Seven tips to improve your peak season

Peak is the time of the year when the pressure really increases on the whole supply chain. The consequence of stock, warehousing, and transport issues that can be more damaging than at other times of the year, are magnified significantly. They can also heavily impact an organisation’s success. So, how should logistics businesses begin planning for the peak season?

When you are planning for the busiest period of the year, it is important to verify and clarify your relationships with staffing providers, both blue and white collar. Whether you use one temporary staffing firm or many, it is important not to assume that they will provide all the personnel you require as you need them. Confirm your anticipated requirements and iron out the particulars of your working arrangements in advance. 

Pushing your peak to success

1. Initiate training programmes 

Well-established toolbox talks can rapidly improve short-term personnel with your facility’s most important safety, layout, and process flow information.

2. Divide and conquer

For maximum efficiency and minimum stress, leave complex and essential warehousing tasks to your long-term personnel. Use temporary workers for assignments that are simple and/or confined to a small area, such as labelling items. 

3. Redefine your boundaries

It’s not unusual to exceed your standard capacity during peak season. Take stock both inside and out to determine areas you could temporarily repurpose for product storage. Queue up trailers and use your secure track yard for overflow space, or temporarily use some aisle space to process products.

4. Revisit shift structure

Maximise your facility’s labour capacity by adding extra shifts to each day or increasing the length of shifts. This will tack an extra day or two onto the work week.  

5. Consider crossdocking or bulk storage

Establish cross-docking within your facility so you can unload, stage, and reload fast moving products without having to wait for receiving and put-away. 

6. Plan now for vehicle usage

Take potential sickness and holiday cover into consideration and when in doubt, overbook. It’s always easier to ‘double’ or cancel a driver than it is to have a vehicle that is unable to depart from the distribution centre.

7. Returns process, forecasting volumes, and communication

It is important to consider the returns process and ensure it is primed to deal with increased volumes. Reverse logistics needs to be factored into plans to ensure stock is available for resale and communicating with consumers on any delays or extensions, especially around Black Friday and Christmas.

Key dates

January remains a key time for businesses to reflect on the peak season and what it has achieved for their business. Ask yourself, what went well? What do we need to improve? Do we need to make changes? This is the time to pull together and begin analysing your data to put a plan in place for the upcoming year that is better than the last. Focusing on market trends, you can make the decisions needed to encourage continuous improvement during peak.

In the second quarter, you should be starting your recruitment process. Starting earlier not only means you are better prepared for peak, but you will also be able to avoid notice periods, and it gives your new starter the time that they need to fully understand the business before the peak season begins. You should ask yourself the following questions when building your recruitment process for peak. 

• What is the latest date that a new starter can be inducted to be able to make an impact?
• What resources do we have to support the individual in the lead up to peak?
• Have we effectively planned according to our business needs?
• What are the current market trends, and do we need to change the plan?

Lastly, during October you should start recruiting for labour agencies and testing the supply with a view that you are able to induct, train, and establish talent before the peak period, and following that, retain your best talent. When recruiting, you need to consider culture fit and whether the individual is able to meet your expectations and deliver on what the business requires. Keep in mind that interim employees will be able to provide short-term support and consider whether or not you have enough time to induct the individual. 

With widespread candidate shortages coming into play, it has never been more important to get your talent attraction strategies right. It’s important to promote a solid brand and career development during the interview stage, then hire quickly with a strong initial offer. Otherwise, you risk a competitor making an offer first.

If you are interested in hiring top logistics talent during peak season, get in touch with one of our specialist recruitment consultants today, or submit a job spec, and we’ll contact you. 

Alternatively, if you are a professional considering your options, why not create a MyPage account to make the best use of our Job Match tool and easily identify the opportunities that best suit your skill set and experience. 

Laura Frost

Manager, Michael Page Logistics