Archived I'm sorry... more ad setup thoughts.....

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Dec 7, 2011
Messages
234
So 2 of us were challenged to see what we could do to help out ad setup, streamline it, make it more time efficient, whatever.
This is what we do now:
In at 6, usually 1 person for b,c,d, 1 person for G, 1 person for e & f and usually 2 in A, tho that 2nd person may get bounced to whatever section is biggest. Each person starts the scan and hang routine until about 7 when we all scan the rest of the signs in and hang til they are done. Each does their endcaps a little differently. b,c,d does hers as she goes along. I do G's right after break (about 8:15). A, the 2nd person usually breaks off to do endcaps while the other hangs and E & F does his after all the valleys are hung. Not a great system and some weeks we are barely getting done by 10:30.

What was suggested to me was a "round" system. Where there are a bunch in one section, some scan some hang. then they rotate through the sections. I've kind of adapted it to combining A & G. My question for you is does anyone use the round system? How does it work? and how does your team handle doing endcaps?
 
My store normally has 1 for E&F, 1 for G, 1 for C&D, ETL for A&B.

They normally have 1 person come in at 5 with the ETL and they both start scanning in the ad, then the rest come in a 6 and can start putting out the ad immediately. Most do their endcaps after the rest of the ad is finished.
 
My store normally has 1 for E&F, 1 for G, 1 for C&D, ETL for A&B.

They normally have 1 person come in at 5 with the ETL and they both start scanning in the ad, then the rest come in a 6 and can start putting out the ad immediately. Most do their endcaps after the rest of the ad is finished.

We used to do something similar except we didn't have the etl helping. The problem now is the exec team is trying to "get back to best practice" so we can't scan everything first. they want us to scan and hang. bleh.
 
In that case you could always ask them to look at the promotional signing workload on the Signing section on workbench and ensure they are scheduling the correct number of people.

The last few weeks for a pfresh / superT it has been ~20-25 hours for setup time. If you break it down like that then to be getting done at 10am is meeting the time. If it needs to be done by 8am then ~10-12 people should be scheduled for ad set.
 
In that case you could always ask them to look at the promotional signing workload on the Signing section on workbench and ensure they are scheduling the correct number of people.

The last few weeks for a pfresh / superT it has been ~20-25 hours for setup time. If you break it down like that then to be getting done at 10am is meeting the time. If it needs to be done by 8am then ~10-12 people should be scheduled for ad set.

hmmm good thoughts... thanks :)
 
What hurts the most is, no payroll for ad team. Always ck your Sunday schedule before then to address any concerns on staffing issues to your etl or Stl.
 
What hurts the most is, no payroll for ad team. Always ck your Sunday schedule before then to address any concerns on staffing issues to your etl or Stl.
very true. The "captain" always checks on Saturday morning when she finishes up ad prep. She'll usually come up with a plan and then hit the ETL for an ok or any changes. It used to be that we would have 7 people. Then it went to 6 and now 5. No matter how much we step it up, we can not do the same amount of work with less people in a shorter time. So between the captain and I we are trying to come up with different ways to do setup in less time. Now, it's getting the team to buy into a change up... and we all know how much tm's love change. NOT
 
We were recently called out for having the best Ad Set Process in the district at my store. Our DTL, spent the entire week at my store (since we have a new STL) and he came in to do ad set and he absolutely loved how we did it and we don't follow Best Practice to a "T". Heres what we do:
AD PREP:
- I spend about 10 hours of payroll to prep. I have the same person prepping the ad each week and she does a VERY through job. She will actually walk the ad off before she starts prepping so if she sees any opportunities when sorting signs she can address them. 5-6 hour are used to sort hard lines signs. Main ad package and TPC's. and then 4 hours to do soft line ad map.
-The PATL(me) or PTL will do Ad corrections on Friday's. This is our time to follow-up on ad prep, even though we really don't have too.
AD SET:
- I schedule two 4am scanners, who scan in the ad. (I know some people are cringing, but this works well for us.)
- ETL/LOD will start flipping endcaps.
- The rest of the team comes in at 6am, usually 4-5 TM. I have the same ad set team every weekend. They have their own department that they are responsible for and they do that area every week. They are also responsible for filling the floor for ad outs or setting up rain checks/substitutions.
-We are normally done by 8am or 8:30 at the latest. Once the team is done setting and is 100% they pull there own set-up audit and work those to ensure that all signs are up.

