Archived New Backroom/Instocks TL with Accuracy and zoning issues

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I was just recently promoted to Backroom Team lead as our last team lead was let go for lack of progress and laziness. As a result I am responsible for making up for 7 months of mistakes causing our backroom accuracy to plummet and our zones to look awful. I'm prepared to work my ass off to get a clean and accurate backroom again but could use some tips. What is the best way to go about increasing my backroom accuracy and zoning? So far I've been doing empty location audits starting at the worst areas and working all the way around the backroom in time to sweep out some errors there as well as not on file items and clearance. As I do these I am zoning and on non-truck days I have my team members locu and zone one to two aisles a day. Any additional ideas? Thanks!
 
I know it is a little thing, but rubberbanding like items will help immensely in the long run. For example, in cosmetics, banding like items will speed up pulls and help with inventory prep. Yes, it may seem to be eating up time when backstocking, but in the long run, having the wacos organized justifies the time.
 
Wing it here. My team is very good. Communication & training are important for a great score. Make it a team effort, by showing every on the back room team on how to that goal. Th etl-log is very good at driving his team too. He supports his tl' s when needed. Also, he knows his team well.
 
Make sure you spend time with dayside. I came from a 4am process store and there were dayside guys that never saw our TL. They were the biggest problem. Also, make sure to follow up with newbies. When I went back to that store for a school break the seasonal kids were the worst employees I had ever seen and caused a lot of mistakes. A lot of problems stemmed from a lack of training and a lack of care.

Also, since you're split BR/IS, pleasepleaseplease don't ignore your instocks team. When the above store threw me to IS, I noticed we NEVER saw our TL, never had them shoot with us, and were pretty much told to run ourselves sans for what areas were safe to shoot. I'm not saying your IS team shouldn't be self-sufficient, just don't leave them to the dogs.
 
Sounds like your off to a good start with the relocating a few aisles on non truck days, empty location audits and so forth. Following up with your team is key, especially if the previous TL didnt push zoning and best practice as much. You will have to follow up and start weeding out team members who dont want to fall in line because they are used to what was before you. A few things if your locations are really bad..
- instead of using empty locations from the backroom detail use the full detail report since this will point out alot more mistakes
- use the instock tool menu on the item search with the pda's this will tell you when items were last pulled, this way you can narrow down who didnt zone, or key yes or no accurately.
- quiz your team, make polite conversation with them and just ask questions on processes, both day and night, I'll bet youll be surprised with some answers you get.

Following up on what artforoxygen said as well, keep up with instocks as well, even if for now its just a huddle here and there with them. They have a big impact on logistics scores as well.
 
Thats always a good idea with rubberbanding. Ill be sure to start up that habit. Our is team is the best I know and are actually very self sufficient. I lead them and direct them but they happily do tge rest and our ib stocks scores are great. Also ill print one of thosr full detail reports and see how that works out for me. Im trying to quickly abd efficiently return our backroom to best practice.
 
Also as you spend time with your team doing it, I know like someone else said spend time with backroom day! I usually make my schedule 5-145 to spend some time with dayside too. Also puts you in their for trucks to assist and follow up with the team, be sure to utilize the backroom detail report and as your early morning team backstocks use that and follow up to make sure they are sto'ing correctly as they go and as you see them mess up, coach them in the correct way to do things and what you expect.

Communication is always a helpful tool as well for the team, let them know how many pieces are coming back, backstock timelines(if you dont know how to find that its on rwt under the backroom section your ETL should help you with that. Push the team to beat those goals, generally pulling should always be way faster than what that sheet says, its always backstock that takes longer as it doesn't know what comes back from the actual truck after the flow team pushes, so the timeline just includes boxes from the unload on the backstock side.
 
Training and communication are the most important thing. You can do empty loc reports and LOCU updates all day long, but you must stop the bleeding first. Educate the team on how errors are created. Work along side them in case they have any questions. Coach and recognize.
 
Seems weird that the previous team lead was let go because of laziness. Not saying he/she wasn't lazy but what was the etl-log doing while location accuracy was plummeting? Do they still have a job? And nothing was being done to fix location accuracy for seven months? That's crazy.

Anyway, to piggyback on a previous comment, communication is key. Let your team know how you compare to other stores in the district. Or show them how they compare to each other to make it a friendly competition. It seems like you already have good routines in place, but you need to make them care about location accuracy. You can't watch them pull and back stock all the time and its the small things that add up that wrecks location accuracy. Maybe its an inaccurate quantity located or two different items located under the same dpci. We have the tools to fix the issues, but by then, sometimes its too late. Getting your team to care and take care in what they are doing is the best way to maintain a green location accuracy.
 
At my store, they made me the backroom day team captain/ unofficial dayside TL. Try assigning areas of ownership to build a sense of pride in your team. I own the freezers/coolers and push line. If the Location Accuracy falls below Top Ranked store in those areas, I take the initiative to pull detail reports, LOCU/STO the wacos and casepack locations to restore accuracy, then I'll partner with my ETL-Log or my BRTL to address the issues I've found. Generally if it's a repeated pattern, they give me the opportunity to talk to the TMs first and re-train them before they go to the coaching step. It's worked very well for us so far. I recommend it if you have any dayside TMs that stand out.
 
With regard to instocks: I think that accountability is important. Make sure that your team knows what the expectations and goals are regarding the number of scans, rainchecks and substitutions, replacing labels, and PTM. Assign a backroom tm to research pulls to ensure that they are being pulled within an hour and announce to the salesfloor that priority pulls are on the line. Make sure that your team has a kit that includes blank labels, at least one printer for the replace labels (it can be shared), raincheck pads, a pen. We have a form that we fill out daily that identifies the aisles we scanned, additional tasks we were asked to do during scan time, and problems that occurred during the scan (bad zone aisles, pogs not tied, etc.) Spend at least 2 days scanning with your team in the same way that you expect them to scan so that you know exactly what their daily issues are.
 
Empty Loc. reports are huge. You should continue with those like you are, especially in difficult areas like cosmetics and shoes. Then when you finish I would assign each back room team member a set of aisles to keep updated and zoned because you can't maintain an entire back room yourself. Your team is essential in this process and maintaining scores. Areas that are terrible need to be LOCU and completely redone or maybe even purged if you have the support of your fellow leaders. Purging is beneficial to both you and the floor but takes a lot of time and man hours. Stated above, rubber banding cosmetic items and things like that is a huge help and will improve your accuracy reports immensely.


A thing we have done in our back room is label each 4 food section in certain areas like cosmetics and shoes. So in cosmetics we have 8 feet dedicated to revlon then maybe 4 to another brand and so on. Then at the end a 4 foot section of everything else. I felt that helped a lot and forced team members to focus on their back stocking a little bit more. We recently did this to shoes also.


I know this thread is a few months old but I haven't been too active since schools been out and I have been home but I hope your scores are up and you have managed well!
 
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