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Hey guys, starting pre-building the CSE for hardlines, which focals use the 30" graphic backer?
MEGATHREAD Signing Tips, Tricks and Quips (along with howls of despair)
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I think they go to the toy focal,bed, bath focal, stationary focal, basically all of the domestic focals and the one in kitchen. I may be wrong I am not sure.
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My entertainment signs are about 3/4 in to long. Opened the toy sign box and had the same problem. Getting really pissed!
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Thus the question, "Why did it take you three times as long to do the signing as it should have"
The blank look on their faces when you explain that you had to trim every damned sign to make them fit properly is enough to make you want to drink or hit things.
Because the answer is always going to be, "Well just get it done because we need to start on this next project now."
Wave Ballerino
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Any thoughts on the Cosmetics overhaul? Our store is currently undergoing it, and they included me in on it, although most all I've been doing is just ferrying trash to the opentop dumpster and pallets of stuff back and forth from the backroom. There wasn't much way to tell ahead of time, but naturally as is common with whoever is in charge of sending fixtures to our store, several things were simply not available that were needed and created a massive holdup. I decided to crush all of the cardboard instead of tossing it in the opentop, so we could at least get a bale or two out of it.
I was quite happy to be able to toss all of those grimy white shelves from cosmetics and trade them for the cooler-looking cube-like shelves.. seems like this will make things loads easier for future resets since there seem to be far fewer super-specific pieces to keep track of and more of a generic way of storing things that are far more interchangeable. I asked my logistics ETL if we could toss all of the fixture room items that matched the ones we were tossing from the overhaul, and got approval, so it looks like I'm going to get to do some nice "shopping" in the fxrm to junk a lot of that white plastic ^__^
It didn't help matters that the ETL who was tasked with leading the overhaul gives the worst directions of any leader I've encountered.. she frequently sends me emails asking me to fix a sign "somewhere between RTW and grocery" (not exactly that vague, but seems like it), and I overheard her complaining that she had to repeat instructions to our general contractor several times before he got it.. it's you, lady, not him! =P
I was quite happy to be able to toss all of those grimy white shelves from cosmetics and trade them for the cooler-looking cube-like shelves.. seems like this will make things loads easier for future resets since there seem to be far fewer super-specific pieces to keep track of and more of a generic way of storing things that are far more interchangeable. I asked my logistics ETL if we could toss all of the fixture room items that matched the ones we were tossing from the overhaul, and got approval, so it looks like I'm going to get to do some nice "shopping" in the fxrm to junk a lot of that white plastic ^__^
It didn't help matters that the ETL who was tasked with leading the overhaul gives the worst directions of any leader I've encountered.. she frequently sends me emails asking me to fix a sign "somewhere between RTW and grocery" (not exactly that vague, but seems like it), and I overheard her complaining that she had to repeat instructions to our general contractor several times before he got it.. it's you, lady, not him! =P
A plano or support TM should be doing the trash. You will be more valuable in aisle with the signing and fixtures.
Why do you have to ask your logistics ETL for permission to throw fixtures out from the fixture room? Just do it. Take the initiative. I already tossed all of mine about a month or so ago. I'm in charge of the fixtures in the fixture room. What stays and goes ultimately rests with me.
I'm curious what your store's live-unload process was for the trailer and the organization. There was direction and communication from HQ regarding this very issue with fixtures. They needed to be organized and planned in such a way to avoid creating extra work.
The one thing I've learned from doing other projects in the past on this scope and scale - (remodel and non-remodel) is that organization is key. It is critical to the success of the team.
As for your ETL, maybe point out that it would be helpful and more efficient if she was specific on the location of the sign or what the sign looks like. It'll save you the headache later on down the road.
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Wave Ballerino
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(we're not a Super-, so I'm not sure how much different our reset would be from a Super-Target's reset)
I'm not sure what communication HQ gave our ETLs, but one of them organized one trailer for TMs and one for contractors. He organized it by writing a big circled number on some of the pallets, for use on which day of the overhaul, and that worked out okay. There were a half dozen or more of pallets that we'd use from each day, so he just starred them and we pulled them in on the first day and just put them in the steel for the remainder instead of bothering the contractor with that, since we didn't operate the rental forklift. I wasn't present for the unload bit.
