Archived Question About Baffle Errors In The BackRoom

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joshr1990

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Iv been working at target as a backroom team member for about 8 months now. Now as you may know if you work in the backroom the report is back. It consists of the M delete button which is a big no no in our store the locu, baffles, yes and no %. well anyway iv been seeing about a 5 or below in every week for my pulls. I average about 800 and more pulls. Now how do i stop this error?? its frustrating me to the extreme!! i asked my team lead of the backroom and he told me its the person from before who scanned the item and now im hit with the error! so its not my fault! Anyway it would be highly appreciated if how a baffle is created! thanks!! i back stock using subt and if i find a error in any location ill back out and locu that location. thanks!!
 
You are doing fine... however your store is going to get in HUGE trouble if they continue to cheat their accuracy %... Using LOCU and backstocking using SUBT is not best practice, and is done to keep numbers green (and no other reason)...
 
Most baffles are created due to scanning errors or burning cafs, if I remember correctly. I do know a hot spot for this is freezers. the other thing are ghosts(when there no product on the shelf, it says it there on the PDA).
 
Hardlinesmaster said:
Most baffles are created due to scanning errors or burning cafs, if I remember correctly. I do know a hot spot for this is freezers. the other thing are ghosts(when there no product on the shelf, it says it there on the PDA).
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If we are just looking for more info on what a BAFFLE is... it is actually an acronym that stands for Backstock Accidentally Found and Fixed Location Error... and it is when you find something off of location while doing a pull (such as CAFs or Autofills)... There are lots of causes behind errors, from miscounting, to faking out batches, to bad locu'ing... the list goes on of what actually causes an error! What the OP needs to do is use STO to backstock, and pay attention enough to be able to U-update the locations... Pulling is another issue, but it shouldn't just be the OPers accuracy that is bad, but everyone's! If its only a single BRTM and they pull and backstock everywhere (not limited to only certain fillgroups), then it is most likely the TM making errors... If its everyone then there is someone messing alot of stuff up and all the other TMs are taking the hit on their numbers!
 
ok... to piggyback on these questions...

we went through the mmb transition and had 25 backroom errors that week. our brtl is freaking out because she says only 1 person from the pog team should be backstocking. i dont agree, because that would be a tremendous workload for 1 and we wouldn't get done on time. we had three people backstocking, one for books, movies, and cds. i haven't looked at the report, but she says all the errors had to be because of us. but i also know the brtm went in directly after and faked his pulls. i know we make mistakes, but i dont know how the people backstocking (former brtl, 7 yr veteran, 10 yr veteran) would make so many errors out of 2 tubs of backstock. guess ill never know. but she wants to coach them based off the report. they backstock every week, and usually they're never on it. how accurate is the report?
 
Rock Lobster said:
You are doing fine... however your store is going to get in HUGE trouble if they continue to cheat their accuracy %... Using LOCU and backstocking using SUBT is not best practice, and is done to keep numbers green (and no other reason)...
Click to expand...

I still don't understand this line of thinking. I understand that using subt and locu'ing fakes the numbers. I GET THAT (I promise I do Rock).....but when a TM goes back and locu's a location to fix a ghost or baffle, then they are fixing errors. I don't get what is so wrong with that? I DARE a TL coach that. I'd fight it to death. Another TM f's up and I fix it. You should give me a friggin award not accuse me of "padding the numbers." AP will be on the fixer of the errors side EVERY time. *End rant*
 
Whenever i find a baffle or a ghost in one of the pfresh coolers.. i immediatley back out of the batch (if im doing a caf, or if im just running an audit) and LOCU the location and STO everything using LOCU (scan location, then the product in that location)

Today my TM actually locu'd and re sto'd the meat room. after the 11's we went in to double check the BR tm's work. we found 3 errors.. (i shot a batch and it called for an item that was previously meant to be pulled) it asked for 24.. when there was only 2 in the waco. i immediatly printed the caf monitor and approached the backroom TL. hesays he instructed TM's to SUBT9999 for some reason.. i didnt have a full talk with yet but plan on it. i will also make a plan on talking to my ETL- LOG..

any thoughts?
 
pettjm54, are you having issues in the freezers with scores & such, due to location labels falling off wacos?
 
