French fashion retailer selects Savoye

This article is brought to you by Retail Technology Review: French fashion retailer selects Savoye.

Savoye, one of the worlds leading automated warehouse solution providers, has been chosen by the French childrens fashion retailer, dgroup, to supply an automated platform at the French retailers distribution site at Leers, northern France.

The new 15,000 m2 facility will open in 2010 and will dispatch products to the 630 Okadi and Obabi stores across the world as well as servicing the groups online ordering capacity. Savoye will provide a complete warehouse solution, which includes sorting, order fulfilment and packaging functions, as well as IT management of the automated part of the warehouse.

This will be dgroup first fully automated platform solution, explains Alain Bussod, Savoyes commercial solutions director. Until now, order fulfilment has been carried out manually, with grouped collections using trolleys and a warehouse control system (WMS). For several years now, the company has been interested in automation is now opting for our solution. 

Savoye has created a bespoke solution and customised automation programmes for dgroups logistics processes. With the exception of the storage area, which will remain manual, Savoye will be installing complete automated solutions throughout the entire warehouse. This will take place in two stages, with the initial phase planned to go live in January 2010. In 2011, a second sorting system will be added.

The machines have been customised completely to the clients exact specifications to ensure user-friendliness and easy adaptation to the dgroup working environment. Further product development is already taking place around the picking stations to offer greater efficiencies for the future, added Bussod.  

A pick-to-light system, which uses a light indicator that informs the operator which item to pick for the order, will also be installed in a zone dedicated to order fulfilment, to make the operators task easier and quicker. All of the automated solutions will be controlled by Savoyes warehouse control system and interfaced to operate with the WMS used by dgroup internally.

The plan is to have the facilitys two sorting solutions fully operational by 2012. Ultimately, over 14,000 active product references will be stored at Leers. On average, 12,000 boxes will be prepared daily and almost 500,000 items distributed.

As the group continues to grow through the development of the Obabi and Okadi brands, there is an option to commission a second building fitted with an identical installation near to the current facility at Leers.

The new contract, worth over four million euros, further strengthens Savoyes presence in the textile industry, a sector in which it is already well-established, with numerous installations throughout the world. These include, Chantelle, Petit Bateau, Aubade, Columbia Sportswear, Sportmaster, Jennyfer and Xanaka.