Archived Softlines Flow

[Adrianna5698]

I work softlines in the morning doing stock, I'm seriously considering quitting. We have a lot of issues & no support at all from TM's not ever the STL. Our team is way understaffed & we keep getting big shipments for our area, also no one ever zones any part of softlines which makes it extremely difficult when we're trying to put out stock. We have been told we should be finishing breaking out & pushing within 4 hours......that is impossible, we've tried every possible thing & when we have so much stuff and only 2-4 of us it's impossible. Also, we've been told to zone as we push.....which takes more time (softlines is trashed every morning). There's only one TM that will check on us, and that person is almost never there so we're on our own 95% of the time.

I know the STL is getting frustrated with us, she came by Saturday as we had 5 palettes out full of repacks plus all the repacks we had on the floor & told us with as many pieces we got & how many of us there were it should take 4 hours.....I know these are times given to the STL, but I honestly feel like there was a mistake but we worked as fast as we could. Also, when we're done with our truck we're immediately told to jump into hardlines, so on the other day they got done before us....so what did the STL do? Sent everyone home early, gave everyone high fives as she praised what a great job they had done & took a pic in front of the department we were in. We don't ever get a "hey great job" when we do well in anything, she could've at least sent one person to come help us (which never happens). Is softlines flow a whole separate team than hardlines flow? I've been there for a year & I feel like our team is always on the bottom. I'm just frustrated.

 

[Him]

I completely understand your frustration with softllines process. Whenever I try to explain everything that softllines entails from top of leadership (ETL, TL) to the bottom (tm), I get the "looks" and the "well I'm not softllines" mumbo jumbo... Wake up call Target!! If you are finished with Hardlines and Softllines still has work to do, you are Not done!! Back room, if you are clean in your area and the softllines stockroom is not clean, you are not done!! I've been at several Targets in my time and only 1 of them actually got it right for that concept. My suggestion is to keep trying to make your concerns heard and "physically" show them the difference in softllines being done right/wrong. Show them what can happen when you have x number of people who actually work as compared to only a handful. Results changes Everyone's opinions Real Quick from top to bottom! Good luck

 

[missionimpossible]

My guess is they are trying to put your breakout time into your push time, which isn't right. Our average push goal in SL is around 5-7 hours. They are usually close to that but that is just pushing, doesn't count the first couple of hours of breaking out. I also know that they are among the best people on our team because they blow the socks off of the hardlines pushers we have.

 

[Adrianna5698]

I completely understand your frustration with softllines process. Whenever I try to explain everything that softllines entails from top of leadership (ETL, TL) to the bottom (tm), I get the "looks" and the "well I'm not softllines" mumbo jumbo... Wake up call Target!! If you are finished with Hardlines and Softllines still has work to do, you are Not done!! Back room, if you are clean in your area and the softllines stockroom is not clean, you are not done!! I've been at several Targets in my time and only 1 of them actually got it right for that concept. My suggestion is to keep trying to make your concerns heard and "physically" show them the difference in softllines being done right/wrong. Show them what can happen when you have x number of people who actually work as compared to only a handful. Results changes Everyone's opinions Real Quick from top to bottom! Good luck

Thank you, the first time I spoke to a TL he completely blew me off, then they keep implementing their own solutions which makes things worse. I will try to make my concerns known again, I'm hoping that someone listens, thank you again

 

[Adrianna5698]

My guess is they are trying to put your breakout time into your push time, which isn't right. Our average push goal in SL is around 5-7 hours. They are usually close to that but that is just pushing, doesn't count the first couple of hours of breaking out. I also know that they are among the best people on our team because they blow the socks off of the hardlines pushers we have.

I didn't even think about that! That actually makes sense, there's no way that we can do breakout and push in 4 hours, especially with a huge shipment. I think next time I will ask, maybe see if they'll let me see how they come up with those times. Thank you

 

[Reddington]

Also, when we're done with our truck we're immediately told to jump into hardlines, so on the other day they got done before us....so what did the STL do? Sent everyone home early, gave everyone high fives as she praised what a great job they had done & took a pic in front of the department we were in. We don't ever get a "hey great job" when we do well in anything, she could've at least sent one person to come help us (which never happens). Is softlines flow a whole separate team than hardlines flow?

