarters is behind us. We are in the leading position. Yes I said Headquarters is behind us. Both in watching how we do this and in support.' Damn he was entirely too happy.

So yes they want you to work everything when the store is open and interact at the same time. Thats actually difficult. You need to figure out who is more task oriented and who is people oriented. I am more people than task but I can do both.

There are some cheats to the system like what you are saying but really if they have to do that (5am) to stay afloat it will allowed for a while. Eventually, the expectation will be:

1. Unless you are above $63 million you won't get any hours before 5 am and only offload hours between 5 and 8. If you are salary and want to come in and doing pulls no one will tell you no but who honestly wants to be in the store 12 hrs.
2. All TL will have to be global or no hours for them. As I read todays's grid I noticed almost all the offloaders have only the allotted truck offload time scheduled. (ours averages 1-2 hrs). People scheduled only 2 hrs a day. wow
3. There will be help. ETLs and STL are still responsible for the store and if Market is falling its on them so people WILL be pulled in to help.
4. Beyond that, yes, people need to learn Pog, signing, br, and a host of other things.

 

[Flow Warrior]

Target also needs to get better regarding the Clearance process. Why do we waste so much time moving around clearance during major resets? Why can't it salvage the week of the set?

And transition product filling up the BR is a night mare (see Back To School - or any major reset.)

Because some poeple will only buy it at 50% or 70% and Target wants some money off of it rather than no money off it.