DC Velocity - Tipsheet 2013

Tailored for
PERFORMANCE

Apparel maker Desigual’s new automated picking and
sorting solution may use standard components found in
other systems. But there’s nothing ordinary about it.

Sometimes, the line between picking and sorting gets blurred. For instance, take a system where sorters divide batches of products into individual orders, and in doing so, perform the order selection duties commonly done by pickers.

If that sounds like some kind of futuristic technology, it’s not. Desigual, an apparel company founded in Barcelona, Spain, in 1984, has such a system. The automated setup is designed specifically to meet the demands of high stock-keeping unit (SKU) turnover and changing distribution cycles.

The name Desigual means “unique or “unequaled” in Spanish. The company, whose colorful, fresh designs set fashion trends worldwide, ships some 22 million pieces of clothing annually from its distribution center in Barcelona. The items go out to more than 10,000 customer locations in 114 countries, including the company’s own branded stores, Desigual sections in department stores (stores within stores), and a wholesale channel. The facility also serves several thousand e-commerce customers daily. In the United States, Desigual has its own stores in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami, and Minneapolis. Desigual fashions are also sold in many larger Macy’s stores.

Distributing a multichannel mix from a single facility can be a challenge. The company produces two collections each year—spring/summer and autumn/winter—each with up to 1,000 different designs, including clothing, shoes, and accessories.

For each new collection, the Barcelona facility performs

two completely different types of distribution. When a new collection is ready, large shipments are sent to all outlets within a few weeks so that the collection can be introduced worldwide at about the same time. These first shipments of the collection, called “initials,” represent very high volumes and are processed within a tight delivery window.

Once the collection begins to sell, the facility shifts gears and sends out “repeats” to restock products on store shelves. The repeat orders, which are a fraction of the size of the initials, are shipped more frequently to ensure stores are kept stocked.

Distributing orders as dissimilar as the initials and the repeats requires material handling systems that are extremely flexible. The systems also have to be able to track the entire inventory with precision and know how it is to be allocated to orders.

After experiencing growth of about 40 percent annually, Desigual’s managers realized several years ago that the company’s manual distribution processes wouldn’t be able to keep up with demand much longer. In 2010, the company worked with SSI Schaefer to design a highly automated system that could handle the diverse distribution tasks required by Desigual’s seasonal collections. The design took into account the fluctuating volumes, the high SKU count, and the need to balance workload.