Archived New overnight flow time transtion?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Mar 22, 2014
Messages
32
Greetings, i was just informed by the STL that our store will be removing the 10:00 pm (overnight) flow shift and switching to 4:00 am shifts instead, i was just wondering what the changes will be like? I know from 4-8 we do the truck unload and all the "fun" stuff, but what happens after 8 (when the store opens)? Meaning do we work with the day time TM's after 8? Do we still bowl out the pallets/flats? Thanks for the answers :)
 
Seems like your store volume is similar to mine, as we are also switching to 4am from O/N. Odd that your just finding out about it. This would have been a decision that was made back in February, the end of the fiscal year, and is usually announced 8 weeks in advance. There is a transition process (4 weeks per corporate) that leads up to the actual switch. During this time your overnight team will practice as if they are coming in at 4am, meaning everything should be done by 2am if you guys start at 10pm. Pallets cannot be on the floor after 8, and really they want the floor cleared by 7:45 to prepare for store open. Certain areas of the store that normally would have been unloaded onto pallets off the truck and bowled out to aisles will instead be staged on flats or tubs at backside endcaps. Reason being, your team may not be able to finish all push by 8am, and no boxes can be on the floor after that time. Areas that are normally broke out into carts will most likely be left until all boxes on the floor are pushed. Eventually they will be expected to complete the entire truck by 8.

Now comes the bad part. If your store is anything like mine, everyone on flows hours will be cut significantly. The total number of hours stores will be given to finish their truck isn't changing, what will change is the number of team members that will be scheduled. If your store normally has say 20 flow members, expect 30 for a 4am process. Those aren't exact numbers, but you get the point. The idea is more people means the truck gets done sooner. It also means much shorter shifts for everyone.

Not sure how straight forward your stores management is. Many of our flow team members were led on to believe their hours wouldn't be reduced when the transition was first announced. But that was untrue, at least for my store. Our flow team members were just informed that there simply is no opportunities to work in other work centers after the truck push.
 
Last edited:
Well it usually takes us an hr and half to finish the truck unload, which will leave us with only 2 and a half hr to do all the push? We dont even finish our push in the normal 8 hr overnight shift, how is finishing in 4 hrs (before the store opens) possible?
 
Our O/N flow shifts are currently 6.5 hours. It won't be possible with the number of people you currently have. With your store doing 8 hour flow shifts I would be almost certain that they will double the size of your flow team.

At the beginning of the transition your team probably won't get it done in that time period, however eventually it will be expected. That's how Target works, just keep telling people this is how it is and it will all work out.....Or so they say.
 
I see,, but double the size at our store, lol i HIGHLY doubt it. Is it going to be 4-8 shift or 4-12 ? I heard its going to be till noon. Man i need to go and ask next week to make more sense of all this. Thanks though.
 
We only bowl HBA, Market, Paper, and Chemical and work like to crazy to get those sections done by 8. Then at 7:30 any push pallets on the floor are sent to the back and then TM who work after 8 will convert to a flat for pushing. Some of the team is schedule to work 4-8 while the rest are 4:30-8:30, in cases where it looks like we won't be done, they will ask for volunteer to stay until 12:45 to finish the push. On nights when we are running fast in the sections that got bowl we will just push from the pallets, no bowling. Weather we get done. depends on the truck size and the number of TM we have. Some morning it works out, sometimes it doesn't
 
Just to be clear, in my experience of working the 4am process at other stores....

There are going to be days where the truck won't be done at 8, and many will be asked to stay to finish it. Everyone will be scheduled less hours than they are currently on a O/N process and more TM will be scheduled. However those days that the truck is done by 8 everyone will be sent home. The goal with a 4AM process is to have it done by 8 as crazy as that may sound.

Of course every store has different situation, your store may tweak the process. This process wasn't designed to work in higher volume stores, but under the new org charts that's how it is. Previously stores in this volume would have stayed on a much smoother O/N process. Who knows if it will actually work. Another downside is there will be certain times of the year, like Christmas and possibly back to school where your team will go back O/N for a period of time, especially if your store takes double trucks normally during that time. My store takes 5-6 trucks a week now, but that goes up to 10-12 during Christmas.

Everyone on the team should be having chat sessions with the STL and probably ETL-HR to discuss the changes. Ask questions, they may be doing something different. However don't expect to be scheduled for 8 hour flow shifts on a 4am process. I'm pretty sure the only TM who would get 8 hour shifts will be TLs, backroom and planogram teams.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top