Xpandur, LLC

Capacity is THE most predictable thing ever... I'll bet a BILLION dollars you'll go thru THIS list in THIS order...🤔 - what's on shelves Dec 26th? Valentine's day <---- WE ARE HERE - what's around Valentine's? Mardi Gras - what's after Mardi Gras? St Patrick's - what's after St Patrick's? Spring Break - what's around Spring Break? Easter - what's after Easter? Mother's Day - what's after Mother's day? Memorial Day - what's after Memorial Day? Dad's and Grads - what's after Dad's and grads? 4th of July - what's after 4th of July? Back to College - what's after BTC? Back to School - what's after BTS? Labor Day - what's after Labor Day? Autumn clothes - what's after Autumn? Halloween - what's after Halloween? Thanksgiving - what's after Thanksgiving? Christmas - and we back at the day after Christmas TWO rules, that's it... - no MORE than 4 out of 5 slots filled - no LESS than 3 out of 5 slots filled FOUR questions, that's it... - how much are we procuring next month? - what's our current capacity? - how much are we selling next month? - will we end up between 60%-80% capacity? THREE responses, that's it... If yes, all good (no action) If above 80% expand or space out orders If below 60% contract and enjoy the space You can use the space For the NEXT big event or Entirely restructured game plan Such as expanding your food footprint Similar to the days I operated at Blarget. Reenactment, names changed for anonymity. I stop margins from sucking I stop employees from getting mad I stop customers from ditching your store Getting Warehouses MORE thruput using the SAME hours. I offer a complimentary 30-minute discussion to walk through what that looks like for you. #strategy #business #creativity #innovation #xpandurangeamotion This may be MY favorite post It can be reused 16 times a year Every Year

To Understand your product, we'll get back to basics As in Back to School and Back to College Both events happen during the same time of the year Back to school moves packs of pens and paper Back to college moves microwaves and mini-fridges 100k packs of pens and paper 100k microwaves and mini-fridges Require two different amounts of space The image represents an auxiliary Warehouse The Plant only had enough space for 5 days of work The Raw Materials Warehouse at the Plant The Finished Goods Warehouse at the Plant Were both in excess of 110 Percent to Capacity What does that mean to you? If you have 100 parking spaces And 110 cars are attempting to park What does that do? Cars waste time looking for spots The potential for accidents increases If people make a parking space, congestion People needing to exit will be unable to exit It gets bad quick. Here we had THREE solutions presented - On the far right, ALL the slowest movers off-site - This way, the Plant would FLOW product - In the middle, Slowest movers and High-Volume - Benefiting Procurement buying large amounts - On the far left, slow move, high-vol, over-sized - Moving the biggest items out of the plant There were opportunity costs for each solution - Vermont is great weather, except for the Winters - San Fran is great weather, except for Earthquakes - Florida is great weather, except for the Hurricanes This is working with what you DO have The area was floor space only There was no racking Racking costs New warehouse costs Overstuffed plant costs Without capital available to spend Which one would you choose Why? I offer a complimentary 30-minute discussion to walk through what that looks like for you. Getting Warehouses MORE thruput using the SAME hours. #strategy #business #creativity #innovation #xpandurangeamotion

You have product that you sell year round Other products you will sell for only a season How to balance priorities in your Warehouse? 1) Know your space. - Be curious, exploring every corner 2) Know your product. - How much of this or that can fit here 3) Know busiest Quarter Pain Points - Understand your maximum capacity 4) Know Pain Points for other 3 Quarters - tho less intense, each has unique challenges 5) Know transition plan BETWEEN Quarters - KNOW the true Capability of your Warehouse Q1 is actually the toughest Quarter You have the most hours and least volume You may only need 60%-70% of the total space - How do you make sure - you don't have 60%-70% of the volume - spread out Across 100% of the warehouse? Q4 may make 1/3 or more of annual revenue But by no means is that a green light To make inefficient decisions - it's not just about sales - it's about number or units - it's about difficulty of handling - it's about overall space requirements - it's responds to Seasonality like you and I Warehouses are alive and well The process is as universal as aging Despite our differences, we all go thru it Nothing wrong with a maturing operation I offer a complimentary 30-minute consultation to discuss what that looks like for you Getting warehouses MORE thru put with the SAME hours #strategy #business #creativity #innovation #xpandurangeamotion