insiteful1 said:
I still don't understand this line of thinking. I understand that using subt and locu'ing fakes the numbers. I GET THAT (I promise I do Rock).....but when a TM goes back and locu's a location to fix a ghost or baffle, then they are fixing errors. I don't get what is so wrong with that? I DARE a TL coach that. I'd fight it to death. Another TM f's up and I fix it. You should give me a friggin award not accuse me of "padding the numbers." AP will be on the fixer of the errors side EVERY time. *End rant*
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I have no problem with the team fixing fixing errors while backstocking, doing location audits etc... That is perfectly fine in my book and I don't see any issues with that (obviously spending too much time on these tasks is counter productive but errors do happen)... My issue is with doing these things WHILE doing pulls (CAFs or Autofills)... That is the reason M-Delete is in the system and you can't toggle into LOCU! If you back out and get into LOCU for every error, that is not managing productivity or being efficient... I just feel like people don't realize that the reports are supposed to be tools, not report cards! Its better to have honest numbers, use those numbers to find your REAL issues, resolve them, and have a more efficient team because of it! If you tell your team to fix errors as they pull by not following best practice, the issues remain unresolved and continue to pile up, and the store becomes less and less productive because of it...
 
Subt9999 has a specific time and place to be used... If the items were challenged or part of a recent POG or SP change, then I can see using Subt9999 on the items, otherwise there really isn't much reason to?
 
dek067 said:
ok... to piggyback on these questions...

we went through the mmb transition and had 25 backroom errors that week. our brtl is freaking out because she says only 1 person from the pog team should be backstocking. i dont agree, because that would be a tremendous workload for 1 and we wouldn't get done on time. we had three people backstocking, one for books, movies, and cds. i haven't looked at the report, but she says all the errors had to be because of us. but i also know the brtm went in directly after and faked his pulls. i know we make mistakes, but i dont know how the people backstocking (former brtl, 7 yr veteran, 10 yr veteran) would make so many errors out of 2 tubs of backstock. guess ill never know. but she wants to coach them based off the report. they backstock every week, and usually they're never on it. how accurate is the report?
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I still don't trust the report 100%... Here is my opinion on the situation... First of all, you have to remember that the report isn't just for that last week! If you made an error 2 or 3 weeks ago, and that location hasn't been pulled from until last week (therefore discovering the error in the report), then it will show up on the most current report! That is one big reason you need to look at PATTERNS over the course of a few weeks because its unlikely for a TM to be unlucky multiple weeks in a row! Sometimes a TM could have made a few errors a week (technically green), but a majority of them weren't found until the last week of the month, and shown he was red and made alot of errors... When really they just piled up!

Second, specifically about the MMB location accuracy... If I had to guess what happened was related to my first point... You guys basically pulled from nearly every location in that fillgroup during POG Fills (and I'm sure the 12s every day that week were extremely large because of all the product moving around so much)... Which means that nearly EVERY error in MMB would have been discovered on the report for that week! What would have taken months to go through naturally with CAFs (only finding a few errors a week) were all found in a few days, which means red for the week! Just my guess
 
This week one of my fellow TM have 0 pulls and 1 baffle according to the report. Problem is that TM pull batches from either an autofill, research, or POG
 
Unfortunately, not all errors have an actual cause behind them, besides simply "fat-fingering" your data entry when backstocking. Mistakes happen. The baffle report should definitely be used to coach and fix problems and build efficiency/productivity. But in the end, errors will occur just from quickly keying quantities into the PDA when backstocking.

And I remain a staunch advocate of more experienced backroom TM's using SUBT to backstock when it is necessary. When I say more experienced, I mean team members who know exactly what they're doing, how they're affecting the system and the numbers while they're doing it, and how it impacts other store processes. There is nothing wrong with a knowledgable person using SUBT to backstock merchandise taken off a killed endcap.
 
Im going to piggyback on this thread. We have this backroom team member who works in the p fresh coolers and freezers monday through friday 35 hours a week. He is the only backroom tm who works full time in the freezers. This person backstocks our tuesday/thursday trucks while i backstock the saturday trucks (i only work 1 day in backroom p fresh area)

This backroom team member thinks he is better than everyone and says it all the time. Well this team member doesnt like me and has it out against be due to the fact a few months ago, i complained that our store isnt disturbuting our backroom hours during the truck properly and three of his 5 shifts went from 8 hours to 7 hours. So he blames that on me though at the time, my entire store was cutting hours.

