After joining this company, I realized that the warehouse management culture in every company can really differ this much.
It might be because the warehouse management at my previous company was extremely rigorous, with all processes, documents, and responsibilities clearly divided. So now at this company, I often feel a sense of shock like, “This is also acceptable?”
For example, we have a four-copy material preparation form: one copy goes to procurement, and the remaining three are given to the warehouse for preparation. After the materials are ready, the warehouse keeps one copy, and the driver takes two copies to the vendor for signing. Upon return, one copy stays with the vendor, and one returns to the production control staff. Logically, this entire process should run smoothly, with each document serving its purpose.
But what’s truly frustrating isn’t the process itself, but the people executing it. The warehouse doesn’t sort the documents by vendor, trip, or departure time—they’re all mixed together. After procurement arranges the trips and I hand the preparation forms to the warehouse staff, they can’t clearly tell the driver which batch goes on which vehicle or where each batch is being delivered. In the end, procurement has to run over and check with the driver one form and one item at a time.
Yet procurement sends out a dispatch list every day, clearly stating the date, vehicle, destination, and items. The warehouse just doesn’t verify against this list, so drivers frequently miss or under-deliver. Only after the vendor complains does everyone start searching for the items together.
Every time I ask for the reason, the answers are similar.
“Procurement keeps changing the trips.”
“I don’t even know which batch is supposed to go where in the end.”
But the point of the dispatch list is to confirm the final version.
Procurement and I often exchange glances, our minds full of question marks. It’s not that we can’t accept trip adjustments—production naturally has variables every day, and that’s normal. But if the process can change, someone needs to verify the final information instead of just giving up on confirmation.
I used to think that designing a good process could avoid many problems, but later realized that the process is just a tool. What truly determines its value is the people executing it. If everyone only does their immediate step without checking the surrounding information, even the most complete system will keep dropping the ball.
Now procurement and I have become revolutionary partners. When problems arise, we think together about how to patch the gaps and reduce the chance of missed deliveries. Complaining endlessly is useless. Rather than fixating on who’s at fault, we want to know how to prevent it from happening again next time.
Sometimes I really feel that without comparison, there would be no hurt. But because of this, I’ve gradually understood that every company’s culture is different, and every process has its own historical background. Instead of always expecting others to change, it’s better to first find ways we can work together, at least get the job done first, then gradually push for improvements.
After all, for production control, what truly matters has never been proving who was wrong, but ensuring items are delivered on time and production continues smoothly. Being able to reduce even one missed delivery or one emergency fix is already a huge improvement.