Archived EXF vs OUTs

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Pettjm54

Sales floor TL
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Jun 8, 2011
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Okay so here is what I am assuming.

EXF in my first store was never use it or you will be screamed at as it messes up shelf capacities and will in turn mess up CAF's. Instead, use an outs batch or pog fill. (as outs batch kills scores) my second store religiously uses EXF and I dont know who is right so im hoping you guys can help set it straight for me.
 
The last time I tried outs on freezers, it didn't work. Exf's are the best option because it doesn't mess up the accumulator. Now if you used subt & pull a high amt that will hurt your score more.
 
EXF batches DO affect the accumulator, they can seriously flood it and make a mess if say, the person shooting the batch enters an amount far above what they actually need to fill the shelf. If a TL shoots a batch for an endcap that can hold three ottomans and they enter an arbitrary amount like 100 for the requested amount, the system is programmed to think that 100 ottomans are NEEDED to fill the floor, even though that's definitely not the case.

In this example, if there are 5 ottomans located in the backroom, it will pull all 5 and place them in an EXF batch, of which three will fit on the endcap (assume the home location is already full). The other two ottomans are backstocked. Next time the hourly CAFs roll around, the system still has a demand for 95 ottomans, so it will pull those two, and they won't fit (assuming none have sold), so they'll be backstocked again and pulled again in the next CAF, backstocked, pulled, etc. Theoretically this will happen until the demand of the accumulator is met and the value is back at zero.

Granted, this can easily be fixed by a backroom team member who is sick of seeing these ottomans come out in the pulls only to backstock them repeatedly. He would do a subt-9999 to "reset" the accumulator value back down to zero, the demand would disappear and they would stop coming out in the CAFs.

The moral of the story is, an EXF can create extra, unnecessary work if it is not properly done by someone who knows how they are affecting store systems.

EXF's do not affect shelf capacity. I don't think there is anyway to change shelf capacities at the store level - they are set by people at headquarters, the same people who make planos/SPLs.

Also, subtracting a high amount doesn't affect any score that I know about.

[mod]NEVER perform any OUTS/research/EXF function if you do not know what you're doing and how it affects store processes![/mod]
 
I do EXFs for frontlanes but I look at the OH so I don't request more than we have.
 
Fs, you are correct. When I was about to do subt on one full rung of cereal(224 boxes) to fill a 4 ft endcap, the brtl stopped me & told me to used a exf. I did it the way he asked me to do it. He stated the procedure had changed. I did try to do a new pog fill, but it was an old Ad rotation from 2 months before didnt work. It was an exact fill with zero backstock on endcap.

A side note, when I shoot an exf, I make it enough to fill the shelf only. Not over the capacity.
 
There should just be a little "Intelligence" test before you can start up EXF or RSCH. So few people know how it effects things. EXF is a GREAT tool IF you know how to use it and understand how it works. I always tell people, if you have to ask how to shoot an EXF, you shouldn't shoot an EXF. OUTS is much safer, but if you are building an Endcap or something, EXF makes more sense.
 
Okay so heres a situation.

I have a shelf that just by looking at it, or checking the capacity on item search can hold 20. there are 5 boxes on the shelf so if i shoot an exf and request 15.. all should be good in the world of the accumulator?
 
On paper, yes everything should be gravy.

I'm not sure how EXF's affect the accumulator and the CAF trigger, if you have an endcap with 5 boxes where 20 should fit and there's product in the backroom, it should have definitely pulled some in the CAF as that product was selling, so something might be broken accumulator-wise there. That's generally where the Instocks team would fix it as they work through their tasklist.
 
A couple things...

First, I have no problems with EXF but you can't compare it to OUTs... If the location is completely out you should use OUTs to pull it from the backroom and not EXF... I would only consider EXF if it still had product on the salesfloor and you exercised all other possible options!

With that said, you have to keep the accumulator in mind and let the system work for you before you interfere with EXF batches... My first question I ask with LIGHT endcaps (or any POG) is if I think the accumulator is actually off? While it might seem simple enough, sometimes multiple location items just need to be spread out to fill all its facings on the floor and a single location is keeping the item from triggering! No need to drop and EXF if the presenation min hasn't been reached... If I spread it out and it seems light you can do a POG Fill for extra measure...

Now if I think the accumulator is off and the POG is light I will not even bother with a POG Fill because you don't know by how much it is actually off! If the accumulator hasn't been pulling because it thinks everything is full, that POG fill does nothing for you! In these cases it is ok to use EXF to fill to capacity...

Outside of these reasons its ok to EXF on checklanes and non-POG areas as well since obviously all the other fills are considered useless on them!
 
I tried to shoot a pog fill on an end cap yesterday and it dropped right out. Went back in under item search ans saw OH's of every item on the shelf so I dropped an EXF.

I don't like to keep any of my end caps 'light' unless I have plans for them within 24 hours. I'd much rather have them full because as we all know you can't see product if its in the backroom
 
Indeed. When you count 20 cases of cat litter in br, with 8 eaches of the same dpci of cat litter on 4 ft endcap. Almost empty!
What happened was, the tl or etl don't an exf to solve the problem!
 
Question...my instocks team scans and noticed light research/exf pulls so they randomly wrote down items with outs on the floor but had BR locs and counts. About 40% weren't in the pulls...anyone else have this issue?
 
Are the items pulling but just not to capacity? If so, maybe check the SFQ's of the items are correct.

It could also be the system thinks the space is full based on the SFQ set and so it's just not dropping batches for those items.
 
Are the items pulling but just not to capacity? If so, maybe check the SFQ's of the items are correct.

It could also be the system thinks the space is full based on the SFQ set and so it's just not dropping batches for those items.

When you shoot research on a mydevice, it automatically updates the sfq accordingly. If an item has multiple locations, the sfq won't change but the difference between whatever you enter as in a location and that locations capacity should still pull.
 
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