New Pt Dock Sup seeking advice

[20footjamonbluebelt]

Good Afternoon fellow management folk,


I'm relatively new to management being promoted in February of this year after preloading for 7 months and am seeking advice on a few issues that i am having with my dock but first i kinda want to paint a picture of the situation.


Our center processes about 12,000(min) to 16,000(heavy) pieces on any given day being one of the three centers in the building, my dock is a monster in our center with 25 cars on each side with 7 preloaders (700-1100 pieces) on each side and about half the time i run both sides of the dock because we are short staffed. We have a boxline ( constantly circling bin system that carries packages to individual areas which are color coated). My FT basically gives me free reign to do whatever i want as long as im around the numbers i need to hit.


My first issue is a few preloaders who ( i believe) generally care about misloads but tend to have 2-4 a day in their 4 car areas even though their trucks are checked twice a day and are required to write down the initials of the driver on each package with the HIN. I have constantly worked with these two for 2 months now and am not getting many results, i have been doing boxline to car methods evaluations to observe errors, the initials thing, and even demonstrated that it can be done(myself, had them do everyone's bulk all day). Mild disciplinary action has been done but these preloaders are extremely productive besides their misload problem and i do not wish to fire them.


Secondly my preloaders suffer from the boxline chargers who sort to the bins because they give each preloader about 5-8 misorts a day.


Thirdly, because of the weird flow to the bins it becomes very difficult to prevent stackouts or to get bulk in certain areas when it comes at 6-6:30 and since we speed up the boxline at around 7:20 after that i cant really move people until 8.


Thanks in advance for all feedback and remember im still relatively new to the operation.

 

[cachsux]

One, you're a pt sup so you won't be firing anyone. Two, think of your operation as a river. If you want to solve the problem go upstream and work your way down. If each higher level is perfect then you can eliminate the problem as you go. As far as the problem people, analyze when the mistakes are made and the contributing factors. Are they blown out,goofing off, etc,etc. change the contributing factors and see if that improves. But if they are as productive otherwise it would be worth the time investment to keep them. Would you prefer non productive slackers with perfect misload records?

Don't be a finger pointer, be a leader. It's the difference between getting stabbed as soon as you turn your back and having loyal employees who'll go the extra mile for you.

 

[texan]

One, you're a pt sup so you won't be firing anyone. Two, think of your operation as a river. If you want to solve the problem go upstream and work your way down. If each higher level is perfect then you can eliminate the problem as you go. As far as the problem people, analyze when the mistakes are made and the contributing factors. Are they blown out,goofing off, etc,etc. change the contributing factors and see if that improves. But if they are as productive otherwise it would be worth the time investment to keep them. Would you prefer non productive slackers with perfect mislead records?

Don't be a finger pointer, be a leader. It's the difference between getting stabbed as soon as you turn your back and having loyal employees who'll go the extra mile for you.

That is an excellent post.

 

[packageguy]

No supervisors here, just package car drivers, who are
told we pay you to deliver and think........

 

[TearsInRain]

focus more on load quality; if they can start learning the streets they're loading they'll do a lot better

but even if they don't, at least you'll be helping on-road out considerably

 

[beentheredonethat]

My first issue is a few preloaders who ( i believe) generally care about misloads but tend to have 2-4 a day in their 4 car areas even though their trucks are checked twice a day and are required to write down the initials of the driver on each package with the HIN. I have constantly worked with these two for 2 months now and am not getting many results, i have been doing boxline to car methods evaluations to observe errors, the initials thing, and even demonstrated that it can be done(myself, had them do everyone's bulk all day). Mild disciplinary action has been done but these preloaders are extremely productive besides their misload problem and i do not wish to fire them.

Have you ever seen a parent tell a kid in a store to "stop doing that or I'm taking you home", the kid does it again, the parent repeats the warning, the kid does it again, the parent repeats the warning..etc It isn't too surprising that the threat is not a concern to the kid since they know the parent won't follow up on the threat.

In a short paragraph you made it clear that you won't do anything to the loaders. You have made it clear that their production is good and you have accepted the misloads. (Granted, you wish the misloads went away, but outside of saying "don't do it" you really haven't let them know it's bad.

If their production is "really good", are they taking shortcuts that lead to the service failures?

You have to decide that service is more important, or live with this problem. If service is more important, then you have to escalate the discipline process utilizing steps outlined in the contract. ie (t/w, w/w, warning letters, suspensions, discharge).

 

[beentheredonethat]

Secondly my preloaders suffer from the boxline chargers who sort to the bins because they give each preloader about 5-8 misorts a day.

Sounds like maybe the supervisor of the boxline chargers may have a similar problem as you, his people misload but maybe they are fast. Document the problem, utilize a log, indicate the 1z, what bin it was in, what bin it s/b it 1Z...34, TW, BR

Give the log to the other supervisor, if this gives you improvements, give the other supv kudos. If it doesn't, escalate the problem. But.. keep in mind, at 5-8 misloads to each of your 7 loaders (per side), this is from 35 to 56 misloads per side. Your guy has to then put the pkg in the right spot. Let's assume 30 seconds to do this (which I think is pretty generous). So the error they cost you is around 17 - 28 minutes for your entire line of 7 loaders. At $20/hr (again being generous) this is going to cost UPS $6 to $10 for your side. Your guys who misload 2 to 4 pkgs per day (each) will cost UPS far more. At a revenue of $10/pkg the GSR for just one pkg cost the same as what the boxline chargers cost you. Or, if the driver has to chase down the misload, it will probably cost a lot more to make service.
My point is document the problem you have, but this problem you are getting from the boxline chargers is the same problem the on roads\drivers have with your people. Also, their problem is more costly then your problem. It's hard to get someone else to fix their problem, so long as you are willing to live with your problems.

