What are some things your team does to combat Fulfillment?

[That BackroomGuy]

Any tips at all? Just got swapped over to become the Fulfillment TL from being the F&B TL. I used to do this but it’s been about 2 years. Any tips on how to improve ship from store, OPU ideas or anything really would be appreciated.

 

[lifeblows10]

Don't be afraid to speak your mind when it comes to staffing and when it comes to getting additional help when you have more units than anticipated.

My store is a OPU/DU only store (no SFS), and I ran the team during Q4 as I was (and still am) the "extra" TL. One of the biggest things I did that helped was made sure that random TMs weren't picking Flex, and followed up with the INF report to go audit the "INFs" myself and coached the TM who did it if they weren't one of my dedicated Flex TMs, who knew the routine and were literally only INFing stuff that simply wasn't in the store anymore (or was in someone's cart... that has happened quite a bit.)

 

[seasonaldude]

Guided audits. Work them. Work them right. That'll save you repeat INFs. Also, learn who you can trust on your team, and just tell them to audit what they can't find. If you can't trust anyone on the team to do that appropriately, you need to train them better.

 

[Dog]

Spoiler

Have a conversation with each of the team members that you are now in charge with and let them know what your expectations are, even if they already might know. Pick productivity at least 36 units/hour. Pack productivity at least 90 units/hour. (On both of those, a much higher number is easily attainable honestly). Green in INF%. No missed goals on order pickups. I’m sure you will have more but this is good to start with. I have a more detailed list of expectations I went over with my team when I started if you want it, I can PM it to you.

You will start to learn who your top performers are and keep them close to you. Use them as floaters, and use them to mentor other team members to overall improve the team’s productivity. Use them to set daily routines so that you can delegate things and not have to do everything yourself.
(For example, I have a girl on my team who always closes, so I made a closing checklist for her or others to do and have them follow up with the closing TL to make sure everything gets done)

I write a break schedule for my team every day, to ensure that none of them hit compliance and that there is adequate coverage for order pickup. I also write notes on the bottom, such as that they have to check in with me every day when they start their shift and check out before they leave, and that they have to call out all of their breaks.

When I took over SFS, their INF was really bad because they really just didn’t look for the items. I made a list of every possible step you could go through before INFing an item, and when they INF something they have to audit it to zero beforehand. Please also make sure your hardlines audit is getting completed on a daily basis as well as your backroom audit, it is very important to lowering your team’s INF%.

Go over skill sets with your team to see where everyone is at.
Do you know where to look for something that was delivered today?
Do you know how to use an RFID gun?
Do you know how to audit?
Do you know how to look at an item’s information in MyWork?
Do you know what to do when UPS arrives for pickup?
Do you know how to prep, pack, and sort efficiently?
Do you know how to process ship to store?
Do you know where to look for vendor product that isn’t pushed?
Etc.

GREENFIELD AND MPM ARE YOUR FRIENDS. Use MPM on a daily basis. Use it all the time. Look at it whenever you have a spare second. In greenfield, you can see more detailed information such as damage/quality reports and can see which department a specific team member spends the most time picking. See why they are having trouble in that department and see what you can do to help them out. MyHelp fulfillment order inquiry is another friend of yours. Use it to pull information on which team member worked on a specific order if there is something wrong with it and coach accordingly. Don’t only look at pick and pack productivity, look at how many units total the person actually worked on. Productivity numbers can be misleading!

SUPPLIES! Use the SFS supply grid to take inventory of what you have and don’t have and order everything you need. If your pack stations are not set to planogram, order everything you need to get them to look proper like magnets, bench/tabletop tape dispensers, extra belts/brushes for the air pillow machines, etc. order a shitload of boxes and bags, as much as you can store in your area, you’ll get an idea very quickly of how much you use and the things that you don’t use ever so you can start ordering appropriately. Always assume that your orders are going to be late honestly mine always are especially lately so order a lot and order early.

most importantly, make sure that if you are picking and packing you are doing it super fast so that your whole team can eat your dust and you can tell them to work faster hahaha

Sorry for writing a literal book

 

[seasonaldude]

I made a list of every possible step you could go through before INFing an item, and when they INF something they have to audit it to zero beforehand.

No. Always audit AFTER INFing. If you audit beforehand, then when you INF the items will be added back into your on hands. I typically wait a few minutes after INFing to audit things out just to make sure the counts have updated.

I also don't suggest having fulfillment auditing everything. I'm not a TL, but I'm trusted enough at my store to audit at will. There are always somethings I don't want to audit because I want them to drop into the guided audits so that someone can look at them in more detail before we zero them out. Quite often, that someone else is me and with the extra time to just look for shit, I've found items that I INFed previously.

 

[Dog]

No. Always audit AFTER INFing. If you audit beforehand, then when you INF the items will be added back into your on hands. I typically wait a few minutes after INFing to audit things out just to make sure the counts have updated.

