The cosmetics chain KICKS is investing over 200 million in a new Nordic omnichannel warehouse. It has now been confirmed that the company has chosen Knapp’s automation solutions, which will increase capacity and productivity while the latest technology supports KICKS’ scalability through high flexibility.
“It can take less than ten minutes from the time an order is placed until it is packed and ready for delivery,” says Mikael Holmqvist, Managing Director at Knapp AB.
Kicks’ new omnichannel warehouse is being built along the E4 highway in Rosersberg, north of Stockholm, and the 29,000-square-meter facility will handle both store replenishment and e-commerce customer orders in Sweden, Norway, and Finland. This requires flexibility and a high picking capacity. Kicks has now chosen Knapp and its shuttle solution, OSR ShuttleTM EVO (Order Storage Retrieval), to automate the new warehouse.
– The centralization of a shared hub to supply both in-store and e-commerce orders, combined with Knapp’s automation solution, creates excellent conditions for significantly improved productivity and scalability, and enables fast deliveries in all our markets. “We currently have a strong and well-functioning omnichannel strategy in place, and with a consolidated and future-proof logistics platform, we will be well-equipped to further strengthen our market position,” says Freddy Sobin, CEO of KICKS.
Knapp's technical solution is based on moving products from the OSR ShuttleTM EVO to picking stations where warehouse staff are stationed. This eliminates the need for staff to manually retrieve and assemble products for shipment. The technology is called ”Goods-to-Person,” where the picking stations—Pick-it-Easy EVO—enable efficient picking from storage bins directly into outgoing shipping containers. Knapp’s OSR Shuttle™ enables flexible and fast retrieval of products because the shuttle robots that pick in the rack aisles only need to move a maximum of two bins to access the correct product in the warehouse.
– Compared to a warehouse that uses traditional manual picking, each person in this solution can be 4–5 times more productive, while KICKS ensures a very fast turnaround of customer orders. “For a company like Kicks, where fast deliveries are a key competitive advantage, this solution will be crucial for future growth,” says Mikael Holmqvist.
The entire warehouse is integrated with Knapp's various automation systems. During the order-picking process, software is also installed to prevent picking errors.
“The cost of correcting a picking error is often higher than the value of the ordered product. Our system issues a warning when an error is about to occur, which often results in significant cost savings for our customers,” says Holmqvist.
KICKS’ warehouse in Rosersberg is expected to be completed in early 2024, at which point it will be able to process over 2,000 orders per hour. In terms of storage, the solution includes more than 60,000 plastic bins that can be divided into six sections per bin, filled with a wide variety of products.
