Tag Archive for: components of the material handling industry

A Day in the Life of a Rookie: Routine

One aspect of every new job, that takes time to develop, is a good routine. Routines can be difficult to develop, especially if you have many different aspects to a job or if your daily schedule changes frequently. These aspects can be confusing and frustrating at times but aren’t always a bad thing. For example, almost everyone’s had a job at some point in their life where they go to work and do the same routine every day. It becomes monotonous and your days turn in to watching the minutes tick away on the clock.

Having a routine that isn’t set in stone everyday or, for lack of a better term, “floats” throughout the day or week can be nice and is actually something I enjoy about my job. Most days are different than the previous one. When I get to work I don’t always know what the day’s schedule might entail. I may have a good idea what I will be doing but I may not know when I will be doing it.

A Day In The Life Of A RookieIt’s impossible to predict the future, and just like any business, there will be some uncertainty… so when I get a call or an e-mail that something needs to be done right away, I might put what I’m doing on hold and work on the task at hand. For example, sometimes projects finish sooner than others and equipment needs to be moved, sometimes installation teams need more material or equipment than expected, so I try my best to help and make things as efficient for install crews as possible.

Because of this style of job I’ve really started to hone my multi-tasking skills. Not to say they were bad before (in fact I thought they were pretty good until I came to SSI!) but I’ve really focused on trying to handle multiple tasks at once.

One additional area I’ve been trying to focus on is assisting in updating our website with new items in inventory. We constantly have equipment coming and going from the warehouse so it’s important to keep everything up to date. This is a great assignment for me because it creates a method to familiarize myself with our product offering and requires me to take note of the various aspects that make up something like a beam or wire deck. Gauge of a wire deck, measurement of the step on a pallet rack beam; this type of information is extremely important to our customers so it’s extremely important that I know how to recognize these differences.

Just like I said in my last blog, and the one before it, I’ve learned a lot in the past few weeks. Some days, by the time I get home, my brain hurts due to the overload of information I’ve tried to take in!  I’ve continued to work on learning the different products in the material handling industry and I’ve drilled it in to my head more and more that “a beam definitely isn’t a beam and pallet definitely isn’t pallet” (A Day In The Life Post #1) but of course I still have a lot to learn.

A Day In The Life Of A Rookie

“Do you know anything about material handling or pallet racking?”

In my first interview, I was asked this question.  Now, in most interviews, you might consider that a make it or break it kind of question.  And in most interviews, I would have an answer prepared for this sort of inquiry.  After all, why would I be sitting in an interview if I didn’t have the first clue about the industry in which the business operates… Right?  Wrong.

A Day In The Life Of A Rookie“Actually, no.  I don’t have any previous knowledge or experience with material handling.”

I was positive this sort of response was going to hurt me, but luckily, my interviewer, Nate Storey, said, “That’s okay. Almost no one comes into this business knowing anything about pallet racking or material handling.  It usually takes about 6 months for people to understand everything.”

Phew.  Really?  Well, sign me up, I thought.

After a second interview, and much deliberation, I decided to accept the job with Storage Solutions.  Before starting, I decided to do more in-depth research on the industry so I could get a head start before my first day.  During my research, it occurred to me that this business isn’t extremely difficult.

So going in to my first day I knew:

  1. A pallet is a pallet.
  2. A beam is a beam.

Six months to learn everything.  How difficult could it really be, right? Wrong.  Again.

It occurrs to me early on that material handling and pallet racking is much more detailed than it appears.  A pallet isn’t just a pallet and a beam definitely isn’t just a beam.  Connections, uprights, braces, shelving, decking… there’s A LOT to learn.

The type of business Storage Solutions does was best described to me by CFO Bill Beeker when he said,

pallet rack“This isn’t a sexy business, but it’s still needed.”

This made sense to me.  The type of work Storage Solutions does isn’t flashy or noticeable… but it’s important.  We provide something certain companies have to have.

Now, my first eight days have gone by and I’ve learned a lot about the industry but have still barely scratched the surface.

Other Things I’ve Learned In My First 8 Days:

  1. Ball State University alumni rule this office, with Wabash coming in a distant second!
  2. A few employees of Storage Solutions were actually in the same fraternity at BSU. (Sigma Chi)
  3. I work with friendly, helpful people who want this business to succeed and grow.

I still have a lot more to learn, and who knows, maybe six months from now I’ll look back on this first blog and realize I was wrong about even the small things I thought I knew! I guess we’ll see…