BY DAVID MALONEY, CHIEF EDITOR, AND TOBY GOOLEY, SENIOR EDITOR
AS/RS Material Handling
WHAT DO KALE JUICE AND UNDERGARMENTS HAVE IN COMMON? FOR
starters, they’re both part of the eclectic product mix at FANCL, a well-known
Japanese consumer products company.
Founded in 1981, FANCL began its corporate life manufacturing and distributing
natural additive-free skincare products and cosmetics by mail order. Gradually,
more items were added to the mix, including health supplements, brown rice, the
kale juice, green tea powder and other products with high nutritional value, and, of
course, the undergarments. The company has also expanded its sales channels to
include its own retail shops as well as convenience stores throughout Japan.
As FANCL expanded its product offerings, it also added distribution centers
near its manufacturing plants to handle the new lines. But over time, the company
became increasingly dissatisfied with the setup. Basically, it was finding that having
multiple DCs with varying product mixes complicated the distribution process.
“As our product range and sales channels increased, we had to open other centers.
We used to have eight distribution sites,” explains Yoshiyuki Nakazawa, distribu-
As sales skyrocketed,
a Japanese specialty
skincare and nutrition
company needed a
better method for
processing 4 million
shipments a month.
The natural solution:
automated systems.
A natural fit
