Global fashion company deploying 1,400 robots in stunning new logistics center
Bestseller investing in advanced automation for new logistics center.
Danish fashion group Bestseller, which includes Jack & Jones and Vero Moda, is investing in automation that it states will “take fashion logistics to the next level” at its new logistics center in the Netherlands.
Located in Lelystad, 60 kilometers east of Amsterdam, the nearly 1.7 million square foot logistics center will feature cutting-edge technology “to enhance efficiency and create optimal working conditions,” including automated piece picking and palletizing, an automated pallet storage and handling system, and robots optimizing fulfilment in the robotic shuttle system.
Bestseller is planning to integrate cutting-edge technology, including more than 1,400 robots, for the new logistics center expected to be fully operational at the end of 2026.
When fully operational, the fashion group expects the center to complete more than 20,000 retrievals per hour, “a significantly higher capacity than the system at the company’s largest current center”.
The increased scale of automation technology set to be developed at the center will deliver "a high level of efficiency," added Bestseller, with the robots, powered by AI learning technology, supplementing the work done at manual picking stations. Bestseller notes that it expects to employ more than 600 colleagues at the center and that more than half will work “hand in hand” with robots. This automation will “significantly" ease physically demanding tasks, such as loading pallets, reducing the need for repetitive manual labor.
Robots will be used to automate tasks requiring physically demanding and manual labor. Also, robotics and digitalization make warehouse an interesting place to work, creating new job opportunities such as maintenance engineers, data analysts etc.
Automation of picking products in fashion has traditionally been more difficult than in other industries. These are difficult for robots to select and manipulate compared to harder items with flat surfaces. At LCW, picking robots powered by AI learning technology will supplement the work done at manual picking stations.
At the same time, the investment in automation technology will create new jobs requiring a highly skilled workforce. Types of jobs include maintenance technicians, data analysts, mechanical, electrical and software engineers, as well as process and continuous improvement specialists.
Allan Kyhe Kjærgaard, logistics director at Bestseller, said: we are aiming to develop one of the most highly automated logistics centers in the fashion industry and across Europe. Investing in this scale of technology will optimize the efficiency of the center and the process of distributing products to retail customers in our largest markets.
"The ambition for this logistics center is one-touch automation, where products are received, processed, and shipped using limited manual handling. The dynamic solutions result in increased efficiency and reduced risk of redundancy caused by single machine malfunction in storing and retrieving items.”
The innovative approaches that we are pursuing with our technology and our expertise as a value chain technology partner with this concept will offer Bestseller better advantages along their supply chain. The one-touch and low-complexity concept represents a further milestone in the development of logistics centers.”
BESTSELLER expects the centre to be operational at the end of 2026.
