Desigual: Integration of RackBot System Increases Turnover Performance

High flexibility required

With short item life cycles, high seasonal peaks, e-commerce and omnichannel, countless manual processes and high return rates, the fashion industry is a very exceptional market. Long-term planning is hardly possible, as seasonal factors, current trends or even regional parameters can have an unpredictable impact on customer behavior. For manufacturers and retailers alike, this means: Only those who move quickly and flexibly in the market will survive the competition.

This also applies to global players like the Spanish fashion company Desigual. Founded in Barcelona, Spain, in 1984, the fashion brand (clothing for women and men, bags, accessories) has been holding its own in this highly volatile environment for four decades now. SSI SCHAEFER has been a partner for intralogistics for 16 years: A continuity that proves the importance of mutual trust and partnerships based on a promise of quality.

Implementation of a fully Automated RackBot Solution

The SSI SCHAEFER team planned a flexible and easily scalable RackBot solution in order to be able to develop the necessary dynamics in view of the compact space situation. Together with the customer, the decision was made to use the previously partially used third floor of the warehouse building to integrate the new units. Despite its low height of 5.30 m, this floor offered sufficient space to store the planned number of cartons while making optimum use of existing capacities. Furthermore, the system was to be installed and integrated during ongoing operation.

25 fully automated RackBots from the family of SSI Mobile Robots should not only guarantee the targeted maximum turnover of 30,000 units per day in two-shift operation, but also permanently stable transport and picking performance. The RackBots are autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) that can transport up to 8 cartons simultaneously as mobile, non-aisle-bound storage-retrieval machines. A RackBot Port, which can also transport eight cartons simultaneously, handles the transfer to the picking area. In addition to setting up the rack units and a total of four picking stations (each with two put walls), the planning and implementation of an efficient conveying system was an integral part of the delivery. In this way, the ready-picked cartons could be transported to the lower floors.

RackBot solutions offer increased flexibility with regard to future expansions or possible changes to the business model. They offer Desigual the option to install additional rack lines and thus expand capacity. At the same time, a service intervention with one or more RackBots does not lead to downtime for the entire system. The remaining AMRs continue to ensure constant operation. Thanks to full roaming, each robot is able to approach any storage location and work station.

“This saves us a lot of time and money!”

The software connection of the newly implemented storage units to the entire existing WAMAS system was also crucial to the success of the integration. By optimizing the individual picking and transport processes down to the last detail, it was possible to ensure that the high turnover dynamics – which are expected to increase further due to the gradual shift from B2C to B2B business – were guaranteed. It took the SSI SCHAEFER project team just seven months, from the beginning of April to the end of October 2024, to plan and implement the new warehouse solution.

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