For many distributors, the November and December peak shipping season is a lot like the playoffs, or the dash to the finish-line. It’s when they either win or lose relative to their P&L statement. It’s during peak shipping season when the pressure is on to perform at the highest level of efficiency and professionalism. And, the time when training really pays off. This is especially true if your order fulfillment business is in any way fashion orientated, where year-to-year changes in products, customer order profiles, and value added services are normal and to be expected.

In addition, during peak volume periods many distributors require a large pool of temporary labor to supplement and work alongside the regular team. The temps need to be quickly trained in the basic receiving, picking, and shipping operations in order to accommodate this surge in volume without having a surge in errors.

What Level of Training Should Be Provided?

When considering the purchase of a new material handling logistics system , or upgrading a current system that may include voice and/or light directed batch order picking, automated sortation and order consolidation, directed by a Warehouse Management System; management, operator, and maintenance training (including proper documentation) is essential. Yet, often in competitive bidding situations, some system vendors offer training as optional or as a scaled down operations overview type program.

A properly executed training program will focus on training the trainers. This is necessary because once the system provider completes the initial operator training; new hires will have to be trained by experienced on-site personnel.

The training program should be tailored to your specific needs and customized to the exact equipment, controls, and software systems being provided, and at a minimum include the following 3 stages:

First Stage – Maintenance Hands-On Training:

In order to become familiar with the equipment and system components, as well as their function, and location within the system, your maintenance staff needs to work alongside the installers so that they gain firsthand knowledge of how the equipment goes together and what adjustments are required for proper operation. The vendor needs to make sure that maintenance personnel understand the equipment manuals, troubleshooting guidelines, service schedule, and spare parts inventory.

Second Stage – Formalized Training:

The purpose here is to ensure that your management and operational staff are acquainted with critical functions and operations of the system. This training should familiarize them with all normal operating procedures as well as how to correct and recover from various fault conditions provided with the system. It should include an overview of operation, component identification, functionality, as well as concentration on diagnostics and managerial statistics and how to interrupt them.

Third Stage – System Audit and Refresher:

About six months after system acceptance, the system vendor(s) should perform a mechanical and controls audit to determine actual system performance criteria and to perform any required follow-up training and/or re-training.

Training Documentation:

At a minimum, you should receive:

• “as-built” system layouts and installation drawings,
• equipment manuals,
• mechanical equipment bill of materials,
• recommended spare parts lists,
• schematic drawings,
• controls diagrams and electrical wiring information,
• troubleshooting guide lines,
• and, perhaps most important of all, an 800 phone number to the vendors 24/7 hotline for emergency calls.

Note: Many system providers are now offering a library of videos (via the Internet) that provide step-by-step troubleshooting and routine maintenance instructions. Maintenance personal, equipped with laptops, can access the videos while onsite at the location of the trouble. Also, inquire about live video conferences which can be a valuable time saver in solving critical system issues especially in the early debugging and run-in period.

Final Thoughts

Unfortunately, many users of material handling systems invest very little time and effort in formal operator training. This is especially true in DCs. It’s a kind of learn-as-you-go method. The problem is that without proper and continuous training, bad habits develop that can rob a system its full potential.

Coaches know that once incorrect methods are adopted, they become SOP and very hard to correct. That’s why professional sports teams begin each new season teaching the fundamentals of the game at a mandatory and highly structured training camp, and still they review and practice before each and every game throughout the season.

This lesson can be applied to the operation of a material handling system. It’s about the organization and implementation of the complex factors affecting the realization of productivity, efficiency, and throughput goals. To produce a consistent winner - proper operator training needs to be formal and on-going.

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