What Times Should I be Aiming For In Finishing a Batch?

[Nick871]

Hello everyone! I've been working at target as a seasonal fulfillment employee for a few weeks, and I've mostly been picking OPU/SFS during that time.

I've never been told to speed up my picking until the other day when my LOD contacted me over walkie and said "is everything alright? You've been in your batch for a while". That was the first time anyone has talked to me about my pace.

I'm posting this because I am trying to stay past the seasonal period and want to exceed expectations. What should be my goal time for picking an OPU batch, which is now typically 20-25 items?

If you have any tips to give I would appreciate it. I'm still slow at pulling clothing, especially infant/toddler clothing, and we always seem to be short on rfid scanners. I also follow in the order the device gives, which drives me nuts because its inefficient and I tend to circle the store several times when picking a batch. Is it acceptable if I always have to ask softlines for help, or is it to be used as a last resort if I look around for a few minutes, can't find something, and am about to request an INF? I start my next batch at guest services right after finishing a batch, but should I wait until I am in the backroom to start since the first items will be there?

Speaking of INFs, how much time should I dedicate to looking for an item? There have been times when I will search around the shelf tag, ask a TM in that department, look around the whole department (clothing), and then try to find it in back and that takes 10+ minutes. Should I decrease accuracy for the sake of time? I'm sorry for the long post but I appreciate any advice!

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

@seasonaldude or @Dog, please assist.
There is a time limit on opu batch’s. You can ask your tl for more info. Search our threads too.

 

[Nick871]

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@seasonaldude or @Dog, please assist.
There is a time limit on opu batch’s. You can ask your tl for more info. Search our threads too.

Thanks for the fast response! I'm aware of the goal timer, but for example I still had over an hour to pull and was almost done packing orders when I was contacted about it... I haven't seem a timer for how long I've personally spent on the batch though.

 

[Yetive]

Picking, be over 40 per hour.

 

[Dog]

So, if you go into the app MPM on your MyDevice, go into store fulfillment, and then go to ship/pickup (whichever you are picking) and turn your MyDevice horizontally (landscape mode) it’ll show you how fast everyone (including you!) is picking, how many units they’ve attempted to pick so far during their shift, and what their INF% is. (You can also ask any leader to tell you what your productivity is.)

Once you turn your device horizontally, find your name and look at your stats - you should be picking at LEAST 36 units per hour (more than that is easily attainable, I try to be around 50) and your INF% should be under 10%, preferably under 5%.

As for the time spent looking for items that are hard to find/you can’t find, it is very important that you try your very best to find items so they can get to the guest, but there’s only so long that you can look for something. Use your best judgement, if something was last sold 250 days ago, for example, we probably don’t have it. Where/how you look for items will differ store by store - I’m not sure how good your store is in regards to rolling truck, zone, BRLA, etc so I can’t give you more detailed answers on that... but I honestly wouldn’t spend more than 10 minutes looking for a single item.

Softlines items you will get used to over time; even if you don’t see a vacant RFID gun I would definitely call out to your peers and ask if anyone has one they’re not currently using, it is a very useful tool! And always ask the softlines team for help if you can’t locate an item, they’re here to help you.

*to put your MyDevice in landscape mode, auto-rotate has to be enabled in the accessibility app on your MyDevice

let me know if there’s anything else I can help you with

 

[vngoghlvr]

You want to hit 35 to 40 an hour for picking and 90 an hour for packing. Check MPM to track your units, productivity, and INF. You want to stay green. Speed will come with time, concentrate on accuracy in picking and stowing. We are more forgiving of speed vs. messing up orders if you show hustle and a willingness to learn.

 

[JustMeT]

In regards to SFS orders and circling the store: sometimes I will skip items and come back to them if they are in further proximity than other items down the line. If I'm getting off the elevator and it wants me to go to section so and so first, but that section is near the entrance to bring the items down to the basement once I'm finished, I'll skip those for last and go in the other direction first, otherwise its more walking/time consumption than necessary. When it comes to softlines, an RFID definitely helps, but it's also just about learning the areas. I tend to bring one with me, but eventually you learn the different manufacturers and where they are situated. I started in July and was constantly in the red for picking, this year I'm consistently in the green and it's basically just keeping on keeping on, it gets easier, for sure.

 

[Nick871]

@Dog

Thank you for the thorough reply! I had no clue that you can see all that info in landscape. I can't wait to check it out when I go in next.

And thanks everyone else for the advice! I'll try the skip method for items that are far away... I heard that its supposed to generate the path of least time but it seems like it does a terrible job of that. It doesn't help that our store is in reno and a lot of the aisles provided on the device are inaccurate.

 

[Dog]

Yes the pathing on the mydevice is super funky for some reason lol I try to skip through after doing all the backroom locations so that I hit everything furthest from guest service first when doing OPU

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Also, ask the friendly tm's or tl who know what they have on the shelves in stock. @jenna & @FlowTeamChick...

