Our customer
Still under the name Trendcom GmbH, Frank Hammermeister opened his own logistics centre in 2009, switching to fulfillment for e-commerce companies after many years of providing exclusively intralogistics consulting. In 2017, the company was renamed Versandmanufaktur GmbH. Versandmanufaktur offers a range of services including picking, packaging, storage and shipping, returns management, as well as order management. The company are located in a 5,500 square warehouse in Witten, Germany. The company moved into a 5,500 sqm warehouse in Witten, Germany, using the existing storage and handling equipment. Meanwhile, the company has a workforce of 120 employees.
Initial situation and customer requirements
- The company stores, packs and dispatches over 70,000 products for its e-commerce customers in the fields of fashion, food, interior design and cosmetics.
- Depending on the time of year, between 2,000 and 6,000 orders are processed every day. The service provider sends finished products to end customers, packs orders and assembles products individually according to customer requirements.
- E-commerce business is growing strongly, 50% to 60% a year, and 50% of sales are achieved in the 4th quarter.
- Significant fluctuation makes for difficult planning.
- The customer needed a solution that would reduce picking travel time and enable a quick response to changes.
- In order to reduce error rates and further optimise processes, the focus fell on automating material flow. Previously, products were placed one by one in a KLT bin subdivided by hanging files; staff would move the bins on carts.
The BITO Solution
Automated Guided Vehicles (AGV) with stations
» The system of LEO Locative transporters and stations works without the need for IT or a wireless network. The system is controlled and guided by an optical track and instruction markers glued to the floor.
Plug & Play
» LEO self-installs and is immediately ready for use. The system of transporters and stations can be easily installed and used straight away. The optical track can be easily re-directed and different markers added.
Decentralised route monitoring
» LEO Locative transports loads from the departure point to any destination selected on a tablet. The target information is transmitted to a smart box on the LEO station using Bluetooth technology.
On-site application
- Five LEO Locative transporters travel through the warehouse to pick up the goods from six stations and transport the goods to the assembly or despatch stations.
- Six destinations can be controlled with a tablet, while stops along the route and destinations are determined by appropriate markers on the ground.
- Currently, LEO Locative usage is 80% for shipping and 20% for goods storage, with plans to further increase the use for storage.
- The packaging and assembly of their products is particularly complex and the LEO transporters smooth out the flow of material involved in the processes.
Customer benefits
- Reduced walking time for employees through a more ergonomically laid out workplace
- Automated flow of material
- Flexible, adaptable and scalable solution
- Simplified material flows, productivity is maintained despite a fluctuating business environment.
- No need for high IT investment, as an inexpensive tablet is all that is required for target control.
What our customers say
“As a service partner in the field of fulfillment for online trading, we are operating in a very dynamic market with high growth rates in which we are growing at an above average rate. It is important for our customers that we can react very flexibly with their products. True to our motto "Better to build tents than castles", we cannot and do not want to automate warehouse technology, but we do automate in the area of material flow. The LEO Locative system convinced us here because it offers the necessary flexibility and scalability that are important for us and our customers. A simple plug-and-play application in the truest sense of the word, which saves us many kilometres of walking or driving and enables a high level of profitability to be achieved with an amortization rate of well under half a year.”
Frank HammermeisterManaging Director
