my managers are constantly teaching me the "key retailing way" and i do it that way while theyre watching but once they arent i just do it the way that i get things done the mosst efficiently. such as reshop...etc.. so i get the jist. but why was it started? what is it all about? does it help you..? does it matter if you use key retailing ways if the work gets done otherwise
my managers are constantly teaching me the "key retailing way" and i do it that way while theyre watching but once they arent i just do it the way that i get things done the mosst efficiently. such as reshop...etc.. so i get the jist. but why was it started? what is it all about? does it help you..? does it matter if you use key retailing ways if the work gets done otherwise
Oh my, you've just stumbled upon the essence of Kroger ever since about 2007. Key Retailing (I thought it was renamed to Best Practices????) is basically the regulations and operational ideology that all Kroger owned stores operate under now.
It basically has a procedure for how to do *everything*. It's a standard that all stores are supposed to follow to the letter, without any deviations really. Once a "wave", or a particular set of procedures and regulations is rolled out to your store/district , you have to do everything contained within that wave that way.
Kroger no longer cares about any good workflow ideas, or efficient ways that you might come up with on how to do your job (what is your position, btw? Key retailing is sorta different in each department). Key Retailing is *the* standard, and the *only* standard. Any other way of doing things is by default wrong, because its not Key Retailing.
It's an application of an industrial operations idea called "Six Sigma". Bascially every little bit of the operation is detailed into a procedure. By doing so, Kroger feels that it improves efficiency, makes jobs easier to do, and easier for people to learn how to do the job properly, since there is only one "proper" way now. By implementing it, Kroger basically wants to de-skill every job in the store, and be able to just hire "Employees" who would interchangably work every department as needed, just pulling up the Key Retailing specs for that department and following those with no input or thought. Management is being turned basically into "key Retailing Police", just there to do the remaining tasks that cant be key-retailed out yet (persihable ordering, keeping the numbers correct, some limited merchandising/pricing/markdown decisions, etc.) and make sure everyone else int heir department/store is donig key Retailing, and only Key Retailing.
Therefore, Kroger would like all its employees basically to be part time "Store Clerks", with maybe a few full-time management in the store, not more than 3 or 4 people i'd imagine. That way nobody has to get health insurance, or pensions, or paid more than maybe $10/hr. It's a double edge sword. Save money by people not making "mistakes" (hah!) by not doing things "right", and save money by elimination of employees, especially experienced and skilled employees who might make a half decent wage.
Of course, you've keyed (pun intented) on the reality - when nobody is looking, do your job however you do it best. Just dont do anything thats obvious that someone would call you on. And its not personal ; they really dont care how you do this or that, its just that every store HAS to pass Key Retailing at 95% or better (part of 5/95/5 guys!!!!) or your management will get their butts reamed, and possibly fired.
Does it help? Not really. It actually makes some tasks take a LOT longer, due to all the logging and scanning required. Just ask your meat manager/cutters how much THEY love the cutting list, hahaha. A real meat cutter takes a piece of cardboard out and writes down what he needs to cut that day. Theres no need for a 15 page list where each item has to be scanned, and movement recorded, and then a computer generated number cut. Lots of cutters try to game the system, by just writing stuff down and doing what really needs to be done, but audits check to make sure the numbers match FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK AT A TIME. No way to fake it.
It matters if you do it the Key Retailing way because of the above. In reality, the store should work just fine without any key retailing waves. If someone is incompetent, then they should be demoted/fired/retrained whatever to correct the problem.
So just be careful. You'd get written up more for violating key retailing operational standards than doing something *actually* wrong!
Fishy wrote:Just ask your meat manager/cutters how much THEY love the cutting list, hahaha. A real meat cutter takes a piece of cardboard out and writes down what he needs to cut that day. Theres no need for a 15 page list where each item has to be scanned, and movement recorded, and then a computer generated number cut. Lots of cutters try to game the system, by just writing stuff down and doing what really needs to be done, but audits check to make sure the numbers match FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK AT A TIME. No way to fake it.