Hope this helps..

 

[UnconTROLLed]

good luck.

 

[washington57]

You say that your loaders are getting 5-8 missorts a day each in their bins. While, this is annoying and certainly doesn't help, it isn't the cause of the misloads. Are your bins packed all day or do your people keep up? If your people are stacked out with packages other than normal bulk daily then that is probably the source of your misloads.

One thing that i've found helpful is having the PDS guys change the PAL labels to read as names instead of numbers. Ex. package cars labeled as route 117,118, 119, etc changed to something like CAT, DOG, BIRD.

 

[TSup]

If the misloads are truly the preloaders and not those on the slide then you need to follow progressive discipline. As a Supervisor we can work with and check Preloader cars all we want, but bottom line is the employee that needs to be responsible for their work. If they think all you are going to do is talk about the issue they will continue to do the mediocre job you allow. What are your expectations for your employees? What I mean is what are your expectations for misload frequency and are your employees aware of this? If they are averaging 4-5 a day that's something like 1/300 which is not acceptable. You need to make sure that the employees are aware of your expectations, based on where you are at 1/1000 would be a good starting point. Secondly are you recognizing those who don't have a problem? Are you posting the misloads each day? Each day we review previous days misloads and each Monday we also review each employees frequency for the previous week, giving praise as well for those who did well. Run a misload competition for a period of time, maybe 2 weeks with some sort of prize to those who beat your 1/1000 goal for that period, doesn't have to be a big prize, but trust me recognizing those who do the job well is not only the right thing to do, but goes a long way with everyone. But in the end, if an employee can not do the job, and you have not only TW him, but worked with him, you need to follow progressive discipline. My experience has shown that miraculously once they are issued a Warning Letter the problem somehow fixes itself. Sorry for the long post.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

If the misloads are truly the preloaders and not those on the slide then you need to follow progressive discipline. As a Supervisor we can work with and check Preloader cars all we want, but bottom line is the employee that needs to be responsible for their work. If they think all you are going to do is talk about the issue they will continue to do the mediocre job you allow. What are your expectations for your employees? What I mean is what are your expectations for misload frequency and are your employees aware of this? If they are averaging 4-5 a day that's something like 1/300 which is not acceptable. You need to make sure that the employees are aware of your expectations, based on where you are at 1/1000 would be a good starting point. Secondly are you recognizing those who don't have a problem? Are you posting the misloads each day? Each day we review previous days misloads and each Monday we also review each employees frequency for the previous week, giving praise as well for those who did well. Run a misload competition for a period of time, maybe 2 weeks with some sort of prize to those who beat your 1/1000 goal for that period, doesn't have to be a big prize, but trust me recognizing those who do the job well is not only the right thing to do, but goes a long way with everyone. But in the end, if an employee can not do the job, and you have not only TW him, but worked with him, you need to follow progressive discipline. My experience has shown that miraculously once they are issued a Warning Letter the problem somehow fixes itself. Sorry for the long post.

Our union stepped in and ended the "posting misloads" for centers. It's clearly wrong to do so.

 

[menotyou]

Our union stepped in and ended the "posting misloads" for centers. It's clearly wrong to do so.

It's harassment, plain and simple.

 

[Gazelle]

You said that your loaders get 5-8 missorts in their cages... how is that even an issue. If they are pulling bottom brown, and they get a package for middle blue the lane numbers are completely different. Wouldn't they think to question something that was for lane 140 when they are loading lanes 115, 116, 117? The slide missorts will always happen. If you are talking about bad pals or OOS... then you need to teach your loaders zip to zip, street to street. Generally most of the misloads are just wrong cars. Pre-sorting their cages early in the day and keeping up helps eliminate stacking that causes most of your misloads. Also why are you going in high speed at 7:20 if your loaders aren't ready?? You are better off leaving it at the regular speed if your loaders cages are full. You can make that decision just talk to your slide sup....

 

[SignificantOwner]

Our union stepped in and ended the "posting misloads" for centers. It's clearly wrong to do so.

I agree that posting lists to shame individuals into improvement is lousy, but I am for healthy competition so I like posting and comparing area results to each other. Progressive discipline for misloads is between a supervisor and employee, not for general publication.

 

[UnconTROLLed]

I agree that posting lists to shame individuals into improvement is lousy, but I am for healthy competition so I like posting and comparing area results to each other. Progressive discipline for misloads is between a supervisor and employee, not for general publication.

I don't know if such competition is healthy. Of course as an "owner" you may disagree.

The only people It's healthy for are the unaccountable shareholders, surely. It's healthy for no one who is breaking themselves, awake during normal human sleep hours, which also has a greatly increased risk of injury as well as heart conditions as well as other medical problems.... memory loss, long-term loss of concentration, etc.

 

[UpstateNYUPSer(Ret)]

I see nothing wrong with a little friendly competiton amongst the preloaders---I do see a problem when it becomes harassment and posting the misload numbers is harassment.

 

[TSup]

Our union stepped in and ended the "posting misloads" for centers. It's clearly wrong to do so.

Our Preloaders have no issues seeing if they had a misload the previous day, in fact when we happen to not post it they are asking to see it. Then again we do not have a huge misload issue in our center and our employees like to also see how well they did. We never post frequencies and all discipline and/or talk with are done behind closed doors.