I also don't suggest having fulfillment auditing everything. I'm not a TL, but I'm trusted enough at my store to audit at will. There are always somethings I don't want to audit because I want them to drop into the guided audits so that someone can look at them in more detail before we zero them out. Quite often, that someone else is me and with the extra time to just look for shit, I've found items that I INFed previously.

it hasn’t really been doing that lately ^^’ everything I’ve audited to zero before INFing has stayed at zero. This was the direction from my ops director. It works out well because I try to have the team take the extra time to look for everything the first time, so that hopefully we can get the items to the guest I’m happy to agree to disagree with you though, I’m sure that what you do works just as well too! Cheers

 

[seasonaldude]

it hasn’t really been doing that lately ^^’ everything I’ve audited to zero before INFing has stayed at zero. This was the direction from my ops director. It works out well because I try to have the team take the extra time to look for everything the first time, so that hopefully we can get the items to the guest I’m happy to agree to disagree with you though, I’m sure that what you do works just as well too! Cheers

It's just the way the on hands work. When someone orders something, it's instantly deducted from the on hands. When it's INF'd, it gets added back in. So if you INF after you audit, the items are added back into the on hands. The one exception is when you are technically picking a negative that hasn't updated yet, i.e. an in-store guest has purchased the item/has it in their cart to purchase but the system hasn't updated yet. I saw how this works just two days ago. I was looking for a can of soup. We should have had a case of 12 on hand, but I was able to trace it to a mispick. Checked with my market team. They audited it out. I went about the rest of my batch and INF'd the soup after writing the DPCI down. Then, I checked the counts, despite market just auditing it out, the on hands were one because my INF was added back into the on hands.

 

[allnew2]

It's just the way the on hands work. When someone orders something, it's instantly deducted from the on hands. When it's INF'd, it gets added back in. So if you INF after you audit, the items are added back into the on hands. The one exception is when you are technically picking a negative that hasn't updated yet, i.e. an in-store guest has purchased the item/has it in their cart to purchase but the system hasn't updated yet. I saw how this works just two days ago. I was looking for a can of soup. We should have had a case of 12 on hand, but I was able to trace it to a mispick. Checked with my market team. They audited it out. I went about the rest of my batch and INF'd the soup after writing the DPCI down. Then, I checked the counts, despite market just auditing it out, the on hands were one because my INF was added back into the on hands.

That is correct you audit after inf.

 

[Dog]

Always happy to have you guys give me correct information

 

[RealFuckingName]

Thank you to all of you. I'm new in SFS. And this is helpful for me, too!

 

[seasonaldude]

Welp, since this thread is back...just a head's up to anyone who hasn't discovered this one their own. There was a change to OPUs. You now need to audit after hitting "batch complete." Doing it after hitting INF no longer works. Not found items now get dumped backed into on hands when the batch is complete.

 

[Dog]

Welp, since this thread is back...just a head's up to anyone who hasn't discovered this one their own. There was a change to OPUs. You now need to audit after hitting "batch complete." Doing it after hitting INF no longer works. Not found items now get dumped backed into on hands when the batch is complete.

Thanks seasonaldude!

 

[1navyguy]

Thanks seasonaldude!!!!!

 

[RealFuckingName]

As a TM of fulfillment (SFS, OPUs, and grocery), I have a few tips that help me be more efficient at picking and have a lower INF rate.

1. Use your tools. A.) In ePick: Picture, location, DPCI, text. B.) MyWork to see: Backroom location, additional sales floor locations, last delivery date, last sell date, and quantity. E.G., if you can't find it and it says there are 0 on the sales floor 0 in the backroom (48 on hand) and the delivery date is MORE RECENT than the last sales date, it's probably in the backroom lost on a uboat.
2. What to do when you can't find it and using your tools and eyeballs is failing you: ASK a TM in that area, check reshop, check general area for that type of product, check endcaps and sidecaps in the area in case other locations aren't listed, check near the cash registers (or know what products are pushed there), and check the clearance rack for missing softlines.
3. Talk to your TM and TL. When you finally find that one missing box of Cat and Jack masks in the back, TELL YOUR TMs and TL; they'll be looking for them, too.
4. Ask questions, play with MPM and MyWork.
5. As you walk from one location to another, LOOK AROUND to see what has changed in the store: new endcaps and sidecaps, misplaced or new products, etc.
6. As you approach the product's location, try to see it before you get there.
7. If the barcode can be scanned without touching the product, do that before or as you pick it up.
8. Place all products that need to be prepped on one side of the cart, if possible, to make it easier on preppers.
9. Talk to TMs in other departments and be appreciative of their work and help. A better relationship means they'll be more willing to help you when you need it. Offer to help them in return without being asked.
10. Care about other TMs and their stress.
11. Always be honest, but polite, especially when you fuck up.

 

[RealFuckingName]

Oh, and have a good work ethic and do your best, or get the fuck out.

 

[seasonaldude]

If you have to spend more than a couple of minutes looking for it, you better have a very compelling reason to keep looking. Otherwise, INF and move the fuck on. If you can't do that and stay green on INFs, you need to be in your SD's ear about other process' in the store failing.

 

[RealFuckingName]

If you have to spend more than a couple of minutes looking for it, you better have a very compelling reason to keep looking. Otherwise, INF and move the fuck on. If you can't do that and stay green on INFs, you need to be in your SD's ear about other process' in the store failing.

Appreciate that. There are a lot of broken processes.

Edit: shouldn't take longer than a few minutes, unless it's a big ticket item or something that will recur and it's THERE, like those stinking masks that fly off the shelves.