Why don't you slot all Fast Movers up front Because We don't want to create a bottleneck If its a Fast Mover And its only in one area ALL the pickers will be directed their at ONCE We want Everything EVERYWHERE 4 Floors 92 Aisles 100s of Pickers Our Fast Movers were on every floor Our Slow Movers were on every floor Our Medium Movers were on every floor We had Zones Each Zone had the same product mix All 200 pickers could pick that item at anytime We had a SORTER You take the product out your cart You place it on the belt (like at the store) Except it doesn't go straight to the bagger at the end It goes around this conveyor Like the one where you get your luggage at the end of your airplane flight (baggage claim) It doesn't matter where you stand Your product will come TO YOU Before I lose you It means our pickers Never picked one ENTIRE order themselves This is where its not only important to know Your Product in relation to Your Space But Your Product to Your System How do you make a peanut butter Jelly sandwich? - 90% of crowd PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY...🤨🤨🤨 Me: 😐 Me: 😑 Me: 😶 - 10% whispers... and bread Thank you. 😌 Peanut Butter, Jelly, AND bread. Is how you make a peanut butter Jelly sandwich A lot of PB&Js are consumed With 200 pickers on 4 Floors That's 50 pickers per Floor With 92 aisles There was a G and H Side So each Picker had 4 Aisles on Average Zones were adjustable We could make them from 8 up to 92 aisles long if we wanted Now we can start to understand why We don't want ALL the Peanut Butter Nor ALL the Jelly all in ONE Pick Location Let's say there's a sell on this Product Pick a number between 1k and 10k Let's do 10k for ease of math 10,000 jars of Peanut Butter 10,000 loaves of Bread 10,000 jars of Jelly With 200 Pickers Picking 100 units an hour They can pick 20,000 units an hour We have 30,000 total units to pick We'll pick these orders in An hour and a half But not IF ALL the Peanut Butter ALL the Jelly, and ALL the Bread Are in THREE locations At 30,000 units to be picked One person can pick 1,000 units per shift It would take 1 person THIRTY SHIFTS to pick it all See The relation to Product In relation to its Space AND System 200 Pickers 30,000 Units You want it done in 90 minutes or 30 hours? This is why you should plan for Peak ALL Year Because if you don't understand this It may be too late to adjust Nobody wants to hear There's always next year While we're in the middle of August This strategy isn't universal And every board game ain't chess Your ideal strategy is unique to your product I'd consider myself pretty solid at Capacity But I've never been able to read minds You don't know if you don't ask Only way to find out is to ask Shall we? Getting Warehouses MORE thruput using the SAME hours. I offer a complimentary 30-minute discussion to walk through what that looks like for you. #strategy #business #creativity #innovation #xpandurangeamotion

