Proper Commercial Lighting is Vital to Business Success
Sep 30, 2009 Lighting Design & Controls
Kimberly Green asked:
No one ever really thinks about it when they walk into a store and they encounter a brightly lit environment that invites shoppers to look closely at each product for endless hours but the thought that went into lighting a super store is a painstaking process and a strategic process that ensures shoppers stay in the store and don’t experience shopper’s fatigue.
Any person in charge of designing a store, warehouse, office or any other environment where people will congregate should pay special attention to the lighting needs that will help to ensure the proper atmosphere for productivity, visual stimulation and regulatory needs. This can be a daunting process but there are numerous reasons why proper commercial lighting is a must. An improperly lit environment can cause health issues to workers like headaches, migraines and mental fatigue. Not only will this hinder productivity it can have a dramatic increase on absence rates and even attrition rates.
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When a workspace is properly lit it allows a worker to focus clearly, be more productive and even work longer periods before rest is needed. This can have a very large affect on employee morale, production output and it can help maintain long-term employment. The end result is a slightly increased cost in lighting that is counter balanced by higher profits and employees with tenured skills and higher job satisfaction. A second factor in the importance of proper commercial lighting is customer driven.
If a customer patrons a store that has poorly lit overhead and display lighting it will make it hard to read product details listed on packaging and it will cause shopper’s fatigue. When they happens sales will decrease and that customer is likely to seek out a better retail experience. This is compounded by the fact that many products have package designed that work with lighting to enhance their attractiveness to consumers. Poor lighting will make packaging look dull and uninviting thus also driving down sales. If you have proper lighting there will be a larger sense of excitement from customer’s and product sales will be higher and more consistent. It’s also very important to meet City, state, local and OSHA regulations. In most cases these regulations are a minimum guideline that ensure a poor lighting does not damage employee or customer’s eyes. All regulations should be met because poor lighting that does not meet regulation can put a business in a situation to suffer several fines by regulatory agencies.
It can also put a business at risk of litigation from employees negatively affected by lighting conditions. In worse case it can also force a closure of a business due to failure to comply. Maintaining the proper lighting will avid these pit falls.
With the proper lighting employees are given an advantage that will open doors to improved productivity, accuracy and employee satisfaction. Customers will be ready to spend money because a properly lit environment will enhance their shopping experience.
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High Tech & Low Tech Parking Assistance
Sep 8, 2009 ELV Systems
If you are like most people, your garage is packed full of stuff with everything from holiday decorations to childhood memories, stacked high. Maneuvering the car perfectly into the garage can be a challenge. Now, there are a few options — both high tech and low tech — to help park your car in the same spot every time.
The High Tech Option!
Maxsa Garage Laser Park: Helps prevent damage to your car and your garage from faulty parking. Helps you park your car in the exact right spot every time. Easy installation, attach to your garage ceiling with included hook-&-loop tape or screws. No wiring necessary. Automatically activates when your vehicle enters the garage. Powered by included 110 Volt AC adapter. This version is for a single-car garage; the Dual Laser Park works for two car garages!
The Low Tech Option!
Maxsa Park Right Parking Mat: Helps you park safely and easily and prevents damage to your vehicle and your garage. Anti-skid tape prevents mat from moving. One size fits all passenger vehicles. Choose from High-visibility Yellow or Black. At less than $15, this is a great deal!
Also, check out the Maxsa Park Right Car Door & Bumper Guards, to protect your car and your garage during parking and when opening car doors.
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Sharpen Your Bill of Lading, Pay Less in Freight
Sep 1, 2009 Refrigeration
It used to seem like motor carriers would “look the other way” when it came to the way shippers filled out their bill of ladings. As long as the freight class that went along with the description was “close“ to what they were shipping, the carriers never bothered with it. However, now there is too much of an extra revenue source for the carriers to ignore these poorly filled out descriptions and have incentivized dock workers to capitalize on shippers who do not fill this out the proper way.
The biggest mistake people make when filling out a bill of lading is they simply put a basic description of the product like “plastic figurines”. The problem is that plastic figurines are a density item according to the NMFC and can be classified at any class from a 70 to a 400 (which is a difference of about 250% in price).
Without a classification number, the carriers have every right to bill out at a class 400 if “plastic figurines” is all they are given. The proper way to describe this item on a bill of lading is to write a description which includes the NMFC issued number. This is a perfect way to describe this item “Plastic Articles, NMFC #157320 Sub 8, Class 85.”
Elizabeth LaFleur, freight auditor for Logistics Management, Inc., says shippers will cut down on a lot of headaches if they followed this simple process. LaFleur says, “When a carrier see’s a poor description, they red flag it and can classify it at a much higher class. If the description on the bill of lading is vague, a lot of times there is nothing that can be done to fight it. However, if the item number is on the bill of lading then there, is no problem.”
Not only can this be a hassle, the cost can be significant to a shipper. The way it is nowadays in the freight world is if a shipper does not fill out their bill of lading accurately they get nailed not only with the difference in the freight class but also with a “Weight & Inspection” fee which can be as high as $30.00.
What a Bill of Lading Should NOT Look Like
Recently I visited a prospect that was getting overwhelmed with Weight & Inspections from carriers. They pulled their bill of ladings for me and on them was the description for “tools”. There was two problems with this description. First, “tools” is too vague of a description and second, they were actually shipping drive shafts and other engine parts for race cars.
Don’t laugh, they are not alone. In fact, many shippers have similar scenarios. What is a familiar story at a lot of companies is that some carrier rep provided a description 20 years ago and that is the way bill of ladings have been filled out ever since.
There is no descriptions in the NMFC for just “tools” so this description would trigger dock workers to perform a W&I to change the class. You can bet they will change it to the highest possible class for a tool.
What was interesting in this example is that when we properly classified their products, most of the engine parts were actually a lower class than the class the carriers were billing them at under “tools”.
By doing nothing more than helping this customer to fill their bill of lading properly this customer lowered their freight cost by about 12%. Of course, the president of that company and I are friends for life now.
What can you do?
There are two things that you can do to eliminate carrier inspections. First, get the weight right. Once the carriers determine you to be one who “guesses low on weight”, then you are flagged in their system. You will be nailed every time by W&I teams.
Secondly, and most important: be as accurate as possible with your description. Make sure you have the most up to date NMFC number followed by the description (the way it is read in the NMFC). When your bill of lading is properly filled out, the clerk at the carrier is more likely to move to the next bill of lading.
What a Bill of Lading Should Look Like
This is the text book way to fill out a bill of lading.
Now it is very important to follow these instructions more than ever. Not only are the carriers looking for the extra cash, the NMFC guide is changing all the time. Sometimes they are making change which make the classes higher. Sometimes they are actually changing them to be lower. The most important part is get with someone who is very familiar with the NMFC guide and get them to properly fill out your bill of lading the correct way.
Article written by Tim Walsh
Tim Walsh Logistics Management Inc. 908.879.2940 twalsh@lmiservices.com
Truckload…Flatbed…Rail Shipments : 800.426.8896 # 5
The original is here: Cooler Connection
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