The way our store did it was to have POG/signing and several assistants work overnight for four days straight alongside the contractors to alter cosmetics and beauty, but that idea was pretty much a complete disaster. Having POG/signing mostly just bogged down the event, and there was tons of milking the clock with just standing around waiting for this and that. Morale was pretty low the whole time because we were being kept up at weird hours of the night and got a whole lot of nothing much done that couldn't've been done during the regular hours.
It would have gone much more smoothly had the cosmetics aisle simply been de-merched, let the contractors do their thing, and then let POG come in on their regular day as normal and set the fixtures/etc as needed. The overnight way with contractors and POG working side by side, it was just a big mess with people stepping over each other and a grossly inefficient use of hours. Someone keen on pallet/skid transport with jacks and crowns is just about the only person needed, to help contractors get their stuff from dock to floor, and then back again, and to handle the trash.
Supposedly the contractor was to handle the tossing of the old fixtures, but he received no details about that, nor that he was the one to call for the dumpster to be replaced. I talked with the contractor briefly, who was rather nice, and he was pretty irritated with how they didn't have pieces that were needed and how little instruction there was given even though he had already done it once at another store. I decided to take the lead on the tossing of the old fixtures, since our flipbook guide said what to keep or toss, and they had keeps and tosses mixed together.
I'm not totally sure why a contractor was even needed, as most of what he did seemed fairly ordinary. I helped him out a few times on some heavier and awkward pieces, and it wasn't altogether different from building a weird shipper in terms of inexperience, except just with metal. I've broken down and reassembled gondolas probably 10 times before, and what they had him do didn't really seem so out of the ordinary. It seems actually like something we'd actually need to know when we go to reset it again one day down the line.
I'm not sure what communication HQ gave our ETLs, but one of them organized one trailer for TMs and one for contractors. He organized it by writing a big circled number on some of the pallets, for use on which day of the overhaul, and that worked out okay. There were a half dozen or more of pallets that we'd use from each day, so he just starred them and we pulled them in on the first day and just put them in the steel for the remainder instead of bothering the contractor with that, since we didn't operate the rental forklift. I wasn't present for the unload bit.
The way our store did it was to have POG/signing and several assistants work overnight for four days straight alongside the contractors to alter cosmetics and beauty, but that idea was pretty much a complete disaster. Having POG/signing mostly just bogged down the event, and there was tons of milking the clock with just standing around waiting for this and that. Morale was pretty low the whole time because we were being kept up at weird hours of the night and got a whole lot of nothing much done that couldn't've been done during the regular hours.
It would have gone much more smoothly had the cosmetics aisle simply been de-merched, let the contractors do their thing, and then let POG come in on their regular day as normal and set the fixtures/etc as needed. The overnight way with contractors and POG working side by side, it was just a big mess with people stepping over each other and a grossly inefficient use of hours. Someone keen on pallet/skid transport with jacks and crowns is just about the only person needed, to help contractors get their stuff from dock to floor, and then back again, and to handle the trash.
Supposedly the contractor was to handle the tossing of the old fixtures, but he received no details about that, nor that he was the one to call for the dumpster to be replaced. I talked with the contractor briefly, who was rather nice, and he was pretty irritated with how they didn't have pieces that were needed and how little instruction there was given even though he had already done it once at another store. I decided to take the lead on the tossing of the old fixtures, since our flipbook guide said what to keep or toss, and they had keeps and tosses mixed together.
I'm not totally sure why a contractor was even needed, as most of what he did seemed fairly ordinary. I helped him out a few times on some heavier and awkward pieces, and it wasn't altogether different from building a weird shipper in terms of inexperience, except just with metal. I've broken down and reassembled gondolas probably 10 times before, and what they had him do didn't really seem so out of the ordinary. It seems actually like something we'd actually need to know when we go to reset it again one day down the line.
