Next day delivery with 99,95% accuracy for Staples Advantage
Staples Advantage sells a wide range of office supplies in 27 countries on 5 continents. The company works via sales offices and a comprehensive online shop. In July 2008 Staples Advantage was born after Corporate Express joined forces with Staples. Staples Advantage is the world's largest office supply company.
The company is expecting significant volume growth over the next few years. The product range is also expanding rapidly. The proportion of products requiring special handling / value added services is rising. Customers require later cut-off times for placing their orders. Delivering a very high customer service level is key for Staples' success. The company decided to replace 3 existing warehouses in Germany by a single central warehouse near Mainz. The new facility had to meet stiff requirements.
- Process up to 60,000 order lines per day
- Orders received by 18:00 hours have to be delivered the next day
- Picking accuracy has to exceed 99.95% to ensure customers receive the correct order
- Ambitious sustainability targets, such as reduction of CO2 emissions
Staples' integrated order picking system includes order picking of items as well as full cases. Items are picked via a batch picking system with order carts supported by Pick-by-Voice technology. Fast movers in full cartons are picked on pick-to-belt lines. Last step in the warehouse process is order consolidation and shipping sortation with a POSISORTER sliding shoe sorter.
The system has been designed to allow future expansion (such as a third pick-to-belt zone on the third floor, 2 additional carton closing lines). Staples selected Vanderlande because it developed the best concept for the company's requirements, because of the excellent cooperation within the project team and its experience in automated sortation systems.
Vanderlande also implemented a sortation system for Staples in the UK.