You can turn pants into shorts, but you can't... turn shorts into pants Capacity 101 Someone somewhere at some point Said we needed to buy smaller quantities of product So we received less Vendor Built Large Pallets of Freight (For Reference A pallet of water is A Vendor Built Large Pallet) Think... Fresh Empty Nesters... Kids ain't home no more So no more $500 grocery store runs Only for the food to last One Week We started using consolidators, meaning We Only got 10 boxes of a product Not a pallet of 200 boxes And within this 40 foot container 3 boxes would be in the nose 4 boxes are in the middle And 3 boxes  are in the tail of the container Which is floor loaded...  It was a massive pain in the ass However, to sales and finance It made sense, so... We had to deal with it My aisles Usually 6 levels Medium, Small, Large, Medium, Medium, Medium With the new procurement strategy I had a shit ton more Smalls As you can see Small locations were only 1/6th of my aisle Large Locations were 1/6th as well Mediums were less common, too We had to keep opening aisles Just to accommodate the Small Pallets Opening an entire aisle just for Level Two Dumb Not sustainable What are we to do? Turn them pants into shorts... Each aisle had 21 12' beams Which equates to 63 pallet slots And each of the aisles was double sided 126 locations along the length 6 levels high, meaning 756 pallet slots 126 large (level 3) 126 small (level 2) 504 medium (levels 1, 4, 5 & 6) You see where I'm going yet? In the system, we simply redefined the Medium Locations for a whole level Alright Change Level 6  From Medium to Smalls That slowed me down  from opening up extra aisles To house the influx of small pallets When that wasn't enough Convert level 5 from  Medium to Small When that wasn't enough Convert level 4 from  Medium to small If push really came to shove Convert level 3 from Large to small Ever see those aircraft on an aircraft carrier wings folded up? Basically what we did  Because NOBODY opens up 756 locations to only use 126 of them Too smart? Dumb it down? Okay, okay, okay Fill the aisle UP from level 1 to level whatever front to back before opening another aisle You don't need storage trailers You don't need an extra warehouse You need an understanding of your space Get the most out of your space So you are profitable all 4 quarters understand your space Getting Warehouses MORE thruput using the SAME hours. I offer a complimentary 30-minute discussion to walk through what that looks like for you. #strategy #business #creativity #innovation #xpandurangeamotion Although it looks like it This is NOT me in the picture Best Google image turning pants into shorts

A fresh take on Companies are like family... You can be fruitful and multiply... or be rotten with multiples of fruitflies... Proof of scaleability Upwards AND Downwards The entire 1st Service I offer Feeds the the beginning of the 2nd service I offer No matter which day the work comes in We get it done. BOTH teams were STANDALONE Only possible with... - all instructions in writing (Word Doc SOP) - skillsets acquired: forklift and Office - gave them all 3 day orientation - daily feedback For 30 days - cross-trained them all Building the BEST Teams FAST!!! On Blue Shift Days Yellow Shift could care less Blue Shift NEVER called Yellow Shift On Yellow Shift Days Blue Shift could care less Yellow Shift NEVER called Blue Shift We NEVER had issues with people coming I'm Because they had so much time away They were ready to come back in NEVER had to worry about Saturday coverage Yellow Team needed it for a full check Blue Team needed Sunday for same IF, we needed Overtime It was an EXTRA DAY not longer hours We KNEW the skillsets we needed in OT We built bench depth on SLOW Days Bludgeoning bullshit as it came 40 hour work weeks 3 days off per week With bench depth Total Team < 50 Single Shift If you have a Shift of 100 people Divide 100 by THIS roster And SCALE UP Need to add a night shift Copy, AND Paste Need to add ANOTHER site WASH, RINSE, AND ...... (*repeat*) Y'all got me preaching today And it's only Saturday Stuff that works Because it had to - rates - skillsets - attendance - cost per unit - Total wages spent - Total output generated Getting warehouses MORE thru put with the SAME hours I offer a complimentary 30-minute consultation to discuss what that looks like for you #strategy #business #creativity #innovation #xpandurangeamotion

I don't worry about Peak Season 1) Take Projected Volume - Single Item Orders - Multi Item Orders 2) Divided by Usable Shift Length - Total Shift Length - Minus Breaks & Start-ups 3) Divided by rate per function - X people to Inbound - Y People to Outbound 4) Determines headcount needed - amount of people needed on-site - account for 17% true absenteeism (out for any reason) Either your OT covers the delta or it doesn't It won't take long at all to find out I'm somewhere in Mid-Jan; Early Feb Emptying out unnecessary aisles Prepping for my Inventory There is almost NEVER a reason to stress out over Peak Season Unless you don't know what you're doing Get Your Warehouse MORE thruput using the SAME hours. I offer a complimentary 30-minute discussion to walk through what that looks like for you. #strategy #business #creativity #innovation #xpandurangeamotion