Sounds similar to what I've seen at my store. Hardlines and softlines are indeed treated as two separate groups, and the same thing happens here as it does to your store - when softlines is done, they are expected to push hardlines, yet when hardlines is done, they get to go home... provided shoes are done at least.

I questioned the ETL about this, and the answer he gave was that not too many of the hardlines people were trained in how and where softlines go, and they would rather not have untrained people in the department making a mess of things. Also, the dreaded topic of hours came to play, as he said the sooner he can send some of the team home, the more he'll save on hours when it comes to scheduling.

I know that answer doesn't help, but I for one agree with you that it is not fair.

 

[SFSFun]

Our store is in a similar situation, and the only thing that's been able to make a difference is by having a minimum of 5 TMs back there (even putting dayside Softlines TMs on flow if needed). Those green repacks having been killing us though.

If they do finish early, they get sent to hardlines, because it's easy and everyone knows how to push there. But when they are behind, they don't send untrained TMs back to help because they would just make a mess of things and it would take twice as long to finish if they had to first train them.

 

[SrTLall]

Pushing softlines is so much different from pushing hardlines. At my store I purposely overload softlines with capable TMs so that they finish well before hardlines and the hardlines TMs have no chance of going on to the carpet to wander around aimlessly. On larger softline trucks, with the greater amount of softline pushers, they usually get done at the same time or a little bit after.

I have 1 softlines TMs running their pallets and in her downtime, she brings paper and grocery to the floor so others can bowl it. I have 3 TMs sort hanging and 2 sort folded/basics/accessories. After everything is completely broken out, the deal is, because I'm overloading softlines with more TMs, that they push onespot and then come help hardlines finish up pushing priority 1 freight so we can have huddle and go to break.

After break, they head off into their own areas of mens, rtw, boys/girls, infants, active/intimates, accessories, all basics with a mydevice (we don't wave softlines because I prefer to have an expert in each area).

To sum it up, that's 6 softlines TMs, 7 if you count the TM in infant aisles. Yes, it's definitely overkill, but I know I can count on each of them to know their area and zone as they push as efficiently as possible.

On the largest of trucks (those disaster ones right before major adjacencies) they are done with all before taking a lunch. On regular deliveries, they usually make it to our last section (toys/sporting goods) before the hardlines team.

I'd never expect a team of 4 TMs to be able to tackle all of softlines on a regular basis. Considering the zone that is left from the night before, it would be almost impossible to complete your job on time and correctly.

 

[anathema]

We seem to give softlines a lot of cushion, but I can't honestly tell without working with them how fast they should be coming clean. Goal time is usually around 4-5 hours but sometimes the workload seems massive.

They're nowhere near as dedicated to finishing as your crew seems to be, though.

 

[calimero]

Let's see :
We have one person breaking , starting at 5.30
Tm 1 : break out and shoes (5.30-1.30,which includes back stock)
Tm 2 : men, sleep 1/4 of rtw (6-11am )
Tm3 :1/4 rtw , performance / hosiery 7-11am
Tm 4 : bras / panties , 6.30 -11am
Tm 5 : 1/4 rtw , accessories , girls 6.30 -12.30pm
Tm 6 : boys infants , 6.30 -12.30pm
For the last 2tm , they are often asked to stay later to back stock until 3
Sometimes , 1 of the tms is not scheduled ..
We usually get done pushing by 11 , and we back stock , sometimes we have time to zone too !
Most of the times , the night crew can get some of the zone done !
We are all responsible for our own areas !
You really have to have some dedicated soft line tm, it isn't easy to find !
Pushing hardline and pushing soft line are 2 different things !
Hardline is pretty much set in stone with all locations ...
Softline is another beast on its own :
On the same z rack, I had Halloween , Christmas , winter jackets and swim ...
You have to have some type of imagination or love puzzles to figure what needs to be done , Remerchandizing is not easy ...
But most tls or Etls are clueless in soft line