Hope that helps and or gives some ideas. Feel free to ask any questions. The more time you put into Prep, the easier the set will go..
 
Here's how my store does setup (overnight TMs start at 11pm):

Hardlines - Two flow TMs are designated under Signing on Saturday nights. Typically, one starts scanning and the other starts putting up the signs. At midnight a Hardlines TM (same person every week) come in and starts scanning signs then putting them up on an aisle-to-aisle basis. This person will do A and G alone and the other two TMs do B, C, D, E, F, and Infant Hardlines. At 5 am the opening Hardlines TL come in and starts signing endcaps with 7x11s and auditing them for pricing accuracy. Typically all signs are already set by 5 am except G (which the midnight TM finishes by 8). At 6 am the opening Hardlines TM comes in and either helps put up signs (heaviest areas) or helps audit the endcaps. Signs are always set by the store's opening (8 am) and the audit is typically done by 8-9. So, depending on the time it takes to audit all signs, my store uses 30-40 hours to set Hardlines. This may not be completely accurate, I've never been there from 12-5.

Softlines - A softlines TM or TL comes in at 5 am to set ad. They typically finish by 8 am (with the help of the above-mentioned flow TMs).

Honestly, I don't think our store does this the most efficiently or accurately (our signing setup ontime % is usually 65-75%). I also don't think the company's process of signing is the most efficient. Why is it best practice to not set about 20% of the signs that we receive? If we receive 2,000 signs that means we have to scan in 1,600 signs. There is an easy way to fix this. Instead of needing all signs to be scanned if they are placed on the sales floor, why not send them pre-tied? Instead of scanning them in, you would need to scan out signs that don't go out. That means that we would only need to scan 400 signs on Sunday, instead of 1,600.

I don't know the entire process (I honestly don't know much about the prep process), but I think there are improvements to be made.
 
Honestly, I don't think our store does this the most efficiently or accurately (our signing setup ontime % is usually 65-75%). I also don't think the company's process of signing is the most efficient. Why is it best practice to not set about 20% of the signs that we receive? If we receive 2,000 signs that means we have to scan in 1,600 signs. There is an easy way to fix this. Instead of needing all signs to be scanned if they are placed on the sales floor, why not send them pre-tied? Instead of scanning them in, you would need to scan out signs that don't go out. That means that we would only need to scan 400 signs on Sunday, instead of 1,600.

I don't know the entire process (I honestly don't know much about the prep process), but I think there are improvements to be made.

There are times I truly believe that best practice is to idealistic. Not all stores are the same, they don't have the same operating hours, nor the same payroll/staffing. So to have 1 practice that is supposed to work for all of them, is honestly, not always going to work. I totally agree that is not efficient, we are about the same with our ontime setup. I usually look at how many signs haven't been scanned in. It's anywhere from 400- 600. Now, from hanging the signs, there are plenty of these that are true duplicates and products we don't carry (think soda and different flavors) or my fave... 7 x 11's for only 1 product on an endcap when there are 4 different products on the endcap. We've started a pile for each section of No loc's and just scan those in too, it the hopes that we can bring our scores up.
I'm not sure on the prep process either, I've been asking to learn so that the tm has a back up. Standard answer "we don't have the hours"
 
We have all TLs own their endcap signing. On Fridays they must have all signing for endcaps and any other 7x ll's on the signing tub. We have a dedicated tub that has extra digits, verbage, holders etc. All of the actual signs are on the bottom of the tub in wacos separated by aisle. Our ad set team comes in at 4am (We are a 4am SuperT). There are 5 people. They grab the tub and wave the store. 1 person per valley. The TL that is in for the morning checks the paper ad and takes care of endcaps as they are working through the store. The TL will make a batch of signs for each lettered area (A-B-C etc) The softlines team member will come in at 5 to sign that area. The electronics team member will come in at 6 (5 if it is a large electronic ad) and takes care of that area. Once the store has been signed the TL will print all of the signs she made, give each team member an area and get those up and scanned in.We are completely done with ad, the set up report and walking the pictured ad by8:00 The team lead will take the tub back, clean it up to get ready to do it all again the next week and send out a set up recap. Our recap will include how many signs were made, any endcaps that did not have signing and what time they were done. It also will reference anything that should have been set for the ad that may have been missed. We started doing it this way before Christmas and it has worked well for us. With the recap we are holding each other accountable and no one wants to be called out on the email. We do have a rotating team for each weekend so no one is stuck working every weekend. But I strongly agree that what works for one store may not work for another.
 
