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Sheet 03 · despatch

Sheet 03 · goods out

Despatch: the list, the build and the plate

Despatch is the half of the unit where mistakes become somebody else’s problem, so it is the half with the most counting. This sheet runs from the printed list to the vehicle.

  1. Pick

    One walk of each aisle, in location order.

  2. Check

    A second pair of hands over the staged cases.

  3. Build

    Heavy to light, square to the deck.

  4. Wrap

    Base turns, up, and back down.

  5. Plate

    Front face, after the wrap, never under it.

01 → 02 · what it is given

Despatch starts from two things receiving produced: a location against every case code and a stock figure nobody has adjusted by hand. Everything on this sheet assumes both. Where either is missing the order is held rather than guessed at.

03 → 05 · the order they run in

The five jobs are not run in parallel. The build does not begin while the check is outstanding, and the plate does not go on until the build has been counted against the list a second time. A stage skipped is a stage done again.

04

Working the pick list

Lists are printed in location order, not in order-line order, so the picker walks each aisle once in one direction. A list that sends somebody back up an aisle has been printed wrong and is reprinted rather than worked around. Two pairs of hands touch every order, and both sign the same sheet of paper so the signatures can be compared without opening a file.

What is found on the floor, and what each pair of hands does about it
On the floor The picker, working the list The loader, counting the stage
The pick face is empty01 Marks the line short and carries on. Cases never come out of a reserve location overhead. Counts what is there against the list and leaves the short line short.
A case is not on its location02 Marked short. Never substituted from a code that looks similar. Queried against the racking before the build starts, not after it.
The outer is damaged03 Swapped from the same code, or marked short if there is no second case. Checks the swap came off the same code and not off the nearest pallet.
A part case is needed04 Never made up by opening a second one. The line goes out in whole cases. Counts whole cases only; an opened outer does not load.
The list is finished05 Signs at the foot. Signs underneath, before any wrap goes on. Replenishment is a separate job with its own entry, on the racking sheet.

05

Packing and the build

An overhanging case is the one that catches a dock plate, and a dock plate does not stop for it.

Why nothing is built past the edge of the deck

Mixed pallets

A mixed pallet is built heavy to light, flat to shaped, and square to the deck. Cookware and glassware go to the bottom tiers because they are dense and do not compress; brushware, airers and nested storage go up because they are light and awkward. Where two ranges on one tier need different handling, a board slip sheet goes between them so a forklift blade cannot work its way into a soft case.

The pattern

The pattern alternates on every second tier so the corners are tied in rather than stacked in four straight columns. Where the case is too light to carry an interlock the build stays column stacked and takes a corner board instead. The height a pallet is built to comes from the delivery booking rather than from the height the stack happens to want to reach, and the arithmetic for it is worked on the pallet fit sheet.

06

Plate, note and away

A full pallet and a part pallet, each wrapped, top-sheeted and plated the same way On the left a full pallet of four tiers, wrapped from the base to the top and back, with a board top sheet laid over the last tier and a label plate on the front face of the bottom tier. On the right a part pallet of two tiers, finished in exactly the same order, standing on a deck of the same size. A height line marks where the plate sits. Board top sheet Full pallet Plate at eye height for somebody standing at the pallet Board top sheet Part pallet, finished the same
  • Wrap first
  • Plate second
  • Top sheet where the load is open-sided

The label plate goes on the front face of the bottom tier, at eye height for somebody standing at the pallet rather than sitting in a cab. It carries the drop reference, the pallet number out of the total for that drop, the case count on that pallet and the gross weight. Wrap first and plate second, so the plate is never wrapped over, and a part pallet is wrapped and plated exactly like a full one.

One copy of the despatch note stays clipped to the lane sheet until the vehicle has left the yard, then goes to the file. The lane sheet shows which pallets went on which vehicle in which order, which is the only way to answer a query about a drop that was not the first one. Vehicles, collections and the paperwork that travels are on the transport sheet.