Archived How is the experience working at a DC?

[DMack]

How's it going, OP? Everything work out?

Thanks for asking but i haven't started as of yet. I will come back with an update tomorrow.

 

[DMack]

Update: I'm in warehousing.

Any advice on this particular area?

 

[smashandthrash]

I don't know a lot about it. I can order pick, but that's about it.

You'll spend a lot of time on machines, which is nice. Easier on the body.

 

[DMack]

I don't know a lot about it. I can order pick, but that's about it.

You'll spend a lot of time on machines, which is nice. Easier on the body.

They gave me a brief run down ... the only thing is i don't like heights but i guess I'll stick it out.

 

[dabeastfromtheeast]

I'm in Warehousing. While I'm personally not a fan of the order picker functions, it's a lot better than most functions you'd could've got stuck with, say like, loading doors in Outbound. However the work can get monotonous and boring, but achieving your prod is usually pretty easy.

As to the heights issue, after a week or two, you won't even notice if your barely above head-level or twenty feet in the air. The order picker is one of the heaviest vehicles in our fleet. The base weighs about the same as three cars. You ain't gonna tip it over.

And for some last advice, pay attention to your trainer about which side of the box to label. It's a thing that throws off a lot of our new hires. Good luck out there.

 

[DMack]

I'm in Warehousing. While I'm personally not a fan of the order picker functions, it's a lot better than most functions you'd could've got stuck with, say like, loading doors in Outbound. However the work can get monotonous and boring, but achieving your prod is usually pretty easy.

As to the heights issue, after a week or two, you won't even notice if your barely above head-level or twenty feet in the air. The order picker is one of the heaviest vehicles in our fleet. The base weighs about the same as three cars. You ain't gonna tip it over.

And for some last advice, pay attention to your trainer about which side of the box to label. It's a thing that throws off a lot of our new hires. Good luck out there.

Thanks for the great advice dabeastfromtheeast.

What typically your production goal in warehousing? Is it like moving a certain number of boxes? They told me that our first job as a new hire in warehousing is order picking. How long do they have new hires doing this?

Thanks once again.

 

[dabeastfromtheeast]

Prod is sorta weird now, in that it varies building-to-building, based on your fellow TM's prod. That said, I usually just use the old prod goals, which were:
Cartonairre-~180 cartons/hr
Hand puts-93 locations/hr
Rack Puts-55 pallets/hr
Full Pallet-30 pallets/hr
FP Bulk pick-~60 pallets/hr
Bulk Carton Floor pick-~105 cartons/hr
Bulk puts-160 pallets/hr or something crazy like that
And non-con is it's own special little world, with totally different prods...

I can't speak for every warehousing dept in the network, but at where I'm at, we usually have newbies on cartonairre (picking in the order picker) for ~3 months, then progress them to hand puts, rack puts and then full pallet. How long between each progression is hard to say, but a few months (2-4) is fairly typical. If you continue to excel in your dept. after all that training, your OM may put you up for training in a specialty function, but that's probably a gonna be a while away.

 

[DMack]

Dabeastfromtheeast: today was my first day and i will be on the cartonairre for 2 months or something (according to the trainer) until at least my numbers ramp up to where they want.

Yes and you were on point with the 180 per hour. I never operated one of those cartonairre - in addittion to listening and following my trainer .. any other tips for operating this machine and getting your goal achieved? Thanks

 

[dabeastfromtheeast]

If you're on an older Crown model: When you're driving at ground level, raise your platform high enough that you can see the front corners of the base. Makes driving and navigating tight areas much easier (Also easier to gauge from close/far from the rack you are).

If your order picker doesn't have plexiglass on the roof, you can scan the pallet ID through the roof slats while waiting for the platform to rise. Similarly, if the next location is in front of you can scan through your front window (if it's clean enough, that is )

If you're picking in the waterfall racks (rack aisles with 10+ levels storing XS-sized freight), check the next couple of locations you'll pick. Oftentimes, you'll pick two or three locations right next to each other without even having to move.

I used to haul ass for the first half of shift, get my numbers up really high, then 'come in for a soft landing' for the second half, but these days, the labels are good enough that you can make decent prod just going at a moderately fast pace all shift.

Above all, like anything in life, it takes time and practice to get good at operating the equipment and the job functions. There's also zero expectation for you to hit your production numbers for the first few weeks. It's all about learning the equipment, job function, safety and following best practices. So take your time, and the prod will come to you. Good luck.

 

[76DC]

Thanks Dabeastfromtheeast, I'm also starting soon. I'll be in Warehouse working the overnight shifts.

 

[76DC]

Now that I think of it, me and DMack may be starting work at the same distribution center lol

 

[DMack]

I have a question

1. I'm not getting my 180 per hour, when i think that I'm moving fast ..i check my stats and it was no where near of what I'm suppose to be doing. Any other tips to get 180 per hr?

I know I've only been there for a few weeks but they're really stressing getting up to speed. It gets very discouraging...

 

[trowa03]

I have a question

1. I'm not getting my 180 per hour, when i think that I'm moving fast ..i check my stats and it was no where near of what I'm suppose to be doing. Any other tips to get 180 per hr?

I know I've only been there for a few weeks but they're really stressing getting up to speed. It gets very discouraging...

Work your ass off for one hour and see if you can hit that number during at least one hour. If/when you can then you will find out just how hard you have to push yourself every hour. At first it can seem like a lot but after awhile it just turns into normal work. Another thing that helped me was "squeezing every penny" every second that I could be doing something to help me get the boxes faster I thought about doing when I wasn't doing something that required my full attention. Looking ahead to the next location and raising and lowering to make sure I'm at said location as quickly/effectively as possible, knowing I needed to grab x amount of boxes and grabbing as many as I possibly could. Another thing to keep in mind is if you are heading into another aisle and your cart is almost filled, go ahead and drop it and grab a new one instead of getting just a small amount of boxes on an almost full cart. Travel time is your enemy, reduce it as much as you possibly can.

Don't get discouraged, management is under a ton of pressure to hit budget. Just ignore them and focus on yourself and your performance, if we can do it, you can do it.

 

[notfit05]

Welcome to the DC family, inbound team member here. Hope all is going well for you still

 

[76DC]

Like trona03 said, knowing how many boxes you will need to grab before you get to the next location helps. Once you get to the location, set up the boxes in such a way that you can place as many labels as possible, or if the boxes are already facing properly start placing labels quickly. Then try to grab at least two boxes at a time (if they aren't too heavy) and toss them into the cart.