Tips for pushing freight faster?

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Aug 17, 2020
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I’m in the toys department and usually get 3-4 fully stacked u boats a day including repacks(about 11 of them in total avg). Just wondering what kind of tips you guys have to make this go a tad bit faster. Do y’all de trash in the back and then push the items out or do you guys carry the boxes with you to each aisle the tag says they’re in? I find myself doing a u boat in about an hour or hour and 10-20 minutes. I’m about a month and a half into this job so I guess I’m pretty new as well.
 
About an hour for one uboat sounds pretty good. You may find yourself working faster as you get more familiar with where items go as you will need to look at the location on the box less and less. Also, not all stores use timers on their uboats, mine doesn't as it seems to make TMs work slower because they feel defeated before they even start.

Best advice I can give you is to develop consistent habits to become more efficient. Always work your uboats in the same order everyday (for example: I always start with my paper uboats, then move on to plastics, then over to baby last). Having a consistent pattern will help you determine if you can finish your freight everyday (I know if I haven't finished the first two areas by my lunch break, then I may not come clean before I leave and can ask for help proactively).
 
Definitely ask your TL to have someone show you, but some tips to get you started:

•take the entire boat with you down the aisle. Ex. If your uboat is aisles E1-E6, start in aisle E1. Look at the top, and park your boat behind you in the aisle. Push everything from E1(1) and E1(2) from the top. Then move your boat to E1(3). Stock everything from E1(3) and E1(4), rinse and repeat until it's completed. You always wanna be within arms length of your vehicle. This eliminates taking unnecessary steps.

•keep your backstock generally organized on your boat. I will start putting mine in the empty space up top, sorted by aisle. Ex. My E1 is grouped together. My E2 stuff is grouped together etc. This helps me backstock it quicker since it matches my backroom layout.

•Avoid scanning product if you don't need to. The casepacks all have labels with locations on them, so you shouldn't have to spend much time scanning them. The only time I'll scan an item from a caspeack, is if the location has an "*". Ex. E1(1)*1-1-1. This means it has a dual location, which I will need a scanner to check. Obviously, you will need to scan the items in the repacks.

•I keep a trash bag tied to my vehicle for any miscellaneous plastic that comes off. It stays organized, so I'm not wasting time fumbling around with it. If I have a large box, I will break my other boxes down and put them inside. When I take them to the baler, I can toss everything in at once instead of having to keep grabbing a bunch of loose pieces from the back.

•when I'm done, I will go to my stockroom aisle and do my backstock. Then I take my uboat without product to receiving and get rid of my cardboard and plastic. My uboat is now empty so I can park it on the line. I see people try and come do cardboard and trash, then go walk their boat to their aisle for backstock, then bring it aaaallllll the way back to the line. More wasted time.

•Sense of urgency. Self-explanatory here.. Don't need to kill yourself over stocking some toys, but you can still work at a good pace.

You'll get better the more you learn the floor and the more practice you get!
 
Alot of times sort team runs out of Uboats so the sort can be a little messy. If you can find an empty uboat, take an aisle or 2 of the uboats that have been sorted, itll help push quicker. But if theyre sorting it properly, just make sure youre pushing the uboat down the aisle with you and not walking back and forth.
 
Not sure if others already said same things, but here's what I have to offer.
Don't de-trash everything in the back because the pick labels are helpful. Plus, if you have a mispick, it's sort of important to have the label and the product together for reporting it.
I use an empty case for stuffing plastic wrapping into. Easier for me than a plastic bag tied to my u-boat.
Work clean - keep your trash collected together and your back stock together.
Learn your area so you don't have to scan everything. If I have too much to fit, I'll scan to check that the floor count is correct (so product isn't unnecessarily pulled in a 1-for-1 batch) and that there's not a second location. Otherwise, it stays in my holster.
I zone as I go, so once I'm done stocking, there's pretty much only some touching up needed for it to be perfect.
Keep a step ladder handy if you're short like I am and can't stock top shelves neatly without it. And while I'm up there, I'll zone more thoroughly so it's done for a couple of days if I can't get back to it again soon.
 
An hour per uboat ?? Hell no . Not being mean but that’s way to long . Now I’ll explain why is taking you this long , if you only get 3-4 uboat from a truck clearly your custom block it is not broken down right meaning to many aisle in one custom block . Talk to the inbound Tl and see if he can add you one flat for the back wall for example and and other uboat . Don’t wast time detrashing in the back waste of time . Do however utilize best practice ( again that’s where the sort comes in) by having the uboat in the aisle with you . I have 5 custom blocks for toys and the dbo for toys does a uboat in 15-20 minutes tops .
 
We’ve woken up another dead thread so here we go🤪😈.

Everything above EXCEPT

Take your phone or watch and time yourself. Until you master your area and are able to scan the u boat and pick out whatever goes on the aisle you’re standing in, just grab and go. I go from left to right on each level when I’m working in areas that I’m not familiar with. It cuts out 10 seconds of scanning the u boat for an item that goes on this aisle for each box and will save you time. I’ll sort of sort out by areas, putting little kid toys I know go up front on one level, nerf on one level etc. Biggest thing is don’t stop. You’ll still finish your truck before most lol.

After you memorize your entire area then you can really follow the “bring the u boat with you” thing, but doing that while you’re learning locations is wasting time
 
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