A Look at Puck Shipping
With both customer-facing operations and work behind the scenes, the Shipping Department at Puck stays busy. Two Puck locations have dedicated departments to shipping parts and products; Manning and Worthing.
At the main location in Manning, Robin Bunker has been with Puck for 13 years. However, most of that time was spent as a welder. When a job in shipping came up, Robin was approached for the job. “I enjoy working at Puck but also knew I didn’t want to weld the rest of my life, so I gave it a shot,” recalled Robin. “Nearly 3 years later I’m still here enjoying it.” A few hours north in Worthing, Emily Thomas is a one-woman show in the Shipping Department. Before Puck, Emily worked with agricultural equipment and pumps.
Day to Day
Much of Emily’s day-to-day is keeping up with inventory. “Service always has a pump to work on so there’s always parts to reorder,” said Emily. She also keeps track of what the Electrical Department uses and the parts needed for their work to ensure a smooth workflow. Robin is often shipping small packages to customers via delivery services. He also ships pallets of goods via less-than-truckload (LTL) shipping across the US and Canada. Robin added that the Manning location also has “at least one, if not both, of our trucks doing Puck delivery of equipment or parts.” At each of these locations, the Shipping Department needs to locate, pick, and package the goods, as well.
In addition to the customer-facing parts picking, there is also the picking of parts for other Puck departments. Communication with the sales team ensures customer orders are shipped on time. Coordination with the Assembly Department is needed for equipment delivery scheduling. The Accounting Department is included in conversations about freight charges. “I will talk with production teams to track repair parts coming through the production process to get sent to the customer,” said Robin. Emily is often in talks with the Purchasing Department for new parts, as well as transferring orders between Puck locations.
Rapid Fulfillment
Fast service is frequently expected from the Shipping Department, and Robin and Emily do their best to meet customer standards. Each pumping season, the main Manning location sees an uptick in customers willing to pay for overnight shipping for small packages and priority shipping for LTL deliveries. At the smaller Worthing location, Emily will step in to fill customers’ parts orders. This allows the service team to keep working, improving efficiency in both service work and parts picking.
Getting products to customers on time is certainly the biggest challenge the Shipping Department faces. Small packages are easier, as there are more options and daily shipments. The bigger challenge is the pallets of goods shipped via LTL. “You can choose how you want them sent based on customer need, but being 90 miles from any major city means they don’t always have a truck here daily,” noted Robin. “You may choose a 2-day shipment but the company may not have a truck in your area to pick up for 3 days. Over time you just figure out who is in your area on certain days and that’s who you book with.”
International Orders
Robin notes that international shipments can also be difficult to arrange. After booking a shipping container, you are given a two hour time limit to load the container. “Depending on the number of goods going in the container there can be a couple days of paperwork as each piece needs to be weighed, coded and priced on a number of different forms.” These international shipments are often sent to Canadian customers or to our Puck International store in Croatia.
Whether it is from one department in Puck to another or direct to customers, Emily and Robin keep busy ensuring timely shipping fulfillment. The teamwork and dedication from our Shipping Department is just another reason Puck is able to meet the high standards we set for ourselves. Call 712.655.9200 to learn more.
