Don' Bah Hum Bug it. It works great. We love it. It will take about five weeks to get all the counts right and adjust the outs.

 

The store where I work just started it.  Although it seems a little clunky compared to the old pick list system, it works IMO.  As with any computer based system, the weak point is that system is only as good as the information that is entered into it.  The two key items that need to be right are your shelf caps and what you have in your bins.  The part I like is that you can scan a shelf label on the floor and see if there is any of that item in the backroom.

I guess this is part of the reason why my co-mgr keeps harping on getting my onhands right.  For the most part, they are close.  He keeps saying I have too much freight, and ignores the fact that I have a lot more features, than I have places to put them.  I manage Pets, but most of my dept is across from the grocery side, and therefore, I am given NO stackbases for my features.  Mgmt used to say "Don't let the home office dictate what you feature."  I have 7 ends.  Six of them are HO features, one is my VPI.  I have 8 more that need homes.  I also have 2 sidekicks.  I have about 6 more that have no homes.

 

Mad

We've had the program in place since July and it does work.  You just have to make sure that your onhands and shelf caps are correct.  It takes about 5 weeks to get it flowing properly though. 

The new progtam does work and our backroom is less cluttered.  It was hard to adjust at first. But personally I really like the new program. It just take time to adjust to a new thing.

Does anyone who manages a consumable dept, have a feel for how it works for you?  I have Pets, and it seems like my freight rises and falls more dramatically than non-con depts do.

Also, mgmt has my bins set up so that I can put short pallets ander the bottom shelf.  This means I only have 2 shelves to bin my freight on, instead of the normal 3 shelves.  I also have 20 feet of bin space, which seems skimpy to me.  It worked much better when I had 28 feet.

 

Mad

here is the deal mad i have at end of today one mix pallet of dry this program works if all three shifts are on the same wave length ie it dont work in order for this to work mad get very hands on handle your freight everyday dont depend on anybody but yourself trust me i dont get any help anymore and they use ics mgmt discretion

Thanks for the feedback, Jason.  I was given a 4 way for dog sweaters/coats.  I still have 2 big boxes left over.  How many stackbases do you have?  Not having any seems to make my job a lot harder.

 

Mad

i have 2 and its still hard i rather have another 4 way i have alot of little feautures and i have aug feautures still coming in on trucks

 

Our store is getting ready for this program as well.  One of the associates concerns is this...will sales associates be eliminated as this program kicks in?  I know that sounds like a dumb question, but the thinking in our store is that since it is apparent that there are not enough associates on the backroom team (there aren't enough associates in any department, including the front end and maintainance)...will floor people be pulled and be given a "choice" to work the 4-1 shift?  LS

I know at one point, it was rumored that the ICS folks would replace the folks assigned to specific depts.  That was over year ago, and clearly, it didn't happen.  However, with this new 4 - 1 shift, if it's fully staffed (ahem), they might try to make them do the 2nd shift assoc's jobs.  I think there's a 50% chance that won't work.  We'll just have to see.

Does anyone have a feel for how well this new system works in consumable/grocery depts?  They keep stressing the onhands being accurate.  My canned cat food onhands are ALWAYS wrong--sometimes too high, mostly too low.  I could fix them all in one day, and maybe some of them would be right, the next morning.   I also have a big problem with being billed for items we never get--not sure if that's related to being a consumable dept or not. 

Thanks for any insight on this.  I am not happy with the state of my bins.

I will LOVE not having to fake a picklist everyday.  There's always plenty of reight that needs to be worked, and I rarely get a Gemini until later in the day.  Picklists have to be done by 9:00, I think, at my store.

Poopy-doopy.

 

Mad

The 4pm -1am shift was for the unloaders.  Now, from what I am understanding... they come in unload the truck, I think they pull pallets to floor.  Once that is done they are to scan bins and put overstock into bins.  I am not sure about that "team" doing pick lists.  Our store is still working on getting ready for this program to go into effect at the end of the month.

I am working right now to make sure everything in my bin is inventoried prepped, my WACO boxes are overfilled.  I actually don't have much room now in my bins for any overstock.

How can you start a program without enough associates and geminis?

 

I waste hours each week picking and rebinning so I can bin overstock or freight not worked. And since I have only two hands I can only bin and if it beeps to stock "oh, well". Have to clock out on time. Although I have put the merchandise on a starter pallet so it can be worked O/N or when I get there in the am.  Decisions, decisions.........