Oh my gosh, It's Friday the 13th... (Dec) Anytime the 1st falls on a Sunday this happens We'll never have more than 3 in a year The longest without is 14 months So when people freak out next Friday about it Remember there are people who see it in advance We don't just plan for Quarter 4 before we get there We take ACTION to set it up in Quarter 3 Your BEST friend in a Warehouse Is a COMPLETELY EMPTY AISLE They allow Flexibility Where are my outs? If Quarter 3 = 25% annual revenue And Quarter 4 = 40% annual revenue How, when, and where do we fit it all in? Let's take a look at our Warehouse Space - We have 100 aisles - with 100 locations - 50 odd; 50 even Each location is 48" (4') wide for a 40" pallet Each bay can hold two pallets (8') The aisle is 400' long (50*8') Each aisle has 5 levels So each aisle has 500 locations Times our 100 aisles, we have 50,000 locations 9' wide aisles plus 9' of pallet depth is a total aisle space of 36' All 100 aisles in a row would be 3,600' x 400' That's a LONG and NARROW building Let's shorten and widen the building Now the building is 1,800' x 400' But we need a couple of travel aisles So let's add 3 at 15' and a dock at 55' deep 1,800' x 500' = 900,000 sq ft 100k of breakroom & office space We're talking about a 1,000,000 sq ft building If we need 75% of the space in Quarter 3 We should need 37,500 full locations And have 12,500 empty locations Marketing, Sales, and Procurement tell you With everything we plan to sell by when Starting this date and ending this date At some point, you'll need 60,000 locations Where do you find 20% more space? 10,000 is 20% over 50,000 Okay... so 50% of the locations are staple stock, toilet paper and diapers This is why the space needed shrinks to 50% in Q1 (This will be repeated later this week) Back to School, Back to College Labor Day and Fall Wear take up 12,500 locations What to do with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Halloween and Christmas SHOULD not overlap Halloween and Thanksgiving definitely will Thanksgiving and Christmas definitely will Two methods (there are plenty that work) We treat our space like an airplane gate We treat our space like a 3 row SUV Airplane gate - we turn the space over This zone is for Halloween from now till then Then the zone is for Thanksgiving from then till later Those will take up the remaining 12,500 locations ONLY Christmas Trees overlap into Halloween Here's the other 10,000 locations 3 row SUV (fold seats flat) Convert space Create an aisle virtually Then identify the space physically Create aisles 101-120 Using Inbound Dock Space No longer needed because Inbound Peak is over Stay above water See what happens before With someone who has seen it before Get Your Warehouse MORE thruput using the SAME hours. I offer a complimentary 30-minute discussion to walk through what that looks like for you. #strategy #business #creativity #innovation #xpandurangeamotion

