Archived Instocks / Backroom Team Leads, what's your schedule like? And how do you get so many scans?

[RedDeep]

I'm not new to instocks, though I am new to the NEW way of doing instocks. Got promotesd to backroom / instocks team lead and my store is new to me as well. I am wondering what schedule you guys have daily and what schedule does your instocks team have?

I'm being thrown into mid shifts and closing shifts. I've had to teach new team members what researching is and we struggle to get near the amount of outs we have the system says because our store is always so rough. We are attached to a popular indoor mall so there is a lot of traffic all throughout the day and it's difficult to recover. We are low volume in sales but the floor is crazy.

Just need some advice on what I can do to make my process better with instocks having much less hours than before and also a lot of product keeps coming out of the back but there's no time to pull any of it. It's crazy. Any advice or guidance? thank you.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Using a my device? Go to my device sticky under general forum. They have great this there. Instocks has changed a lot recently. @Rarejem or @Bosch, needs some help, please.

 

[Bosch]

I'm not new to instocks, though I am new to the NEW way of doing instocks. Got promotesd to backroom / instocks team lead and my store is new to me as well. I am wondering what schedule you guys have daily and what schedule does your instocks team have?

I'm being thrown into mid shifts and closing shifts. I've had to teach new team members what researching is and we struggle to get near the amount of outs we have the system says because our store is always so rough. We are attached to a popular indoor mall so there is a lot of traffic all throughout the day and it's difficult to recover. We are low volume in sales but the floor is crazy.

Just need some advice on what I can do to make my process better with instocks having much less hours than before and also a lot of product keeps coming out of the back but there's no time to pull any of it. It's crazy. Any advice or guidance? thank you.

Product coming out is good, unless it is all coming out PTM or clearance since it never made the floor. We do early mornings and work with closers to get the store picked up so we and flow have a chance. If an area is to tore up don't fix it unless you really have to, shoes is our killer. No time to pull? Not acceptable.. Opener backroom should have your in-Stock batches basically done by the time
they go to lunch. We start shooting at 6:45am and take time out for breaks and huddles it is go and go hard until our hard stop at 11am when the first CAF drops.

Keep asking questions.

 

[RedDeep]

Well we don't have an opening backroom team memmebr. We have our day side backroom start at 10am and we have other backroom team members start at 4am doing other things. The problem is flow isn't usually done pushing on our scanning days since we are a 4am process store.

Also by the end of our scan the research batches go into 40 something batches. Some small. Some big. Then during the 4x4s around 12pm the team drops more exfs and research. It's just so overwhelming for the backroom team.

And also. Who pushes the research at your stores?

 

[IhaveaDream]

Okk, few pieces of info I need. What size are the trucks normally and how many people are on each truck?

You shouldnt have 40 batches all at once. Instocks should be creating the batches as they scan each department. For example, Our "A" aisles is chem, hb01, cosm, hbo2, phar, pets. So after all chem is scanned a batch should be dropped. If flow is still pushing an area, instocks should be scanning the other areas then.

Communicate with your flow TL, explain that you need whole areas pushed before moving to the next area. That way your instocks can scan accurately which will give the flow team easier trucks. But of course use better wording than me, but that should be the main point.

Something to remember is push>backstock. Cant sell it if its in the back. The backroom team for the truck should proirity should be transition/revision backstock> research> autofill(if dropped)> other backstock.

Atm the moment I push research, but im going to start making the people who pull it push it right away. I work in a D volume so backroom gets zero help from salesfloor ever.

 

[RedDeep]

the truck sizes range from 1800-2500. Barely ever more. The 40 something research is from standalone research and outs too. They can be small or big. Problem is we have to go away from the task list a lot because our hardlines scan day falls on a truck day and certain areas aren't done. so it gets rough other days.

We have the planogram and revisions and any pogs pulled the night before. That's how it was when i got here.

 

[Bosch]

Who pushes our research batches - we do.. It gets stacked on the line and after lunch we push, or break one of us off early and push so that there isn't much on the line, we go to lunch and finish it up then dig into PTM.. or Drastic count report.

And when you are scanning batches are dropping as you close out sections of the store. Dayside that drop EXF, and their own research are doing stand alone batches they should be naming them and pulling their own. Research from In-Stocks has priority and dayside really should be doing 4x4 after it has been researched/pushed. Or not on that sections research days - Tues/Weds. Thurs for soft lines in my store. They can go crazy on non In-Stock research days. Or just carve our of your task list whatever isles they are going to 4x4 and just skip them.

You may need to jump around in the task list which is fine, no biggie but it may take a lot of talking with the truck team that you need to know when they are done so you can book over there and scan it..

And don't worry about the number of batches, if you have to every 4x4 research has to be named a certain way so they can wait while the in-stocks gets dropped so you can really see what you got going on. Once you get control and sorry going into 4th quarter is not going help get you control of your backroom, but hang on tight. And as you get control your batches should get smaller and when it gets ugly you can ask "why?" Did POG not drop a batch?

