Flexible fashion fulfillment

A new DC for fashion-retailer Varner has been designed to ensure the highest levels of logistics efficiency and began operation in the summer. The centralised warehousing and distribution centre has space for 48,000 pallets; 330,000 mini-load system places and 60,000 AutoStore places. The Swedish-based DC covers a total of 47,000m² and employs 50 staff to ensure prompt stock replacement for 1550 shops, across a range of brands, throughout Scandinavia, Germany and Poland.

During the development process the main contractor, Swisslog, and materials handling specialists, Buemer Group, took a DC-wide approach to the system configuration. They not only considered the materials flow during transportation and sortation, but also looked at how the combination of their systems could provide more comprehensive solutions to Varner’s logistical and market-specific challenges.

A detailed comparison between the proposed layout of the sorter-based solution against a conventional system using roller-lanes confirmed that the sorter-based system provided Varner with a strong business case. The advantages included enhanced flexibility to respond to rapid changes in item profiles and to vary system capacity to reflect seasonal changes in demand as well as the predicted growth in e-commerce.

The sortation system is based on a BEUMER Group LS-4000CB high-speed, cross-belt sorter which achieves the industry’s lowest power consumption in addition to ultra-low maintenance costs.

Anders Eriksson, Varner’s logistics manager, explains: “We chose a flexible sorting solution with a high degree of automation which can be scaled according to our operational needs. This, combined with the state-of-the-art Swisslog conveyors and on-site e-commerce, creates a platform for expansion and ensures that our stores get goods delivered swiftly and in perfect condition.”

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The sorter has the flexibility to accept pallet-loaded cartons as well as loose-loaded in containers and route any carton to different areas within the DC. To ensure accurate sorting, each carton has an internal Warehouse Management System (WMS) label automatically applied to it before it reaches the automated inductions to the sorter.

The single high-speed LS-4000CB sorter is the backbone of the system, giving Varner the flexibility to link all of their core operational processes and to sort to multiple flow routes at the same time. For example:

Inbound to palletising: Loose-loaded cartons, arriving in containers, are sorted for batch-building via the Order Release Module (ORM) system. The SKUs are buffered and "cleaned" in individual lanes. The ORM empties a single lane of cartons for packing onto pallets which are then taken to the high-bay pallet storage.

Inbound to mini-load AS/RS: Excess cartons from any of the processes are routed to the mini-load Automated Storage and Retrieval System (AS/RS) for replenishment stock.

De-palletised boxes to shipping: Cartons arriving on pallets from the AS/RS pallet storage are de-palletised and inducted onto the sorter for routing to the shipping chutes according to their destination.

AutoStore items to shipping: Cartons which are scheduled for next-day batch building go directly to the AutoStore.

Mini-load AS/RS to shipping: Mini-load cranes deliver to assembly lines that feed directly onto the sortation system.

System availability for the sorting system is maintained at 98% or higher, even in the event of a disabled cart, belt or induction unit. This allows the distribution centre to continue to operate at almost full speed.

The DC system is controlled using SCADA provided by Swisslog, which combines precise control of individual machines, with system-wide visibility of work flows. This allows the operators to continually optimise the process using an easy colour-coded graphical overview of the system. The control system also provides automatically generated maintenance reports with seamless integration with the spares inventory.

The system-wide approach to warehousing and distribution, used by Beumer Group and Swisslog, creates a total solution which helps to increase efficiency in areas which are not usually directly linked to the sorter. For Varner, this provides a highly flexible and responsive system to support its immediate strategic plans and add the flexibility to respond to future needs.