We are a 6AM store and we can have it done by 8AM if we have the staff.

We have separated the process so the entire team does ad-setup and the ETL/LOD does the endcap setup while they are doing their walk. They can't avoid it, we don't have the staff to do so otherwise.

We have an entire cart set up for the endcaps as well with all of the little accessories/signs they need so they don't have to keep running all over the place.
 
We used to have the ETL/LOD do the endcaps, then the ETL changed that to we (the signing team) have to do them for the section we work on.
We tried combining A & G this morning. and it went... ok. Definitely trimmed off some time. End caps for both A & G were done by 9 and valleys by that point were further along than we normally are. I think with a little bit of refining of the team we'll be in good shape. Set backs this morning... doing a mini huddle to explain the changes and dealing with the "why do we have to change it??" and "it's never gonna work" arguments and the fact that both A & G had a huge amount of duplicate signs. We leave our dupes in to be scanned since we have gotten dinged when we pull them out.
 
We are a 6AM store and we can have it done by 8AM if we have the staff.

We have separated the process so the entire team does ad-setup and the ETL/LOD does the endcap setup while they are doing their walk. They can't avoid it, we don't have the staff to do so otherwise.

We have an entire cart set up for the endcaps as well with all of the little accessories/signs they need so they don't have to keep running all over the place.

How many people do you usually have Talan?
 
We used to have the ETL/LOD do the endcaps, then the ETL changed that to we (the signing team) have to do them for the section we work on.
We tried combining A & G this morning. and it went... ok. Definitely trimmed off some time. End caps for both A & G were done by 9 and valleys by that point were further along than we normally are. I think with a little bit of refining of the team we'll be in good shape. Set backs this morning... doing a mini huddle to explain the changes and dealing with the "why do we have to change it??" and "it's never gonna work" arguments and the fact that both A & G had a huge amount of duplicate signs. We leave our dupes in to be scanned since we have gotten dinged when we pull them out.
What is a & g, at your store?
 
we have everyone in at 5am, except electronics who comes in at 6. We usually have or 5 TM's and the ETL.

We ll scan in, and dont start putting up until all scanned in, usually 30-45 mins. We put up as follows;

ETL does the endcaps
1 person does softlines+infant hardlines.
Electronics person does E+F (Usually all scanned in by time he arrives)
1 person does B,C,D
1 person does A
1 person does G


If we are lucky enough to have another they will normally get the second box of A. Then when softlines and B,C,D person is done, they move to G to help out.

We are 'normally' done by 9am.... but laterly we have been having 1-2 callouts every week, so its been 10-11am. The STL or second ETL will jump in and help when they arrive too (usually 6 or 7am)
 
We have two teams the add team comes in at 4 am scans in all the signs except for Softlines then goes to the floor and starts setting up. 1 tm for electronics and mmb 1 for toys 1 for grocery 1 for d e f 1 for c and g and 1 for end caps
At 5 the Softlines team or team member depends on the size of the add comes in to set the sl add and scans in the signs as they go.
We also have a team memeber that sorts the add on Friday and writes all the locations on every sign...he's a patient man
 
We have two teams the add team comes in at 4 am scans in all the signs except for Softlines then goes to the floor and starts setting up. 1 tm for electronics and mmb 1 for toys 1 for grocery 1 for d e f 1 for c and g and 1 for end caps
At 5 the Softlines team or team member depends on the size of the add comes in to set the sl add and scans in the signs as they go.
We also have a team memeber that sorts the add on Friday and writes all the locations on every sign...he's a patient man

Can I have your teams on Sunday? There are only 5 of us for sf/sl for the ad coming up. No extra payroll hours.
 
Can I have your teams on Sunday? There are only 5 of us for sf/sl for the ad coming up. No extra payroll hours.

I gave up the hours for a fitting room mid operator to have the extra sl tm for add and it's a similar story for an extra hardlines tm for add...to we're a high volume store so that helps.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top