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uperdry is an iconic, global fashion brand operating through 768 store locations in 65 countries. Since its foundation in Cheltenham in 1985,
the business has experienced phenomenal growth and in 2019 reported revenue of £871 million – a success story built on a reputation for providing distinctive, high- quality products that fuse vintage Americana and Japanese inspired graphics with a British style. As an omni-channel retailer competing in
the fast-moving fashion sector, maintaining high product availability, efficient fulfilment and the rapid processing of returns is essential for ensuring the best possible customer experience across multiple channels – retail, wholesale and ecommerce. Critically, all of these competitive differentiators depend upon the fast, accurate and efficient picking of products from across Superdry’s extensive range of over 60,000 SKUs, held at the company’s three regional distribution centres in the UK, Europe and USA. However, keeping pace with demand
during peak periods can place a heavy burden on manual picking processes, especially when labour resources are tight – a challenge many businesses in retail face. To support future growth, Superdry’s multi-channel distribution operations are being radically transformed through automation in order to boost capacity and productivity across its order picking processes, globally. In a significant departure from the
company’s traditional approach to warehousing, where mainly manual processes have been used, Superdry has
28 June 2020 | Automation
Fast fashion... faster robotics
In the first application for Hikrobot in the UK, global fashion brand Superdry is leveraging the flexibility of intelligent mini-robot carriers to transform order picking and put-away at its UK hub – just part of a phased roll-out of goods-to-person robotics that will boost productivity across its international network of multi-channel fulfilment centres.
launched a major initiative to roll-out intelligent goods-to-person robotic systems across its international network of regional distribution centres. The robots work in unison with manual pickers, automatically selecting and lifting modular pick-walls and transporting them to pick-to-light stations where a predetermined pick-face is presented to the operative. Under the guidance of pick-to-light technology, items are manually selected scanned and placed for maximum speed and accuracy. Walk- time is eliminated, giving a design capability to offer up to 600 picks per hour, with 99.9 per cent accuracy. A successful pilot project for handling
ecommerce returns was conducted in 2018, involving six autonomous Hikrobot carriers at the company’s UK distribution centre in Burton-upon-Trent – a site operated by its logistics service provider, Clipper Logistics. The robots were trialled
under the most testing conditions, beneath an 8,000 sq ft mezzanine area of the warehouse to see how they performed. Following the success of the project, Superdry went on in January 2020 to deploy a further fleet of 20 Hikrobot carriers to handle continental ecommerce returns at its European DC in Belgium run by Bleckmann Logistics. In the UK, Superdry’s ecommerce returns
rate is around 25 per cent, however, in Germany and other EU member states, that figure is far higher. Across Europe, including the UK, Superdry has 245 owned stores, 497 franchised and licensed stores, and 26 concessions. Significant benefits have been realised
through the introduction of robots. At the Burton-upon-Trent facility put-away of returns have dramatically risen from under 100 units per hour to rates of 300 – 350 per hour. Some 99 per cent of returns can now
automationmagazine.co.uk
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