It’s a sweet solution for Belgium Chocolate

Due to high growth in consumer demand, Chocolate World's manufacturing and warehousing capacities were pushed to the limit and so they made the decision to relocate to a new location to keep up with customer requirements. In the old warehouse, the moulds for dispatch were picked from boxes or as individual items from shelves, which led to walking long distances for picking and physical exertion, since the boxes weighed up to 45 kilograms. 

The poor use of space meant the warehouse was at maximum capacity. In addition, order picking was a slow and often inaccurate process, which made it difficult to deliver orders on the same day. The efficiency of their existing ERP system also left much to be desired, since the information about stock levels was inaccurate. Productivity and capacity needed to be optimised in the new warehouse.

Greater productivity and optimisation of space was the focus and the new warehouse although had less floor space, it was significantly taller than their old building. This enabled Chocolate World to utilise the facilities height and so they installed two Kardex Remstar LR 35 Vertical Buffer Modules which were adapted to the facility’s height, enabling maximum utilisation and delivering highly compact storage. At the same time, the new storage systems ensured very accurate and fast delivery of the moulds, so orders received by 3 pm are now dispatched the same day. Hans Bruyndonx, buyer at Chocolate World, is delighted with the new solution: "We were looking for a system where we could store our 1,500 items in boxes and precisely pick 300 order lines per day. The two LR 35 Vertical Buffer Modules handle up to 500 orders and store 2,736 customised boxes. Our expectations were truly exceeded!" Behind the scenes, the warehouse management system Power Pick Global has guaranteed a smooth processes together with a precise stock overview so employees always know exactly which moulds are available and at which storage locations. LR35 solution did not require intensive training and meant less staff was required, so Chocolate World has increased productivity with the same number of employees. 

Today, Chocolate World stocks approximately 1,500 moulds as well as components for the manufacture of custom designs. To make Chocolate World fit for the future, manufacturing and warehousing was relocated to a modern location and for efficient order picking, the company relies on the LR 35 Vertical Buffer Module from Kardex Remstar.