There are several ways in which to ship merchandise from the Free Essay Example

There are several ways in which to ship merchandise from the warehouse to the stores. One of those way is called cross-dock and another is block pick. A cross-dock is when “a full inbound pallet is redirected to an outbound shipment” (Stevenson, 2018, pg. 675). And a block pick is when “an entire pallet of goods in the warehouse is placed on an outbound truck” (Stevenson, 2018, pg. 675). These methods are used to reduce warehouse storage and reduce cost. Essentially, the word warehouse could be replaced with the words or staging area since that is what actually happens.

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Wegmans appears to be a finely tuned machine and one could imagine that if the product in the store was not moving as quickly as anticipated than the shipments could temporarily slow down. The issue comes when dealing with consumables, primarily perishables. When pallets of product are shipped to the stores and sales experience a decrease and the store runs out space to house the product the loss could be significant not to mention the speed and smooth transfer of inventory.

(Vogt, 2010). One could suggest having a separate location within the warehouse in order to provide adequate storage if needed.

Wegmans does keep records of sales transactions but for ordering purposes these records are only used to forecast for seasonal and holiday merchandise. (Stevenson, 2018). It is a smart strategy to use this information to prepare for the seasonal and holiday times, however, this information can certainly prove useful in conjunction with a perpetual inventory system. With the perpetual inventory system, when a purchase is made the system automatically orders a replacement.

If a return is made, once again the system tracks this transaction and the inventory system is automatically updated. (Wijaya & Wingdes, 2017).

Looking at issues with quality, noting once more that Wegmans is a finely tuned machine, means that there is not too much room for adjustment. The United States Department of Agriculture found that Wegmans sold chicken that had not yet been inspected. The issue occurred because of a change in normal operations “The inspector found that the establishment changed their production schedule, producing these products outside the approved hours of operation.”. This could not only lead to potential fines but also subject the company to legal issues being that this was a class one recall which is the most severe. The solution to this is simple, make sure that operations are running as planned and keep variations to the operations as minimal as possible. Frequent customers of Wegmans probably know what they want and have no desire to waste time. For these individuals a more enjoyable experience could be a program in place that allows their items to be gathered for them that is ready for them to simply load into their vehicle. Eligibly for this program could be based on tracking what they buy to see how impulsive they are when making purchases that way there is no loss in revenue. However, for this service there might be a premium that way Wegmans is still making additional revenue.

Wegmans invest ,000.00 into training each of their employees and according to Tess Taylor, a human resource consultant with Society for Human Resource Management, the average cost is “Approximately $1,886 was spent per employee.” (Taylor, 2018). That means that Wegmans spends over three and a half times the average. Given that their turn over rate is six percent vs. the average twenty percent, this might not be a big issue for the company or for their employees, however, they are spending over three and a half times the average amount for a return in reduced turnover that amount to less than three and a half percent. It is hard to provide a solution not knowing what the money is actually spent on. It is realistic, however, to assume that the desire is to impart the company’s culture and to utilize their employees to create a wonderful shopping experience. The company could look at recruiting only the best most talented workers. Try to spend more time learning the actual aspects of the job so the training dollars are put to use and the time working with a trainer can be reduced. A continuous follow up on the company’s culture and more importantly the store management can be a great source for instilling those values and vision.

References

Tess Taylor, T. T. (2018, October 15). The Costs of Training New Employees, Including Hidden Expenses. Retrieved March 9, 2019, from

Wegmans Food Markets Recalls Chicken Products Produced Without Benefit Of Inspection. (2016, December 5). Retrieved March 9, 2019, from

Wijaya, T. W., & Wingdes, I. W. (2017, July 1). Directory of Open Access Journals. Retrieved March 10, 2019, from

Vogt, J.J. (2010). THE SUCCESSFUL CROSS-DOCK BASED SUPPLY CHAIN. Journal of Business Logistics; Hoboken Vol. 31, Issue 1. Retrieved March 10, 2019, from