Wave Ballerino
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A few more nuggets I've learned from the new "cube" style of cosmetics:
1. Instead of four-foot sections, you need to rethink how it is laid out to instead be four 1-foot sections per 4-ft. If there is an aisle with four 4-ft sections, for instance, that's 16 sections. If there is 2 POGs on the 16-section area, say 2 and 2 4fts equally, whereas the PDA might normally show A6 (3) 2-7-8 for the furthest highest item, it might instead show it as A6 (3) 8-12-8.
2. (pic below) When setting the strips of signing that go on the flip-face of each individual 1-foot lighted shelf, wait until whoever does the POG printed mini labels to set those first. You'll get a stack of signing strips in a large white envelope and they're all out of order. My strategy was to scan each of them and make a pile on their respective columns, paying attention only to the (#) number on the location and stacking them all correspondingly, and then going thru the stack for each 1-ft section to match the 010, 020, 030 of the cosmetic brand's number with the price labels' descriptions.. The way the PDA displays signs is a little confusing, since sometimes there is a weird-shaped sign that looks vaguely like a sideways L, and the PDA lists those almost as if it were its own shelf/peg (P3,etc) and jacks up the even/odd of the location of the strips if there is an L-shaped sign thrown in somewhere.
3. There are lighted headers on most sections, and you'll get clear headers to set inside these. The bulky header has a clear surface that wraps around the sides, with tabs on top and bottom (may require step ladder for shorties) that pop over a little nub in order to remove, but the rest of the header stays put.
4. This particular (pic below) sideways-L shaped piece is often pretty tough to deal with, in order to get the sign in, especially once the 1-foot shelf has already been put in. You can either take the 1-foot shelf down and put it in and hopefully remember what number peg hold the shelf went back into, or.. (should have taken a better pic) there are nubs on the "top" ends of the piece that snap into the fixture. If you can pull/push the uppermost part of the outer walls of the fixture, the L-part will come loose and can be pulled out, sometimes by lifting slightly because of a little cup-shaped part on the top. It's hard to explain exactly.
1. Instead of four-foot sections, you need to rethink how it is laid out to instead be four 1-foot sections per 4-ft. If there is an aisle with four 4-ft sections, for instance, that's 16 sections. If there is 2 POGs on the 16-section area, say 2 and 2 4fts equally, whereas the PDA might normally show A6 (3) 2-7-8 for the furthest highest item, it might instead show it as A6 (3) 8-12-8.
2. (pic below) When setting the strips of signing that go on the flip-face of each individual 1-foot lighted shelf, wait until whoever does the POG printed mini labels to set those first. You'll get a stack of signing strips in a large white envelope and they're all out of order. My strategy was to scan each of them and make a pile on their respective columns, paying attention only to the (#) number on the location and stacking them all correspondingly, and then going thru the stack for each 1-ft section to match the 010, 020, 030 of the cosmetic brand's number with the price labels' descriptions.. The way the PDA displays signs is a little confusing, since sometimes there is a weird-shaped sign that looks vaguely like a sideways L, and the PDA lists those almost as if it were its own shelf/peg (P3,etc) and jacks up the even/odd of the location of the strips if there is an L-shaped sign thrown in somewhere.
3. There are lighted headers on most sections, and you'll get clear headers to set inside these. The bulky header has a clear surface that wraps around the sides, with tabs on top and bottom (may require step ladder for shorties) that pop over a little nub in order to remove, but the rest of the header stays put.
4. This particular (pic below) sideways-L shaped piece is often pretty tough to deal with, in order to get the sign in, especially once the 1-foot shelf has already been put in. You can either take the 1-foot shelf down and put it in and hopefully remember what number peg hold the shelf went back into, or.. (should have taken a better pic) there are nubs on the "top" ends of the piece that snap into the fixture. If you can pull/push the uppermost part of the outer walls of the fixture, the L-part will come loose and can be pulled out, sometimes by lifting slightly because of a little cup-shaped part on the top. It's hard to explain exactly.
