MMH: Handling seasonal flows can be a daunting task for any manager. Is there anything in your background that prepared you for this challenge?

MT: I have been in distribution for 20 years. I worked in the toy business, then home electronics, school books and party supplies. So, seasonal distribution has been my whole career.

MMH: What do you consider as your peak seasons at Genesco?

MT: Our two big seasons are back-to-school and Christmas holidays. We fill most of the back-to-school orders in July and August. That is our biggest peak time, but November is our biggest month because we have fewer weeks to push through our volumes.

MMH: How do you plan for these seasons at your distribution center?

MT: The first step is to get a projection from our merchants. We then determine our demand and compare that to benchmarks that show us how many people and what equipment it will take to push the needed volumes through our facility. I sit down with my managers and determine the personnel, how many lift truck drivers we will need, pickers, people in receiving, stretch wrappers, etc. We then review the plan each month.

MMH: How accurate are the projections you receive from the merchants?

MT: I do not get too many surprises unless the volumes are off for some reason. We measure everything we do here, so we can be fairly sure of what it takes to cover the demand. We look at each department and also measure individual productivity, too.

MMH: Is there much of a change in the type of product you must process during a seasonal period?

MT: The product mix does not change— there is just more of it. I know what our capacities are. Once we reach a certain projected demand, then we have to add another shift. We have not yet handled a full seasonal peak in the new building, but we will this summer. We recently set the mechanism in place for a second shift, so that when the peak hits we will be ready. We just have to staff it.

MMH: Do you gradually bring your stock in early to prepare for peaks?

MT: We do bring a little bit in early, but our company success has been our speed to market. So, we expect our stock to turn around quickly. Almost all of it is out in a week, so building up is not really practical.

MMH: Do you need any additional equipment?

MT: No, when we did the original budget we bought the whole nut up front, rather than going back to the well. We have the equipment we need to handle the peaks.

MMH: How do you find the extra people to staff the additional shifts?

MT: We work with three staffing agencies. Having three insulates us from any problems that one of the agencies may have and it also provides a competitive environment. Our human resources person works with the companies to find the people we need.

The labor market benefits us now, with unemployment being at about 6%. Not long ago it was only 3% and we were scraping the bottom of the barrel, but we are finding good people now. We also have some people who will be coming over from our other distribution center once that closes.

MMH: Are most of these jobs temporary?

MT: It takes a lot to train people, so if I have the volume I prefer to hire someone full time. There is a lot of stability in having a person already trained. They are much more error free. Plus it takes time to invest in someone else. But we do rely on temporary labor to fill out the high volume needs.

MMH: Do you place your temporary workers in particular positions?

MT: We put the temporary labor into our picking areas. That is where our need is the most when volumes increase. Some may also go to taping operations, receiving and to shipping.

MMH: Are you ever able to use the same labor from season to season?

MT: We seldom get the same temps back again. It is nice when it happens, but usually if they are not hired for a full time job, they go on to other things.

MMH: How do you get new workers ready to perform their jobs?

MT: Training is a vital part of our operations. It will take two weeks, for example, to train pickers. So we make sure we allow for that. We have a classroom where we have created a training environment complete with shelving and scanners, just like in the warehouse. We first have a full day of classroom work that provides an overview of their jobs and use the systems we built in the training room.

Then the second day of training is in the warehouse. After that, we pair them with someone for a week. Then, they will always be with someone who is experienced.

MMH: How do you find additional supervisors for peak times?

MT: We go to intern supervisors for much of that. In May, we go to Purdue and other universities to find students in their logistics programs. We look for about half a dozen, so that three can work on each shift to help with supervision. Students love to get this experience on their resumes. We then tell the people on the floor to consider them as supervisors. We give the interns the authority they need and have the expectations that they will get things done.

MMH: Do you also rely on overtime?

MT: Yes, we will allow overtime of about 5-10%. We try not to exceed 10% though. A certain amount of overtime is more efficient than bringing in temporary labor, when you consider the training involved.

MMH: Do you think your performance suffers when attempting to handle higher volumes?

MT: It shouldn't if we look at our projections and prepare for it. I can staff in advance for it then. I certainly do not what to hear our merchants blaming us for not getting products out to the stores. As we finish our ramp up in volumes I think we will get better and our peaks should not affect us.