Does Your Warehouse Handle the Distribution As Well As Storage?

If you manage a multiple vehicle fleet, then you need a tracking method to measure productivity, vehicle and driver expenditures, and speed and accuracy of inventory deliveries. Fortunately, there is a choice of software available depending upon your warehouse and distribution requirements.

Cargo tracking software comes in a variety of packages from basic to advanced services such as accounting integrations. It just depends on your organizational needs. The important thing is to determine what costs you need to track and your reporting needs.

Just a few services that you can use:

• Cost tracking
• MappingWork order management
• Labor management
• Driver data including precise tracking of vehicle activity
• Mileage tracking
• Global GPS
• Scheduling
• Work pending
• Parts Purchasing managed with auto reorder
• Accounting integration including billing invoices
  

As you can imagine this is just a flavor of the tracking and streamlining opportunities. The only way to reduce operating cost, determine budgets, and compare benchmarks is to have a method to track your organizations fleet activity. Several software programs offer the flexibility to create customized reports. Make certain that you have that feature if it does not provide you with a selection of reports that are essential to running your business. Ask the provider if there are any additional costs to creating these reports.

Carry out your research by comparing services, find out about the level of flexibility to the service and integration possibilities with your current software, and consider security level.

Distributers Heed the Warning

Drivers on the highway see left over tire treads from tires that have disintegrated. and begin to grumble about the rubber on the road that is left behind by those darn truckers. Do not become a statistic in the court system because you have not maintained your vehicle fleet properly.
Those of you that are in the distribution industry are faced with the decision of using new or retread tires. I am here to tell you that other than replacement cost, it does not matter which you use as long as you purchase from a reputable manufacturer and conduct consistent and regular maintenance.

Studies show it is not always the manufacturer’s fault that the tires or retreads fail. Most issues arise from poor tire maintenance; and no the kick and toe nudge method does not work.
Your organization should institute proper maintenance procedures such as the following:

• Training for the drivers
• Physically inspect the tires by rubbing your hand along the entire tread to search for debris or damage to the tire
• Maintain sufficient air pressure weekly using a calibrated tire gauge
• Refrain from overloading for tire capacity
• Avoid mismatch of dual tires on the same axel, whether new or retreads
• Conduct a visual inspection regularly
• Do not exceed legal removal tread depth
• Use a well known reputable tire dealer with a proven track record
  

It is up to you to institute safety procedures that will ultimately save money in lawsuits because of the potential liability that poor tire maintenance can cause.

Source
http://www.retread.org/

An Alternative to Layoffs

We are seeing a new phenomenon in how companies and workers are dealing with layoffs. Management and employees alike are looking for alternatives to the knee jerk reaction of taking the easy way out and laying off workers. You have alternatives that employees are willing to consider in order to help save their own jobs along with those of their worker’s jobs.

First and foremost, consider restructuring your organization to eliminate non-productive divisions. Do not just stop there. Consider moving the workers from those locations to more productive areas of the organization. Institute a hiring freeze as soon as you believe it may be necessary to reduce your workforce.

Many employees are willing to take a temporary cut in pay rather than losing their jobs all together or better yet, reduce the hours. Most individuals do not mind a cut in wages as much if they are not expected to work their normal forty-hour workweek.

Offering early retirement is an alternative for older workers. You will need to make sure they get their normal retirement benefits otherwise, it is less likely that they will accept the proposal.

Benefits are another area that employers are looking at in order to reduce cost. Benefits can account for up to sixty percent of an employee’s wage expense. Many workers would rather lose their benefits in the short-term in return for keeping their jobs.

During this difficult economic period, workers understand that organizations are struggling. Many individuals are willing to accept shorter workweeks, less pay, or reduced benefits in an effort to keep their jobs. Consult with your labor attorney before instituting changes to ensure that everything is done within the letter of the law.

Warehouse Safety Assessments

If you are plagued by accidents in your warehouse, then it may be time to conduct a risk assessment within your organization. This risk assessment has more to do with the risk of accident and safety of the machinery and work practices, rather than it does with the whether or not to invest in a new product or business venture.

Depending on what your warehouse specializes in, you will need to modify your assessment accordingly, but the following is a basic sample of what you should review.

• Review your accident logs to review activity and determine the greatest area of urgency
• Assess the equipment and meet with company representatives to confirm that the equipment is being used properly
• Interview supervisors and laborers that work with the equipment and identify compliance issuesReview job knowledge and use of the equipment
• Determine what controls are in placeEvaluate existing safeguards
• Once a thorough evaluation has been completed, create controls and compare them to OSHA requirements
• Provide safety gear and training to all employees and choose a supervisor or manager to monitor the changes and controls that were put in place

Initially, institute a monthly review until you are sure that all precautions, processes, and training are in place. Once you know that all procedures are being followed, then it is fairly safe to conduct a review annually or semi-annually.