 

[Dog]

Also, ask the friendly tm's or tl who know what they have on the shelves in stock. @jenna & @FlowTeamChick...

Yes, yesterday I had a team member check with someone in a speciality sales department for ~10 items in that dept he couldn’t find anywhere, and together they searched the backroom and ended up finding all of it unlocated in the back! Really saved that INF score!!

 

[seasonaldude]

Hello everyone! I've been working at target as a seasonal fulfillment employee for a few weeks, and I've mostly been picking OPU/SFS during that time.

I've never been told to speed up my picking until the other day when my LOD contacted me over walkie and said "is everything alright? You've been in your batch for a while". That was the first time anyone has talked to me about my pace.

I'm posting this because I am trying to stay past the seasonal period and want to exceed expectations. What should be my goal time for picking an OPU batch, which is now typically 20-25 items?

If you have any tips to give I would appreciate it. I'm still slow at pulling clothing, especially infant/toddler clothing, and we always seem to be short on rfid scanners. I also follow in the order the device gives, which drives me nuts because its inefficient and I tend to circle the store several times when picking a batch. Is it acceptable if I always have to ask softlines for help, or is it to be used as a last resort if I look around for a few minutes, can't find something, and am about to request an INF? I start my next batch at guest services right after finishing a batch, but should I wait until I am in the backroom to start since the first items will be there?

Speaking of INFs, how much time should I dedicate to looking for an item? There have been times when I will search around the shelf tag, ask a TM in that department, look around the whole department (clothing), and then try to find it in back and that takes 10+ minutes. Should I decrease accuracy for the sake of time? I'm sorry for the long post but I appreciate any advice!

What Dog said, but to add. You should typically be finishing an OPU batch in about half an hour. Depending on the batch, it might take a bit longer. It might take a lot less time too. Since batches are now 23 DPCIs each that means if you can do one every half hour even if none of your batches have multiple eaches, your pick productivity in MPM is going to be 46 units an hour. That's fast enough to keep any lead off your back. (Of course, if you're taking smaller batches because things are slow, your producitivity number will go down. That's ok. Bigger batches equal greater productivity up to a point.)

Unless I have to dig through a bunch of repacks, I'd never spend 10 minutes looking for an item. The key to fulfillment is knowing where things are when they aren't where they are supposed to be. That comes with experience and I'd guess that your LOD knows that. I wouldn't be too concerned about your lead asking if you were doing OK. Probably just wondering if you needed help finding something. Learn your backroom. You don't have to search the entire back for an item, or even an entire fillgoup's area to find something unlocated. You just need to search where it's supposed to be if it had been located properly. (If you're finding a lot of items in other areas, you need to talk to the appropriate TL because the DBO is doing things wrong.) For example, if I'm looking for a jar of peanut butter, I don't have to look through all of GRC1. I just need to look in the four foot section where peanut butter goes. If I'm looking for UT jeans, I don't need to search all of women's. I just need to check where UT goes.

 

[jenna]

Also, ask the friendly tm's or tl who know what they have on the shelves in stock. @jenna & @FlowTeamChick...

I like it when people ask me for help with picking! I usually know right away if we have it, or where I can try to find it.

A few of the Style tms are also helpful.

Others, not so much.

 

[FlowTeamChick]

Also, ask the friendly tm's or tl who know what they have on the shelves in stock. @jenna & @FlowTeamChick...

Well, gosh, @Hardlinesmaster, thanks for the compliment.
We have so many new TMs picking orders now and they're all a little lost at least some of the time. (Some of them are lost all the time and some are a little too confident to ask for help, but oh well.) I'm always happy to help someone locate an item, especially in my area. Most TMs at my store like to be helpful.
Seems that this batch of TMs didn't get great training on how to translate the location on the zebra to the location on the shelf - some of them get in the right aisle and then are going mostly by the picture of the item and trying to find it that way. Using the location is so much faster.
When I pick an order, I wait until I'm in the backroom with my cart before I click on the start button.
Soft lines is like a black hole for me and I dread batches with lots of apparel - circle round and round and still can't find the thing. Skip it, come back later, and often I can find it right away (how did I miss it the first time?). Other times, it's like I'm blind - someone else comes in and says "is this it?" I have no shame asking for help, especially in soft lines.

 

[Switchto4]

I take stock of my batch before I start so I can map it out in a more efficient way, and so that I know right away if i'm likely to need an rfid gun or keys. I skip items not on the shelf or in the immediate area and save them until the end (keeping an eye out/checking other locations on the way). Some backroom locations I'll skip until the end as well depending on what's going on back there or what they are. For example, if I need enough cat litter to fill a flat bed it makes more sense to grab it on my way back to SFS than to get it first and leave it there where it'll be in the way of people packing longer. Be careful not to skip things that are in high demand though.