Warehouse Operations Manager

Essential Responsibilities

• Direct all daily warehouse activities, including receiving, unloading, inspection, storage, staging, order preparation, loading, returns, and inventory control.
• Develop a daily dock and labor plan based on scheduled inbound shipments, outbound routes, installation projects, and customer requirements.
• Ensure freight is properly labeled, scanned, documented, protected, and staged before dispatch.
• Cook up with dispatch and central planning to confirm that crews, equipment, tools, materials, and freight are ready before each route departs.
• Maintain accurate inventory records and investigate discrepancies, missing items, damaged products, and scanning exceptions.
• Ensure the warehouse layout supports safe product flow, efficient loading, proper storage, and quick access to customer inventory.

People Leadership

• Lead, coach, and develop warehouse supervisors, leads, associates, forklift operators, and temporary employees.
• Establish clear daily expectations and hold employees accountable for safety, attendance, productivity, quality, and customer service.
• Conduct daily operational huddles to review workload, staffing, safety concerns, customer priorities, and previous-day performance.
• Cross-train employees to improve operational flexibility and provide coverage for critical warehouse functions.
• Address performance concerns promptly and partner with Human Resources when corrective action is required.
• Build a culture in which employees understand how their performance affects the customer, the driver, and the profitability of the branch.

Safety, Quality, and Claims Prevention

• Promote a safety-first culture and ensure compliance with company policies, customer requirements, and applicable workplace safety standards.
• Conduct routine inspections of the warehouse, dock areas, racking, forklifts, pallet jacks, tools, and other equipment.
• Ensure employees use proper lifting, loading, securement, material-handling, and product-protection procedures.
• Lead investigations involving injuries, product damage, inventory discrepancies, facility incidents, and near misses.
• Implement corrective actions to prevent repeated safety, quality, or claims-related issues.
• Maintain strong housekeeping and 5S standards throughout the warehouse, dock, yard, offices, and equipment-storage areas.

Labor and Cost Management

• Create labor plans that match staffing levels to the daily workload while controlling overtime and temporary labor expenses.
• Monitor productivity by employee, project, shipment, route, or work function.
• Review operational costs and identify opportunities to improve labor efficiency, equipment utilization, material usage, and warehouse capacity.
• Approve overtime and additional labor only when supported by operational requirements.
• Work with branch leadership to ensure warehouse activities contribute to improved gross margin and overall branch profitability.
• Track avoidable expenses such as rehandling, repeated trips, product damage, waiting time, missed appointments, and inefficient staging.

Customer Service and Operational Execution

• Ensure customer-specific procedures, service requirements, chain-of-custody standards, and delivery instructions are followed.
• Respond quickly to operational escalations and communicate clearly with customers, drivers, project managers, and branch leadership.
• Support final-mile, white-glove, fitness installation, and specialized transportation projects involving high-value or sensitive products.
• Participate in customer meetings, operational reviews, facility tours, and new-account implementations when required.
• Develop recovery plans when service failures, shipment delays, staffing shortages, or equipment problems occur.
• Maintain professional communication and provide timely updates regarding operational risks and service exceptions.

Continuous Improvement and Reporting

• Establish and maintain visual performance boards for safety, productivity, quality, claims, overtime, and service performance.
• Identify process gaps and implement sustainable improvements rather than temporary solutions.
• Standardize warehouse procedures, shift handoffs, inspection requirements, documentation, and staging practices.
• Use available warehouse, transportation, scanning, and reporting systems to monitor performance and improve operational visibility.
• Provide daily and weekly updates to the General Manager regarding staffing, workload, service performance, expenses, risks, and corrective actions.