Minnetonka Receiving
Minnetonka Receiving March 8, 2013
I. Major Facts
A manager of a warehouse in Minnetonka MN is analyzing the number of workers allocated to the receiving dock. The trucks arrive randomly at the average rate of four per hour with a deviation of plus or minus one. Two warehouse workers can unload five trucks per hour or one every twelve minutes. Each warehouse worker receives $14 per hour. The firm put in place a greater amount of associates to the receiving dock in order to deal with the challenging matter on the inbound freight. II. Major Problem
The extra employees appeared to be idle due to there were no trucks to unload. The company is receiving excessive fines of $60 per hour from the motor carriers, because of their semis trucks not getting unloaded in a timely method at the facility. Carriers make money by driving trucks, not waiting around to get unloaded. When things go according to plan, carriers will get unloaded as soon as they arrive. (Randy Siever 2012) All union workers must be paid for entire shift and can’t be assigned to other jobs in the warehouse. III. Possible Solutions
A. One suggestion to improve the receiving dock productivity involves adding a second dock for incoming freight. The amount of trucks being unloaded at one time will double. A more continuous flow of trucks moving though the receiving docks brings about less idle time for the workers. The cost at the outset may be more the company can afford even though it wound be profitable in the long term. B. The next possible solution to the concerns of the manager pertaining to the docks issue is the adjustment of the workers hours. Most businesses use a standard three shift system. In the logistics field a technique of staggered start time schedule for the workforces seems to require fewer people to get the same amount of work done. The staggered start schedule
I. Major Facts
A manager of a warehouse in Minnetonka MN is analyzing the number of workers allocated to the receiving dock. The trucks arrive randomly at the average rate of four per hour with a deviation of plus or minus one. Two warehouse workers can unload five trucks per hour or one every twelve minutes. Each warehouse worker receives $14 per hour. The firm put in place a greater amount of associates to the receiving dock in order to deal with the challenging matter on the inbound freight. II. Major Problem
The extra employees appeared to be idle due to there were no trucks to unload. The company is receiving excessive fines of $60 per hour from the motor carriers, because of their semis trucks not getting unloaded in a timely method at the facility. Carriers make money by driving trucks, not waiting around to get unloaded. When things go according to plan, carriers will get unloaded as soon as they arrive. (Randy Siever 2012) All union workers must be paid for entire shift and can’t be assigned to other jobs in the warehouse. III. Possible Solutions
A. One suggestion to improve the receiving dock productivity involves adding a second dock for incoming freight. The amount of trucks being unloaded at one time will double. A more continuous flow of trucks moving though the receiving docks brings about less idle time for the workers. The cost at the outset may be more the company can afford even though it wound be profitable in the long term. B. The next possible solution to the concerns of the manager pertaining to the docks issue is the adjustment of the workers hours. Most businesses use a standard three shift system. In the logistics field a technique of staggered start time schedule for the workforces seems to require fewer people to get the same amount of work done. The staggered start schedule
References: Randy Siever- LeanCor (April 19, 2012) http://leanlogisticsblog.leancor.com Derek Browning -LeanCor (July 6, 2011)http://leanlogisticsblog.leancor.com