Warehouse Heating and Air

Most people take their heating and air conditioning for granted until it is broken or missing from their lives. The cost can be exorbitant, so it is essential to research your options and get several estimates especially when you are talking about installing a unit for a warehouse or manufacturing facility where you are facing several thousand square feet.

Whether for new construction or existing buildings, when shopping for a new unit and working with a heating, ventilating, and air condition / refrigeration (HVAC/R), consider the following:

• Contact organizations around you that work in a similar industry to get recommendations for types of units and referrals for HVAC/R companies
• Carefully consider how each space within the building will be utilized
• Current and future heating generating manufacturing equipment that will impact the ambient temperature
• The size of the facility and location will make a enormous impact on equipment requirements and zoning regulations
• Will you have special clean rooms that will need to be temperature controlled?
• Will air purification be a determining factor in the unit ability because of your industry?
  

Other considerations will be such things as whether you will need to use a gas verses electric system, which will be determined by such things as how many docks and opens doors need to be covered, and if direct fired air is a better use of your investments verses infrared heaters.

As you will see, the options may seem endless. Avoid unnecessary loss of time or assessment of fines and make sure to contact a professional installer because you will be required to obtain permits and pass inspections.

Treat Downsizing Seriously

If you are like many managers in the warehouse industry, you might be agonizing over the prospect of the necessity of having to lay off workers that have been with you and your organization for many years. Although the idea is anything but palatable to think about, it is important to approach layoffs methodically and with as much information as possible.
Consider such aspects of terminations such as:

• Whether or not your company will offer a severance package
• Review employment agreements
• Will a counseling service be providedConsider bringing in a third party to help with outside placement services
• Understand COBRA laws and how they will affect your personnel department
• Training for your management team on how to speak with exiting employees
• Provide security for a period of time within the organization and perhaps contacting the police to inform them of a mass layoff in case of a bad reaction or threats by a former employee

The Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN Act) states that employers that have 100 or more employee are required to provide a sixty-day notice prior to a mass layoff. This law was instituted to allow workers time to adjust to being laid off by seeking jobs, entering training programs, and positions themselves, so he or she find alternative work.

Consult your human resources manager and labor law attorney for the best methods of layoffs. Keep in mind that whatever action you take with your employees, that you must be fair and equitable with all employees in order to avoid charges of discrimination.

What to Consider in Writing a Business Plan

Of course, whether big or small, every business in any industry requires you to right a business plan in order to plan for success. Of course, each industry requires you to modify the content according to whether or not you run a warehouse and distribution company or third party logistics company.

• Things to include in writing a business plan include:
• Consider specific and measurable goals that you want your organization to achieve
• Consider the market that you will be or within you are currently activeStudy and determine market trends and historical data
• Determine material and resource requirement
• A short-term plan which encompasses a three to five year period of time
• A long-term plan that covers ten plus yearsSpecific steps that would need to be taken in order to achieve each goal
• Measurable and attainable goals that are broken down by monthly requirements
• Your organization’s current and projected sales goalsMarketing goals and requirements
• Consider expenses and time requirements for research and development
  

Do not take anything for granted. Conduct a SWOT Analyses to help you determine areas and opportunities for improvement. Once you discover your strengths, a business plan will help you to achieve a plan for success.

A Strong Business Plan = A Strong Organization

As a warehouse manager or managing principle, you have the responsibility of an entire organization in your hands: making it more important than ever to ensure that you have a feasible business plan. It is important to analyze market trends, historical data, technical improvements, current expenses verses potential future expenditures for improvements, research and development, maintenance, sales and marketing expenditures.

The importance of planning will reflect in success and profitability of your organization. It is useful in order to determine financial needs, investment purposes, personnel needs, materials and inventory requirements. Planning is essential to make sure that your business has the required materials and personnel that will meet the needs of the market while maintaining a balance between expenditures and profitability: the balance required between assets and liabilities.

A business plan will help you develop a clear, understanding of short and long-term goals. A business plan will allow you to focus your ideas so you can manage your business efficiently rather than taking a haphazard approach to running your business. A plan will assist you to review and determine areas of strengths and weaknesses then determine how what path to take.

It is essential to create clear, concise, and measurable goals. These goals should include specific timeframes, measurable concise goals that are attainable.