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I’m Marty and your back with Warehouse and Operations as a Career! A few listeners did not have a problem pointing out that last week we did not make it to a few of the Shipping and Transportation positions so I thought we’d start off there today! So we wrapped up last week with the Loader position. That’s the last physical position on the warehouse side so lets take a look at where those cases go from there! It may be prudent to talk a little bit on how and why they ended up on that particular load too.
So when the customer orders for the shift are loaded into our WMS, as we all know that stands for warehouse management system, a component of that is reconfiguring the selected freight back into pallets or loads. One of our transportation departments tasks is Routing. The routers work with computer programs that efficiently define how a load will be delivered, it’ll take things like delivery windows or when the customer wants to take delivery of and/or receive their orders. It’s also making allowances for cube and weight. I mean a trailer will only hold x number of cases and can only carry so much weight. Miles are important too; it’ll try and only route what can physically be delivered within the shift of the driver. Remember that Delivery Drivers have to abide by department of transportation rules or DOT rules. They can only drive x number of hours and are required to have so much time off after exceeding those hours. So our routers build or designate a route based on a lot of variables each day. All these tasks typically falls under the shipping departments. When I was routing, back in the late 70’s/early 80’s, I used an old Mapsco, or a big book of maps that listed the block numbers and all the cross streets. We didn’t have these great computer systems, drivers didn’t have GPS in the palm of their hands. Every driver had a mapsco in their trucks, shoot, we all had maps in our glove compartments.
Anyway, todays routing programs are very complex systems and can take just about any information you can think of to feed into it and produce a very time and fuel-efficient route for you to follow as a delivery driver. The WMS will produce those loads, or the product comprising those loads and make a load map for the loaders to know which pallets to place on each trailer and not only in what order but their positioning as well, or which way they need to be turned. This process is important because we want the driver to easily be able to find each stop for the delivery stop. If the selectors have placed each case in its proper position and on the correct pallet, and then the loader properly placed the pallets according to his load map, then the driver can locate the cases for each stop easily and make his or her delivery quickly, allowing the customer to get back to their business. Routing is one of those critical jobs, it carries a lot of responsibility and is important. Drivers, Salesmen & Customers depend on the job they do! I enjoyed my time as a router but that pressure, every shift…..I know guys that’s been doing it for 12 or 13 years, it works for them. Thankfully I only had to do it for 3 years, I lived off coffee to keep me focused.
Shipping, shipping can be a large department in certain industries. It can include packing products to be picked up by a parcel service or making arraignments for LTL, meaning less than truck load, freight. That’ll include banding product, wrapping it securely etc. and filling out the Bill of Laden’s for the carrier. We’ll probably be responsible for loading the trailer ourselves for the common carriers or an owner operator. We may be using all kinds of supplies too, bubble wrap, maybe we’ll have to fold out and tape up several different sized boxes, oh and those little clingy peanut packing things. I was once responsible for filling up our gravity fed bags with those things. They came in a large, I mean really big, like 5 feet tall bags and, I don’t know, maybe 4ft across. I’d lower the big tarp bag, it was on a pully system, so I’d lower it and start filling it up, kind of figuring out a way to raise the tarp bag as I was filling it up. Seemed like it never failed I’d be there alone every time it’d need filling. Anyway, once I had it about half full and dropped the pully rope. Those things went everywhere, floating around for like 25 feet. It took 4 of us to clean it up. And we were finding those little peanut things for months! Working in the shipping departments, we’ll be working closely with management, maybe the sales floor and of course a few of our warehouse positions, maybe the forklift drivers and pallet jack operators. With these experiences we could move to the production shifts or maybe Sales. If we’ve already been through some equipment tasks or production work a lead or supervisor position may be our next step.
You know one of the positions, really a few positions, that get over looked are those out at the fleet areas. I know a lot of facilities may outsource some of them but someone is handling them & the same opportunities apply either way. One of those is the washout and fueler tasks. I see them put together a lot of the times. An associate will take a tractor and trailer over to the wash bay or an area where the trailer can be swept out and hosed out, all industries will require a trailer is clean before loading it out. That same employee may then run it over to the fuel pumps and fill the tractors tanks and the refrigeration fuel units’ tanks too. And all the PM or preventative maintenance mechanics like the break guys and the diesel mechanics, oh, and the tire guys. Tires are checked constantly, especially on the trailers. There nothing worse for a delivery or route trailer waiting on the side of the road waiting a tire man. I never had the opportunity to work in the fleet positions, I interacted with them while in transportation, but I always felt a little silted. I wish I’d have at least worked out there for a little while. I’d have learned a lot more about the transportation equipment, definitely a missed opportunity on my part!
Another very important position is our Returns Clerk. This is the person that confirms any shorts or misships that the driver may have notated on the customers invoice. Or let’s say a customer decided they did not need something or a case was damaged during transit. The driver will issue a credit right from the invoice. Our returns clerk will verify those credits, unload what has been returned and get with accounting and our Inventory Control departments so adjustments can be made for billing. This is a great position, and one that may be hired off the street or promoted from within. I’ve seen Drivers and driver supervisors, even order selectors move into these positions. This position is usually directed by transportation but I’ve seen them report to finance or through the CFO. There’s a little manual labor involved but the important aspect of the task is the reporting and communication skills. I liked this job, I wasn’t there long, but man I learned a lot about billings and customer service. It’s perfect for that driver wanting to come off the road or a transportation team member looking for a little less stressful position. Working so closely with inventory control and the accounting departments affords us some great networking opportunities as well. I love how all of our operations positions can take us towards other fields and positions!
One interesting thing, or I find interesting anyway is how our delivery drivers may be checked in these days. There used to be a clerk that would reconcile a driver’s cash, checks and money orders against their invoices. Many facilities today use what’s called a reverse ATM machine. Once our returns clerk has signed off on the drivers returns and adjusted invoicing the driver will go over to a machine like an ATM. Instead of providing a pin number to withdrawal money he or she will put in their driver number and route number, insert those checks, money orders and cash, and it’ll give him a receipt. He then opens a drawer and places his invoices into a tray and he’s done! Accounting reconciles it and corrects any billing accordingly. Pretty slick huh?
Well there’s a few of the available positions in shipping and transportation, we could talk about the Driving positions but let’s save that for an episode all by its self. There so many different kinds of driving positions out there, it’s a huge field. We’ll try and break that down in the near future though.
I guess that’s enough for today, and please email us at host@warehouseandoperationsasacareer.com if I can answer or look up the answers for any questions you may have about any of these positions? A quick answer could come from our Facebook or Twitter feeds where you can find our group @whseandops or drop in on the warehouse equipment operators community group on Facebook, I bet someone there can get you an answer from personal experience!
Until next week, let’s all think about our next position, plan for it, and be Safe out there so we can obtain it!