1. The four foot section to one foot section is the hardest part of the whole thing for people.
2. I agree. Set the signing first, THEN set the labels inside it. You will have to move the pricing labels depending on where the picture is. There are some shelves that have a sign that goes into it, covering up part of the pushers, so no product goes inside it.
The other part that will throw you for a loop is any other signing involved within the same section. That will become another "shelf" for the sign.
The L-Shaped sign is called a Pistol.
3. The headers are in all aisles EXCEPT the indie. The indie was the most difficult one. Do the signing for Indie as you go, because Indie has backer paper, then you put up the light box, then the sign inside the light box (or put the sign in the light box before it goes up).
4. It's called a Pistol (L-Shaped sign). This will help if you ever have to go looking for it on SAP.
Other things I've learned from the Cosmetics Set.
1. If your shelf front is broken, it's fixable. The whole thing can be disassembled and put back together. We had several that came in loose/falling off.
2. Items on Peghooks are actually going to be 1-F1-1 instead of 1-1-1. So pay attention when putting the labels in!
3. No more sticky labels! Yay! We just flip the plastic sleeve forward and stick it in.
4. Some of the shelves have pushers that are too short height-wise to hold the product in (lip-gloss, anybody?) Target, please fix this for the future.
5. Put the pegs in the peg holders before installing the pegs. Otherwise, it's not too hard to take it off and then put it back in.
6. The top shelves in some sections may need to be adjusted in order to make it fit (Maybelline, especially).
7. I need to order some shelves because Target screwed up on sending us the wrong ones for the schematic (i.e. we got a 4-pusher for a shelf that actually needed 6 product pushers). I went through whatever was left over.
For the PTLs/Project Captains.
8. If the PTLs have time...for the longer POGs, make copies of the schematic/label pages and give one to each team member setting the aisle, instead of ripping the POG apart. It'll save you time and a headache.
9. Night #2 was much smoother than Night #1, probably because people understood how to read the POG, find stuff, and put it together.
10. Having someone come in early before POG comes to start demerching makes it a much more efficient set. Rubber bands are your best friend. Although many people ended up going through every product in their hand because a lot of them were mixed up.
I'll add more if I think of anything else later.
what do you guys use on the 3x5 cover for the small appliances.? the one that goes in the bullnose of the shelf. We are using like a plastic cover. any1 knows the part# for that fixture?
I saw some other store using a hard plastic that snaps in the bull nose shelf. any one knows the part # for that too?
thank you
I saw some other store using a hard plastic that snaps in the bull nose shelf. any one knows the part # for that too?
thank you
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Sorry man, I tossed out my book.
It's the same covers you have to use for the signage on the hairdryers too.
I have the part numbers for both and will have to get back to you on this one. I should do like Commie and make a little book for when people have questions.
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The plastic covers for small appliances, for some unknown reason, are not orderable any more. I tried to order some last week without any luck. So I mysupported the issue, and they were able to order them for me.
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Anyone have a problem receiving two kits for their electronics transition?
I received 2 electronic pallets and 1 for HIA. Was there suppose to be a third?
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Wave Ballerino
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WTF is HIA? Saw it on the stickers but the subject matter seemed so random. I only got one pallet of Electronics, wrapped in black.
Also, received quite possibly the largest ISM box I've ever seen before..
Also, received quite possibly the largest ISM box I've ever seen before..
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Looks like the boxes we got the year we had the ribbons for christmas.
They are combining all of the tools, flashlights, automotive and they are combining them again I believe. I also they are calling it World again like a couple years ago. Oh did you already forget how big the CSE high wall,low wall, and focal sign boxes are?
@The Global TM I went to work today and apparently the other day when I was off a electronics pallet came in. So I do have 3. One had the new lock-ups and shelving. The other had all the backer paper and signing. I didnt look at the other one so I am not sure whats up there.
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The two kits I am missing for the electronics transition are the "Merchandising Kit" and "Programming Kit"