 

[Ringwraith917]

My advice from a veteran instocks TM

• have the same people push what they shoot when possible, because it goes so much faster.
• Skip badly zoned aisles.
• Have one of the instocks TMs start pulling OUTS/RSCH as soon as the batches start dropping.
  
• Make sure you hit the RIGS every day.
• Follow up with the flow team (and sales floor team) and make sure they're pushing to the piece, to POG, and not overstocking.
• Follow up with your sales floor TLs to make sure endcaps are tied (POG or Store Tie).
• Make sure your team checks all sales floor locs before keying a number in Stand Alone Research.
• Hard stop on scans at 11:00.
• Update bulk pallet locs on paper, water, juice, and pet food/litter weekly (after 11:00am so it doesn't fall back on instocks to push).
• Try not to always be negative. Try hard to find some wins so the team stays motivated

 

[Rarejem]

Using a my device? Go to my device sticky under general forum. They have great this there. Instocks has changed a lot recently. @Rarejem or @Bosch, needs some help, please.

Interesting.... we were told that the my device was for salesfloor tm's only. I have never even held one. I intend to learn it as soon as there is one available (all I hear is how horrible they are and that they never work and there isn't as much information on them as on the LPDA's). I'll let you know my thoughts as soon as I have some!!

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

@Rarejem, check out ring's posting mine. More info for you. Also, rock lobster has some good info in the sticky too.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

My advice from a veteran instocks TM

• have the same people push what they shoot when possible, because it goes so much faster.
• Skip badly zoned aisles.
• Have one of the instocks TMs start pulling OUTS/RSCH as soon as the batches start dropping.
  
• Make sure you hit the RIGS every day.
• Follow up with the flow team (and sales floor team) and make sure they're pushing to the piece, to POG, and not overstocking.
• Follow up with your sales floor TLs to make sure endcaps are tied (POG or Store Tie).
• Make sure your team checks all sales floor locs before keying a number in Stand Alone Research.
• Hard stop on scans at 11:00.
• Update bulk pallet locs on paper, water, juice, and pet food/litter weekly (after 11:00am so it doesn't fall back on instocks to push).
• Try not to always be negative. Try hard to find some wins so the team stays motivated

@Ringwraith917 & @Bosch,
Thanks for your help.

 

[Rarejem]

Every time I ask about this program (not by Viper name - just in general) I get the vacant slack-jawed ETL look that has become the face of my nightmares. When does this go company wide?

 

[tgtguy]

Well we don't have an opening backroom team memmebr. We have our day side backroom start at 10am and we have other backroom team members start at 4am doing other things. The problem is flow isn't usually done pushing on our scanning days since we are a 4am process store.

Also by the end of our scan the research batches go into 40 something batches. Some small. Some big. Then during the 4x4s around 12pm the team drops more exfs and research. It's just so overwhelming for the backroom team.

And also. Who pushes the research at your stores?

The issue in my store is that on Wed the instocks team scans the whole store. Two people ( two seasoned hard working ppl) cant keep up with the batches...Ie you pull two five more drop. So, literally your whole shift on Wed ( other than pulling the 730 cafs, price changes and audit) is spent pulling research....of course you have to throw the hour in the there for the 4x4. Who pushes the research in our store...oh the instocks team may have time to push a tub or two....but then its time for them to go ...so either the salesfloor pushes it...or it sits there till the next morning then the Backroom has to push it with their autofills.

 

[Dekaf]

Was anyone else informed by their DTL that the MyDevices are not to be used for instocks now? Apparently the reports were showing no scans were completed, and as soon as we mentioned using mydevices, we were told to stop.

 

[RunForACallBox]

Was anyone else informed by their DTL that the MyDevices are not to be used for instocks now? Apparently the reports were showing no scans were completed, and as soon as we mentioned using mydevices, we were told to stop.

Not that know of. That's all I use is the iPod for Instocks. I hate toggling on the PDA now, lol.

 

[Dekaf]

I agree, my team prefers the MyDevices now.

 

[OhYouDidntKnow]

Every time I ask about this program (not by Viper name - just in general) I get the vacant slack-jawed ETL look that has become the face of my nightmares. When does this go company wide?

Same here. They don't deny it so it makes me think they know more than they are sharing.

 

[Bosch]

I agree, my team prefers the MyDevices now.

Nope not here. If you follow the task list great, if you need to skip around - nightmares. Since is forcing you to follow the task list. And yeah if you don't want scans use the ipods since you can only scan the sections it lists. Not great if it is screwed up. They should still be in beta testing for anything but sales floor.

 

[RunForACallBox]

I agree, my team prefers the MyDevices now.

Nope not here. If you follow the task list great, if you need to skip around - nightmares. Since is forcing you to follow the task list. And yeah if you don't want scans use the ipods since you can only scan the sections it lists. Not great if it is screwed up. They should still be in beta testing for anything but sales floor.

I skip around and ours aren't a nightmare. I don't skip all the time but if I have to it's pretty easy.