[oldE]

About 20 years ago, our company changed their load sheets from expensive preprinted forms (three of them) to a long sheet upon which only those products ordered would appear. Should be simple, right?

Wrong.

Because the guys working in the fridges using the load sheets had been used to the location clues which were now lost,(for example, 2 liter 2% milk was always in the same location on the form) the work slowed down, as they had to read the product description each and every time. Pressure was applied to the staff to pick up the pace of the work and shipping errors abounded.

I took some time to talk to the shipping staff and the common problems noted were they were getting a carbon copy of the load with which to work, the lighting in the fridge was not what it could have been and some of the product descriptions did not follow any kind of pattern. When these observations were taken to the office manager (the one who started this whole thing), his response was it was the problem of the shipping department.

The amount of product that was shipped and returned was heart breaking. And all to save a few thousand on forms.

I am SO glad I'm out of there.
Best
Les