Actualités

Annual savings in payroll of NOK 1.5 million within administration and the warehouse

03.03.2009

Before Stormberg installed Effect Warehouse three years ago, all orders were processed by hand, using pen and paper.

"With the WMS system, Effect Warehouse from Consafe Logistics, we’ve managed to cut back on staff by 2-3 persons in administration and the warehouse. This cut represents up to NOK 1.5 million in annual payroll costs," confirms Managing Director of Logistics, Jens Christian Iglebæk at sportswear manufacturer Stormberg in Kristiansand.

"If we hadn’t chosen a new warehouse system, our logistics would have been a nightmare. At peak, we process 450 orders per day. You can image how time-consuming it is to write out 450 picking notes and then enter them manually into our ERP system, Microsoft Navision. Our warehouse management is now much more efficient with the use of PDAs and barcodes," explains Iglebæk. He is responsible for 22 employees at Stormberg, working with logistics and IT.

Entrepreneur

Stormberg was founded 10 years ago by entrepreneur Steinar J. Olsen and four employees. In 1998, sales totalled NOK 3.8 million. A decade later, this figure has increased to an impressive NOK 153 million. "Our sales budget for this year totals 1.5 million articles of sportswear to more than 600 retailers of sportswear and children’s clothing throughout the country. Our annual rate of growth has been around 30-40%. This makes us the absolutely largest manufacturer of sportswear in Norway. We’re extremely pleased with how the company has developed," says Iglebæk. "We offer good, quality outdoor clothing at reasonable prices for regular users. Our long-term goal is to become a supplier of the full range of equipment for outdoor pursuits."

Stormberg has its own retail outlets in Oslo and Trondheim, and a factory outlet in Kristiansand. The company plans to set up two new retail stores in Norway.

Tough competition

"Competition in the market for leisure and sportswear is really tough, and we are working hard to improve brand knowledge for Stormberg. This work is now starting to bear fruit," states Iglebæk. "Four years ago, our brand recognition was only 57%. Today, this figure has now increased to 80%. Our sportswear has a new, modern design which has been popular on the market. The reason behind our market success is a combination of correct timing, skilled workers and some good, old-fashioned luck. We have chosen somewhat unorthodox methods for marketing our products. But at the same time, we’ve chosen the very best logistic system."

Efficient workflow

StrombergEffect Warehouse is a standard system which increases the efficiency of warehouse operations. "We scan all the goods which are placed in the warehouse or taken out again. This means that we know exactly where all the goods are in the warehouse,” says Iglebæk. "Manual processing of order sheets takes a lot of time. We can also use the drag and drop functionality to rank orders according to high or low priority. Before, we had to work our way through hundreds of order sheets manually to find the right one. We have now doubled our turnover from NOK 70 million to NOK 153 million, and saved close to 3 man-years with Effect Warehouse. Without the system, we would have severe problems with our warehouse logistics."

Iglebæk can also confirm that Consafe Logistics is constantly working on developments to their warehouse management system. "They are planning the launch of a new version next year, and we’ll be using it," he points out.

Few logistical problems

Stormberg’s sportswear is designed in Kristiansand and manufactured in China. The company’s customers are primarily Norwegian sports shops. "XXL Sport og Villmark are our largest customer. This spring, the chain of sports shops will open a new shop in Kristiansand. This gives them a total of 12 shops in Norway," explains Iglebæk. He adds that Stormberg starts to plan the autumn/winter and spring/summer collections at least 6 months before production start. "Production time is 3-6 months, depending on the type of product. We have very few problems with logistics. It takes four weeks to ship containers with sportswear from China to our warehouse in Kristiansand."

Targeting the Nordic market

Based on the impressive growth achieved in Norway over recent years, Stormberg is now setting its sights on the Nordic market. "We aim to launch our products on the Swedish market by 2012. But then we have to expand our product range to include shoes and backpacks," explains Iglebæk. He also adds that XXL Sport og Villmark will be setting up a sports shop in Sweden next year. "Our collection will be an important part of the product range in their new Swedish shop."

Building a new warehouse

The current warehouse, covering 3,000 m2, will soon be too small for Stormberg. The company is planning to move into a new warehouse measuring 10,000 m2 in the next two years.

"We need to increase our warehouse capacity to cater for new product groups. The new warehouse will be mainly based on the same principles as the old one. We are working hard to find the best warehouse locations, and are considering implementing Vocollect’s voice-based system, sold in Norway by Consafe Logistics."