Just a side note, SWMA has rolled out a cutting tool that has 3 day previous day movement already logged so you just need to do the list. This will ultimately lead to a "paperless" tool where you input the current numbers in a handheld or terminal, and that data will be fed to an updating monitor that tells you what needs to be cut and how much, updating every 15 minutes based on POS data. As for gaming the system, not that hard as long as everyone is on board and learn a few tricks, but even easier is changing the target and putting a note as to why. The tool is decent, and still is no where as good as a sawman that knows their store and their customer; that has a good idea on what people will want on a day to day basis, but there are many aspects of the cutting tool that actually help supplement that.
my FEM freely admits we're going to fail at key retailing. we're a mess because he's a mess. it's his job to make sure every one gets on the same page, that important info gets to his supervisors and down to the cashiers. doesn't happen.
he'll pick whatever supervisor happens to be there, throw the latest few dozen pages at them to read when they have time or given them tasks he didn't get to and expect it to be done.
we're on the floor dealing with customers. where is this time coming from? during our breaks if we get them? we're making copies off the clock to hand out to interested people for home study just to survive.
Fishy wrote:Just ask your meat manager/cutters how much THEY love the cutting list, hahaha. A real meat cutter takes a piece of cardboard out and writes down what he needs to cut that day. Theres no need for a 15 page list where each item has to be scanned, and movement recorded, and then a computer generated number cut. Lots of cutters try to game the system, by just writing stuff down and doing what really needs to be done, but audits check to make sure the numbers match FOR AN ENTIRE WEEK AT A TIME. No way to fake it.
Just a side note, SWMA has rolled out a cutting tool that has 3 day previous day movement already logged so you just need to do the list. This will ultimately lead to a "paperless" tool where you input the current numbers in a handheld or terminal, and that data will be fed to an updating monitor that tells you what needs to be cut and how much, updating every 15 minutes based on POS data. As for gaming the system, not that hard as long as everyone is on board and learn a few tricks, but even easier is changing the target and putting a note as to why. The tool is decent, and still is no where as good as a sawman that knows their store and their customer; that has a good idea on what people will want on a day to day basis, but there are many aspects of the cutting tool that actually help supplement that.
Yeah, the problem with the cutting tool isn't so much the idea behind it, it was always the time consuming scanning and writing 3 times a day. Still not as quick as someone who just knows their store's sales flow and customers, but that is an improvement if its going all electronic and paperless. Now to hack the monitor if its actually like a separate installation in the cutting room to have some internet access haha :)
I think meat production planning tools help to some degree, but how can they expect The numbers to align from day to day within 1??? Too many variables!!! This is much harder if you work in a larger meat deptment. (Customer theft, items not scanned out ect ect). Oh and when they switch to handheld it's just another way to monitor employees making it easier for them to check what you are cutting and making damn sure your numbers align. So your micromanagers can log onto a computer, Or anyone in kroger world can view your cutting lists. Won't be long after that they will then have a program flagging you for miscounts and other things you could do wrong, warnings, write ups will follow that into a downward spiral.
The problem is that Kroger seems to think that every store is the same. We're in a remodel right now and I overheard a couple Drug/GM people talking about how the new cosmetics that we're going to be pushing is not going to improve sales at all and will just sit on the shelves. Things like ethnic hair care products. We live in a town that is 98% white. lol.
Key retailing..something kroger is hanging on to because they put way too much time and money into it. No one actually does it until the key retailing people come in because they know it is a waste of time. But it does give older, slower ex managers a job until they give up on it so they will defend it.
I think in the days before key retailing, Every single store was different. People, item locations, The look of the store inside ect ect but now that key retailing is here to save the day every store is reset and remodeled to look the same, and is expected to be stocked by robots. im surprised kroger hasn't put money into developing actual robots to stock the shelves, and ring you out (although they are close to getting rid of cashiers)they would drop humans in a heart beat so they could make more money.
kroger's pushing self-checkout more in new stores with two sets of six robots. and in ohio they tested a scanning tunnel that would image items from all sides, taking the person out of it entirely. they also tested customer scanners so they could scan as they shopped and just pay at the end when they returmed the scanner.
Key retailing is a system to make the basic operation of your Kroger become more efficient....a system created by someone who has apparently never worked a day in their life at the sale floor level. It looks real good on paper....works horribly in reality. I work in the meat dept. I now spend between 2 and 3 hours a day doing paperwork all related to key retailing... that's a real efficient use of a big chunk of my 8 hour shift. Make sure your cutting list is done 3 times, make sure the key retailing board is up to date, make sure the morning shelf review is done, make sure the pre-prime time shelf review is done, make sure the replenishment sheet is done, make sure the daily backstock scan is done, make sure mark downs are done three times a day, get the daily Key Retailing check done, get your daily section of dates checked, be sure to get your daily section of cleaning done. Oh by the way..why isn't there any meat cut and why is lunchmeat empty? And oh yes..remember....Customer First!
