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Boohoo Elevates its Game With Retrofit Warehouse

16.04.2024

When it comes to the fashion & ecommerce industries, time is of the essence. Styles change frequently as customer demands and preferences evolve. A company that lives this reality every day is Boohoo, a UK-based online fashion group with 13 diverse global brands in its impressive portfolio, including Pretty Little Thing, Karen Millen and Debenhams.

As with many e-retailers, the company’s fashion-conscious customer base has high order fulfilment expectations — later cut off time and faster delivery are key. In response to its growing portfolio and increasing supply chain pressures, Boohoo embarked on an initiative to retrofit their distribution center in Sheffield with state-of-the-art automation for intake, order processing and shipping.

Mike Kosciukiewicz, Head of Supply Chain Development for Boohoo, joined the company in 2020 when the retailer had only two UK warehouses — in Burnley and Sheffield. His objectives included developing and implementing a supply chain network strategy to deliver capacity and efficiency to support business growth and profitability. »It was clear from the rapid growth trajectory of Pretty Little Thing that the manual operation in Sheffield did not have the capacity required,« Kosciukiewicz said.

The Retrofit Project Defined

Prior to the retrofit project, the warehouse operated manually with products stored in free-standing racking, leaving substantial unused space overhead. The vast facility relied on trolleys to be manually pushed between stock locations to pick customer orders and deliver them to workstations for packing and shipping. »If you continue with a manual operation whilst experiencing a rapid growth in sales, you reach a capacity ceiling that may limit sales growth,« Kosciukiewicz said. »Therefore, you must automate to increase capacity and improve efficiency to get more out of the existing building.«

Goals of the new Material Flow System

A primary goal of Boohoo’s warehouse retrofit project was to increase capacity from both a stockholding and throughput perspective to meet growth objectives. The automated solution is able to move cartons and totes on conveyor systems and by using the automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS) operators remain at their workstations generating greater efficiencies and productivity in the total operation.

Also, the peak trading seasons for Boohoo such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday see volumes spiking significantly. A material flow system that delivered process efficiencies during those high and low peak periods was essential, as is an effective returns handling process that could simultaneously accommodate returned product while meeting customer demand for ongoing new orders.

WAMAS — The Brain of Boohoo Material Flow System

The necessary intelligence to distribute an assortment of thousands of products with hundreds of new styles per day quickly and error-free is made possible by this innovative logistics software. The WAMAS WMS is essentially the brain that controls the muscle movements of each separate piece of mechanical equipment. The WMS knows why the bins, cartons and items are moving throughout the system, and why the pouches are needed at each workstation. SSI Schaefer implemented WAMAS with a unique Phase Zero approach. Part of the WMS was implemented before integrating any of the mechanical solutions. Primarily a risk mitigation approach, Phase Zero accommodated the short timeline for testing the system before peak season began for Boohoo.

Multi-Tier Mezzanine and SSI Cuby Shuttle System

Within the Boohoo distribution center, the reserve storage mezzanine can handle c. 2,000 cartons per hour throughput, while the SSI Cuby includes 37 aisles, 1,073 shuttles, 566,544 storage locations. The storage shuttles are feeding pouch loading stations with the overall system designed to deliver up to 40,000 items per hour throughput capacity.

Dynamic Buffer

The dynamic buffer enables Boohoo to have the right stock in the right place at the right time. It plays a critical role in inventory management and responding to customer demand. Essentially, the buffer is a run of pouches with an item in each pouch. The dynamic buffer contains up to 150,000 items and can process 40,000 units per hour for order fulfilment. The advantage this provides Boohoo lies in the separation of picking and packing. Items can be pre-picked for orders based on a bespoke algorithm that predicts future sales. This makes picking more efficient, whilst maintaining a pool of available stock ready to fulfil customer orders.

Pouch Sortation

Linked to the dynamic buffer is the pouch sorter system itself. Boohoo pushed for and implemented a unique pick to pouch operation. Empty pouches are supplied directly to pick stations, with one item placed per pouch. These items then head to either the dynamic buffer or directly to packing. Sortation and transportation happen simultaneously, reducing transit time and manual handling. This means items can be picked anywhere, at any time and still reach pack stations in the correct sequence at the right time.

Resident Maintenance

SSI Schaefer software and equipment are the best-in-class, but technical issues can still occur with a system that is processing 40,000 items per hour. Regular maintenance and inspection are carried out, to keep the system in optimum condition. With systems this large, SSI Schaefer’s resident team of on-site technicians ensures that everything runs smoothly.

The team deployed at Boohoo Sheffield is one of the largest in Europe, consisting of 45+ highly skilled technical staff. The professional team are thoroughly familiar with the site and the material flow processes. Identifying bottlenecks, addressing system faults, and conducting regular inspections are all under the responsibility of this critical team. Through risk mitigation techniques, data led focus and utilization of modern planning software, potential issues are identified early and handled with minimal disruption to warehouse operations. One of the main benefits Boohoo leverages through the resident maintenance team is the preventive maintenance of all the system components; working with the operational demands to ensure that goals are met, and the equipment is maintained.

Competitive Advantage

There are multiple benefits of the new system that will give Boohoo a competitive advantage over others. Aside from the increase in both stockholding and throughput capacities there has also been a step change in operational efficiencies thanks to the goods to person and pouch sortation technologies. There have also been major improvements in service, accuracy, colleague attrition and health & safety. All of these have made this investment a game changer for Boohoo. With the growth the company was achieving, the retrofit project was a necessity for continuing Boohoo’s trajectory well into the future. And that future looks extremely bright for Boohoo and its brands.

»The project has been a huge success and we are delighted with the results. The total investment was £125m with a predicted payback of between 4-5yrs based on improved productivity and a variety of efficiency savings.  The capacity of the site has also increased with stockholding and throughput doubling.  This investment is part of the wider supply chain strategy to build capacity for the business and support long term profitability,« says Mike Kosciukiewicz.