This brings me to my point. This backroom team member blames me for the coolers and freezers location accuracy going down. Yes, this one tm blames for our lower br accuracy numbers going down. (NOTE, i work in the backroom p fresh area once a week while he works there 5 days a week)

Is it possible for one person to lower the backroom accuracy numbers if they only work once a week in that department?
 
And I remain a staunch advocate of [I said:
more experienced[/I] backroom TM's using SUBT to backstock when it is necessary. When I say more experienced, I mean team members who know exactly what they're doing, how they're affecting the system and the numbers while they're doing it, and how it impacts other store processes. There is nothing wrong with a knowledgable person using SUBT to backstock merchandise taken off a killed endcap.
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That is fantastic FS. My former ETL was onboard with that...brand or not. He got it. Here is what is funny about what you said. The person doesn't have to even be overly experienced, they have to care about what they are doing. The TM that asks questions about processes, etc., is the TM that you want to be backstocking using SUBT. I am actually an example of that. I worked dayside in the BR for 6 months before I got moved to a TL position. I asked a lot of questions. Why does this happen when I do this? Why do I have to do this before I do this? One day my ETL pulled me aside and gave me an unbrand class in backstocking using SUBT, understanding when you need to SUBT999, and LOCU'ing. Once you clean up existing errors, you don't really have to use these "underground" processes (except SUBT999 for ALL SPLR's that have been taken down) all that often, because the system works great when there are no errors. I'm not bragging on myself, I'm just using myself as an example. Sorry if it seems braggy.
 
ok thanks guys! but what do i do to be more carefull?? I mean when i pull cafs and to give you a example it tells me to go to location 017B25. Now before i scan the merchandise should i waste all this time and locu the location and then try and pull the items since i corrected the errors?? this whole baffle thing has got me sooo confused!!
 
I'm proud to say my PA's and I run a tight ship in the pfresh rooms. Our accuracy are consistently green and data integrity never falls below 95... So when we find many mistakes we get upset
 
joshr1990 said:
ok thanks guys! but what do i do to be more carefull?? I mean when i pull cafs and to give you a example it tells me to go to location 017B25. Now before i scan the merchandise should i waste all this time and locu the location and then try and pull the items since i corrected the errors?? this whole baffle thing has got me sooo confused!!
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No you misunderstood... The baffles on the report are the ones you cause not find!!! If you LOCU a location and then pull, it is fixing someone else's error and keeping their location accuracy green (when in reality they are making mistakes in your stockroom and now not getting caught)... Your mistakes on the report come from someone else pulling in a location that you messed up in!
 
ohhhh so now i see thanks! technically im fixing the other persons mistake heck maybe even my own! my team lead always tells me if i find any error in a location back out and than locu than pull. Some team members dont always listen and do it their own way. anyway how do i go along being careful to not create a baffle? is it entering not the right quantity or is it with backstocking? we also noticed something with the overnight crew. They are lazy with backstockn. and what they do is they go through subt and then back out without entering a quantity! ( so they dont have to count how many is there). So basically they are making the items like a assortment pack which is ridiculous!! Another question about baffles. Does it have anything to do with subt??
 
A baffle is any item that is in a location, but the system doesn't know about it. The system discoveres baffles when you're going along in a pull batch and enter a location, then scan an item in that location that the system didn't realize was there. Now the system knows that item is in the location, but it doesn't know how many of that item is there.

Your overnight crew is doing it horribly wrong and creating tons of baffles by putting an item in a location then scanning it in with SUBT and not entering a quantity. The system sees these as baffles, and while they are not counted on the baffle report or taken out of your location accuracy (because these things are only registered in pull batches, not by doing sto/subt), it knows that there are items present in the backroom without quantities and it doesn't like that. It will usually add these locations to the next day's Audit batch so you can go through and LOCU those locations and give it the quantities it wants.

I'm tired and need to go to bed so I will answer your questions on how to prevent getting baffles on the report tomorrow, unless someone else does first.
 
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