Archived Newbie... Most conveyable side question

[stingstowings]

Hi gang! I started working at the DC recently. I have a slight issue with labeling cartons. I've been told the cartons need to ride the most conveyable way. I understand liquids need to follow the up arrows to avoid a spill on the conveyor, but I've been told some cartons that are not liquids with arrows don't need to follow this rule.

The majority of my labeling is good and I've gotten better, but there are some cartons I've had to come down to fix. In my mind, "most conveyable" means a carton needs to have the side with most surface area riding so it won't get jostled around and break open. I really want to correctly label so time is not wasted all around.

Can someone please advise if this accurate, or tell me exactly what most conveyable means? Many, many thanks!

 

[TgtTrainer]

A guy on here named Beastfromtheeast will probably be able to give you the best answer since he's worked in Outbound for a long time, but I'll take a crack at it until he responds.

First off, I will say ignore the arrows. The arrows are intended for freight that is being stores in the building. When building pallets of reserve freight, or carts of XS freight, always put the cartons with the arrows pointing up (as they could leak over time). But any freight that you are labeling to be thrown up the conveyors IGNORE the arrows.

That being said, there is no one-size-fits-all explanation to give here on how all boxes should be labeled. Common sense must be used in the gray areas.

Putting the label opposite to the side with the largest surface area works with about 90% of the freight we deal with, but there is about 10% that you may have to get a little more creative with.

 

[dabeastfromtheeast]

'Most conveyable' means the side that'll ride the mezz and not cause damage to the product or cause issues with the mezz/sorter. For the most part, the side with the most surface area rides face down, without regard to the arrows (though they're sometimes right). Just remember, however you label it, it's got to survive a VERY long ride on the mezz conveyers, the sorter and the OB chutes before it reaches the truck.

There are always exceptions. Some larger sterilite, barstool and pillow boxes need to ride on their sides due to their size. Certain Kitty litters have to ride facing up, or they'll break open. Certain boxes have strange weight distributions, so they have to ride heavy-side down, or they'll do somersaults on the sorter inducts (no bueno).

The most important I'd say is spray cleaners, specifically Method and Mrs. Meyers. They have to ride standing up. Otherwise the caps come lose and leak on the sorter, reeking all sorts of havoc.

Additionally, when you're labeling, make sure you dont label on seams, make sure your labels are attached firmly (read: not gonna blow away if it passes a fan) and check your labels for defects (faded ink, lines through the barcode, etc.).

 

[TgtTrainer]

We must've been typing our responses at the same time Beast, I was just looking for a way to tag you in this.

 

[TgtTrainer]

Hey stingstowings, do you work in Inbound or Warehousing?

 

[stingstowings]

Thank you both so much!

I'm in warehousing. I've asked my trainer to clarify this a few times and trainer just kept saying "most conveyable side." :| My trainer then threw a few cartons around to try to demonstrate to me the most conveyable side, but that just seemed odd and confused me, to which I was told again, "most conveyable."

Oooh, believe me I had a Method carton spill in my cart after I dropped it at the conveyor, so I am very careful around that stuff now. It's been a learn on the fly by trial and error with the cartons, so I was really glad to find these forums.

Here's hoping I can get it near flawless this next shift (or else I'll be correcting labels and throwing my carts onto the conveyor).

 

[TgtTrainer]

Well congrats on the new job bro. I've worked in Warehousing department for 3 years now and I love it.

The people on this forum are great, if there's anything else you ever need clarification on just post

 

[stingstowings]

Thanks TgtTrainer! I really love it so far. I've browsed the forum and really think it's cool that everyone is so helpful.

 

[catrainer]

We must've been typing our responses at the same time Beast, I was just looking for a way to tag you in this.

to tag, all you do is .@UserName for example, @TgtTrainer

 

[TgtTrainer]

to tag, all you do is .@UserName for example, @TgtTrainer

Thanks @catrainer , never tried before lol

 

[catrainer]

no problem

 

[kris527]

I always find it helpful to ask the guys in outbound how they prefer some cartons to be labeled.

 

[Isitonlyme]

Well what everyone said makes a lot of sense and I can explain it to my ETL Log why the boxes look the way they do when we unload the truck but I will shortly be transferring to a udc and be stepping down from being a TL to learn the loading process versus the unload