Multi-channel solution

Celio is the number one men's fashion brand in France, with over 1000 shops, half of which are abroad and spread across 60 nations. In addition, through its eCommerce sales, Celio markets its clothing directly to consumers in 15 European countries.

Selling some 35 million garments each year, Celio recently decided to merge its three warehouses into a new and highly automated DC north of Paris. With the objectives of enhancing performance, supporting continued growth of the sales network and reducing handling costs, the new DC – both the building and its automated intralogistics – was realised in just nine months.

The new 30,000m² DC takes care of the handling of both flat-packed and hanging garments for Celio’s three sales networks – store deliveries in France, store deliveries abroad and online mail order deliveries. As well as efficiency and delivery quality, an improvement in working conditions for staff was a key demand, with a major focus placed on the ergonomic design of the workstations.



End-to-end solution
The KNAPP solution for Celio is end-to-end, combining the technology of KNAPP in the handling of flat-packed goods with the overhead conveying systems of Dürkopp Fördertechnik, a KNAPP group company. At the heart of the solution are the OSR Shuttle and the Split Tray Sorter systems, which combine to allow the DC to adapt flexibly to the changing order structure.

The OSR Shuttle system has two storage modules and 20 levels to accommodate 22,400 containers, each with a load capacity of 35kg. This automated store feeds eight Pick-it-Easy workstations at which Pick-to-Light displays and touch screens facilitate ergonomic and error-free picking. Here, staff prepare goods for transfer to the Split Tray Sorter, which functions as the main artery of the system, automatically dropping goods with absolute precision through a flap to a carton at one of 680 target positions below. The sorter features two-part trays, allowing two items to be placed on each tray and, if necessary, deposited separately.

High sorting capacity

KNAPP’s KiSoft Warehouse Control System (WCS) software ensures that articles are distributed evenly among the eight infeed points to achieve maximum performance for the sorter, which has a capacity of 15,000 items per hour. A fill-level monitoring function means that once a carton has reached the maximum fill level, a lamp illuminates and a member of staff pushes the full carton onto the take-away conveyor for transfer to the dispatch preparation area. Cartons are automatically closed, sealed, labelled and – for extra stability – shrink-wrapped, before being assigned to individual dispatch ramps depending on the sales channel. The Split Tray Sorter allows all orders – regardless of order structure or sales channel (store, export or eCommerce) – to be processed efficiently by a single system. A separate 6000m² area processes hanging garments using modular trolley technology from Dürkopp Fördertechnik to handle more than 50,000 items per hour. The hanging goods are picked manually on several levels of the warehouse.

Total control

KNAPP provided a comprehensive, tailor-made software package from its KiSoft series to optimise material flows in conjunction with Celio’s host system. As well as the KiSoft WCS, KNAPP supplied KiSoft SRC to control and manage the OSR Shuttle and KiSoft i-Point to provide the visualisation for the OSR Shuttle system. The result is simple stock management and statistics, comprehensive visualization and a clear display of error situations. 

The benefits

KNAPP’s solution has provided Celio with more flexibility in terms of volume variations, a reduction in handling costs per item and improved delivery quality – with an error rate of just 3 in 1000 items. 

Celio supply chain director Wilfrid Leriche concludes: "KNAPP understood our requirements perfectly and proposed a solution that was productive, high-quality, innovative and so flexible that we will have it for a long time.”