Archived Stock and Pulls

[Kuroyume]

What is up with this? Yesterday, out of frustration because there was no space left for boxed paper stock, I went to the paper aisles and checked for availability. What I found is, cursorily mind you, that I could stock at least 15 boxes on the floor - more if I spent more time on it. And I did so - it took maybe half an hour from start to finish.

My main duties are backroom. So where is the pulling that should get this stuff moving onto the floor? I did a similar thing today with paletted paper and I could have pulled at least a hundred+ items but didn't have time. It seems that the system is constantly trying to pull the same items that won't fit repetitively while viable backstock sits there with plenty of room for pushing.

Am I insane or is Target's system not very bright? 😉

 

[sigma7]

Check capacities and SFQ. There could be data integrity issues.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

It depends on ties & everything being pushed to the floor correctly. Oh wait! Your counts can be off too. I would take a look at the area & see its filled to capacity for starters.

 

[Bosch]

pog tied? We just did the home remodel and things are still randomly coming untied. When it isn't tied nothing comes out, or when by luck it does from a sale it comes back since it has no locations.

 

[Backroom Jesus]

This seems to be a problem with a lot of Targets (I've worked at 3 now). Paper, Pets that comes in on PIPOs, and Diapers. I've worked ON Flow, Instocks and Backroom for 8 years (as both TM and TL in all 3), and I've consistently seen this. SFQ/POG ties/Capacities/On Hands can all be on point and it still will not trigger properly in the auto generated CAFs. Your salesfloor teamleads for whatever areas those are on the floor and your instocks team need to stay vigilant in dropping Research or ITM batches for those areas. I have my team do each area twice a week, otherwise we run out of room in our backroom from that product building up because we are a super-space constrained store (A+ volume with a backroom ~55% the size of what it should be according to Target).

 

[Ringwraith917]

I've found that a lot of the pipo pallets get mysteriously unlocated (or maybe never located in the first place) which means they never get pulled because the system doesn't know they're there.

 

[missionimpossible]

This seems to be a problem with a lot of Targets (I've worked at 3 now). Paper, Pets that comes in on PIPOs, and Diapers. I've worked ON Flow, Instocks and Backroom for 8 years (as both TM and TL in all 3), and I've consistently seen this. SFQ/POG ties/Capacities/On Hands can all be on point and it still will not trigger properly in the auto generated CAFs. Your salesfloor teamleads for whatever areas those are on the floor and your instocks team need to stay vigilant in dropping Research or ITM batches for those areas. I have my team do each area twice a week, otherwise we run out of room in our backroom from that product building up because we are a super-space constrained store (A+ volume with a backroom ~55% the size of what it should be according to Target).

I would just add the pipo water pallets and say yes to the rest.

 

[Backroom Jesus]

I would just add the pipo water pallets and say yes to the rest.

Ah, yes. Forgot that one. Water pipos never pull properly.

I've found that a lot of the pipo pallets get mysteriously unlocated (or maybe never located in the first place) which means they never get pulled because the system doesn't know they're there.

People messing up Y/N, or burning the location improperly is usually what I assume happens.

 

[Bosch]

I've found that a lot of the pipo pallets get mysteriously unlocated (or maybe never located in the first place) which means they never get pulled because the system doesn't know they're there.

Cause flow doesn't locate them when they put them in the steel. I walk paper everyday when one is light, I scan it and the "on Hand" count usually gives a big clue that there is a pallet back there. I go in the back look up and %90 of the time it's there. The backroom guys are good about getting on a wave and locating them for me. Other times it is usually a mis-pick. Be aware though the pallet you locate will pull in the first CAF round to capacity cause its usually at zero on the floor.

We shoot toilet paper, paper towels daily, weekly would leave the Bounty paper towels empty. We sell through to much for just a weekly scan.

Mention the problem you found to the In-Stocks TL whoever that is. To have them actually scan paper, cause they are not catching an easy thing to fill/fix.

 

[Kuroyume]

It depends on ties & everything being pushed to the floor correctly. Oh wait! Your counts can be off too. I would take a look at the area & see its filled to capacity for starters.

Thing is that the product is shown as available in backstock and counts are mostly reliable (more on that in a bit) - all tied in. There are definitely issues with capacity. For instance, our top shelf toilet paper is now only one-layer high (no stacking) for guests mainly. For some reason, pulls still seem to be trying to fill two-layers high (?). That should be fixed by whomever sets capacities. One problem with backstock counts, especially for paletted paper is that some locations in the BR only log the item into the location and with no count. It shows on the PDA or MyDevice as N-Q (assuming No-Quantity) but it does illustrate that the item exists in that BR location. It gets even more confusing when striping these palettes because the original item may be N-Q but the added items are counted (?).

After four months working at Target, it just seems that pulls are erratic and stock isn't moving as 'forcefully' as it could be. I'm not sure if this is tied to Instocks not registering often enough or sales are not considered in the pulls (at some point or quickly enough), but it seems that much more stock could be pushed if just one person per department could simply do a 'once over' once a day to pull and push irregardless of the batches etc. It seems that this is done voluntarily during slower times. Now that we have heavy influx of product for the season, there are less people* and little-to-no effort to maintain a smooth balance of input versus output.

* ETA: worse, I am typically the only person working the dock (usually a two-person enterprise). This accounts for unloading on the back of the line, stocking paper, bulk-plastic, furniture, pets, and other misc. items as well as backstocking those and other items (shippers, rugs, rods, boxes too big for other side of dock, mattresses, transitions, seasonal), delegating or backstocking PIPO, displays, signage, bikes, as well as managing palettes, bails, and other non-merch items (bags et al). Did I mention getting and putting vendor palettes?

Welcome to crazy. 🙂

 

[Kuroyume]

It is official! I am now the 'dock guy' (as explained in my previous post here) and the FDC guy. Oh joy. Can the season get any better? Just make me TL already (hahahaha). 😉