Publikat

2024/02/16

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Our customer

Originally a start-up company in the field of publishing and selling graffiti supplies and books online, Publikat Verlags- und Handels GmbH based in Großostheim has grown into Germany's second largest Adidas online retailer. Apart from graffiti supplies, sneakers and fashion articles (this area is by far the strongest in terms of sales), the company is an online distributor of outdoor clothing and accessories of various well-known brands. Hundreds of thousands of customers from Germany, France and the Netherlands, as well as throughout Europe and the world, are now being supplied directly from Publikat online shops.

Initial situation and customer requirements

The steady, rapid growth of the eCommerce company required a multiple of the existing storage capacity. The storage capacity at the former location was exhausted beyond measure which is why Publikat moved to new storage rooms.
The online retailer supplies a diverse and wide range of sneakers, fashion and outdoor needs to their mainly young customers. The storage rooms had to be furnished to suit the purpose.
The eCommerce company was looking for a sturdy system that can handle the required storage capacity.
The new warehouse equipment must above all offer the online mail order company the greatest possible degree of flexibility in order to respond quickly and with little effort to the expected, steady growth.
Orders must be delivered promptly, which is why permanent product availability had to be guaranteed. There are about 100,000 different items in stock. Every day – depending on the season – between 3,000 and 5,000 orders are to be shipped.
Very tight time frame: The first hall had to be set up before the start of the Christmas business. From awarding the contract to moving in, less than three months were left.
The installation of the second hall was to take place on the fly, without disrupting and restricting operations.
Future expansion had to be taken into account which is why Publikat has demanded that reorganisation and furnishing measures must be able to be implemented quickly and in a short space of time without affecting operating processes.

Some impressions of our customer solution

Project brief

The BITO Solution

» Two 3-tier BITO facilities were installed at the new Publikat location.

» The multi-tier facilities each consist of two blocks connected by a central corridor 2.5 m wide.

» The centre aisle is the main traffic artery of the facility. It is the busiest area for incoming and outgoing goods. The aisles are wide enough to allow two hand pallet trucks to easily pass each other.

» The design is based on sturdy BITO pallet racking components to guarantee utmost stability and rigidity.

»The online retailer stores merchandise in BITO shelving units of different depths – 300 mm deep shelf levels to store two shoe boxes behind each other and 600 mm deep shelf levels to store two cartons containing clothing.

On-site application and key features of our storage solution

At Publikat, goods are generally received in three zones, in which the items are stored according to type and priority. There is one storage area for textiles, one for shoes and one for palletised goods. Textiles and shoes are stored in BITO shelving.
Each storage zone is designed with sufficient flexibility and space to ensure that the e-commerce staff can respond as quickly and easily as possible to customer requests. Moreover, it is possible to cope with a growing variety of items and an increasing order volume.
In the halls without a multi-tier layout, products are stored in single-tier shelving or on pallets and picked from there.
Orders are picked from Monday to Saturday in a single-shift operation. Orders are picked paperless and PDA-supported on all levels of the storage installation.
All three tiers of the system are equipped with shelving, each tier has seven shelf levels.
Each shelf level can be serviced from both sides.
The walkways between the racking rows provide sufficient space for the ergonomic handling of cartons and goods and employees have enough room to move.
Best selling items are picked directly from the pallet to keep picking paths short.

Customer benefits

In what way has the BITO solution helped our customer to realise their full potential?

The existing hall height allowed to build a three-tier storage installation. The volume of the existing and the new logistics building can now be fully utilised.
This increases storage capacities, and at the same time, it is possible to react quickly and flexibly to current and expected future growth in order volumes.
The e-commerce company gains a total of more than 6,000 square meters of storage space on the same footprint.
Manually serviced equipment such as shelving offers the highest level of flexibility, enabling the online retailer to easily respond to permanent seasonal fluctuations, peak periods, an increasing variety of items and general order growth.
BITO Boltless shelving can be easily modified and rebuilt as required, and shelf levels can be re-positioned at any time, allowing to react quickly to new requirements.
Shelves without sharp corners and edges offer protection for damage-prone goods such as clothing.
Adherence to a tight schedule: Short coordination channels in close cooperation with the team from Publikat, the BITO project team in Meisenheim and the on-site assembly teams made it possible to quickly start manufacturing all components of the multi-tier system and set up the racking installation on site.

What our customers say

„The system was planned in close co-operation with the BITO team right from the start. They listened to our ideas and suggestions, supported them and realised the best solution for us. All requirements were met without any problems. We were aware that the time frame given to BITO was very tight and that project implementation was more than challenging. We are pleased that furnishing the warehouses at our new location has been carried out as quickly and goal-oriented as our previous projects. Everything was perfect and went really well.“

Florian HerrOperations Manager at Publikat

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Products used

These systems are in place

Solutions for unit loads

BITO Boltless shelving

BITO Boltless shelving is easy to assemble, customisable and versatile. It is ideal for storing individual items and unit loads that can be handled manually. Boltless shelving is available with different load capacities and can be used for archiving, for supplying goods at assembly stations and in production environments, or as a supporting structure for mezzanine floors.

Solutions for unit loads

BITO multi-tier shelving installations

Multi-tier shelving systems maximise space utilisation by up to 100% by making optimum use of the warehouse height. Integrating boltless shelving provides direct access to all items on stock. Even large and growing product ranges can be handled.