Wanna future proof your warehouse? Go to the future and... Proof your plans Yep Last Year, Q1 was Approximately 15% of Revenue Did we factor in YoY Growth? Yes we did. 4% We had 61% of the locations that had SOME product in them We should have at least 35 aisles of 100 empty going into Q1 Our headcount was 510 Or a 21% reduction from a peak of 640 We were still over FIFTY people per day Our PTO sign-up was 11% Okay... We're heavy 50 people per day That's 2,000 hours per week Roughly 8,000 per month We got three options... 1) How many hours is Corporate giving us To conduct the the Physical Inventory this year? 5,000? Okay, cool We're still 3,000 hours over 2) Allow up to 20% of staff to be on PTO What's that? It only gets us another 2,000 hours? Okay, So we're 1,000 heavy for the month Where do we suck the most in Quarter 1? RETURNS!!! 3) Well, take the balance of the 1,000 hours And beef up Returns Staffing Cross-Training!!! We got the SOPs We got the cadence We got the know-how Hey, any good plans for the weekend? Honestly, no. We hardly ever have free time in Q3 We're usually just now getting started planning for Q4 How do you know Inventory will be so smooth It's usually a pain in the ass each year... What makes you so confident? Remember when I said... We want to be 100% full in 50% to 65% of the aisles rather than 100% of the aisles being 50%-65% full Let's slow this part down... The Warehouse is 100 Aisles, right? In Quarter 4, we peaked at 92% capacity It was tight, but we had just enough room to move. In Quarter 1, we drop to 61% capacity Meaning the equivalent of 39 empty aisles We'll play it safe and say 30 to 35 empty aisles You still with me? If we have a plan to consolidate the aisles THROUGHOUT Quarter Four We can condense our work area to NO MORE THAN 65 Aisles Okay... Here's the $64 million dollar question? Why does a Physical Inventory Count take so long? Not because we have to count every location But because have to VALIDATE EVERY AISLE... But not this year... Bonus question... Which aisle is easier to VALIDATE? An aisle with product in it... or an empty one? We should not have any product in Aisle 66 up to 100 During Inventory We type in Aisle 66 Select "Show Inventory" Aisle 66 is PHYSICALLY EMPTY The System will either say EMPTY or show product We walk the few locations Adjust inventory to dummy aisle (999) And adjust it back in if extra is "found" in another aisle But an even better idea Is to prevent it in Q4 We'll reverse engineer our Inventory Strategy To provide adequate Inventory Management Support during Quarter Four Our FIRST major holiday in Quarter One is... Valentine's Day We're ahead of our time... literally Get Your Warehouse MORE thruput using the SAME hours. I offer a complimentary 30-minute discussion to walk through what that looks like for you. #strategy #business #creativity #innovation #xpandurangeamotion

Do you know the Big Mac Song? I didn't ask if you eat them... I asked if you knew the song... two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun Now you can be short or tall fat or skinny old or young black or white straight or gay man or woman triangle or square religious or agnostic early bird or night owl liberal or conservative rhombus or parallelogram chicago style or new york style it don't matter The Big Mac Song Is The Big Mac Song If you change ANYTHING It's no longer a Big Mac That is how we onboard You will dream about it at night You will randomly say it out loud in your off time But you will know that song. Once Upon A Time A gentleman with all the heart wanted to be a Lead (get a radio) I asked him Tell me the Big Mac Song He thought I was playing around See first ya get your lettuce... Nope, try again next week He got ONE shot per week To get the Big Mac song right It took him 16 weeks Week 15, he said this: two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese onions *bonk* pickles *bonk* on a sesame seed bun Nope, try again NEXT week As soon as he said THE RIGHT STEPS IN THE RIGHT ORDER I gave him MY radio Why did you make me do that Adrian? Because I know you know what needs to be done But I need to know you will do it the right way whether I'm present or absent Everybody saw me do him that way So when it was their turn They couldn't complain Ok, another example You have 1,000 orders to do in a 10-hour shift How many do you have to do each hour? If you say 100 I light you up then I say Do you work for 10 straight hours? No, you have 1 hour of breaks First scan within 15 minutes Okay That totals to 1.25 hours Take the 10 hours Subtract 1.25 It's 8.75 hrs Divide 1,000 by 8.75 hrs It's 115 You need to do 115 orders per hour In a 10 hour shift to complete 1,000 orders If you plan for 100 you will only hit 875 And I'm gonna light you up 95% of people asked got the answer incorrect Signaling that they needed to be taught Instead of being lit up For the next 6 weeks That was all I asked The Big Mac Song We had over THIRTY Leads Each leading about TWENTY Associates SIX HUNDRED properly informed Associates How to determine the goal for the day How to break the goal down hourly and know if we're winning or losing Then we got into ratios Just like at a fast food place It's a ratio of grillers to cashiers This many grocery baggers To this many checkout clerks To this many night shift stockers None of it is art It's all science Balanced And it doesn't matter who you are It doesn't matter what you are It matters how you do it Let's write your Big Mac Song Getting Warehouses MORE thruput using the SAME hours. I offer a complimentary 30-minute discussion to walk through what that looks like for you. #strategy #business #creativity #innovation #xpandurangeamotion