3-way automation project involving CLARINS, SCALLOG & DIAGMA

Sep 01, 2023 Warehousing Ireland Case Study, Logistics, Materials Handling, News, Warehousing Comments Off on 3-way automation project involving CLARINS, SCALLOG & DIAGMA

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With the support of SCM experts DIAGMA, CLARINS has selected the Goods to Man SCALLOG solution to automate its BtoB and BtoC retail order picking at its logistics hub in Glisy (Somme, France). A robotic installation capable of absorbing the growth of its omnichannel and e-commerce flows!

CLARINS is number one in Europe for “high-end” skincare and a global player in the beauty industry. Its Glisy logistics hub spearheads its e-commerce and omnichannel strategy. Covering an area of 27,000 m2 on two levels and employing 120 people, it manages the replenishment of intermediate warehouses worldwide, as well as the preparation of orders for the majority of European customers, including Internet users. To cope with seasonal peaks in activity, from the festive season to the launch of new products in all distribution channels, CLARINS logistics hub relies on the expertise and project experience of DIAGMA to automate its retail order picking with the Goods To Man SCALLOG solution.

This 4,300 m2 automated warehouse, installed on mezzanine on the second floor, comprises 750 shelves transported by 71 robots to 12 picking stations. It houses all CLARINS products and has been operational since June 2023.

Selected in autumn 2021, DIAGMA, a firm renowned for its expertise in optimising complex logistics flows, supported CLARINS’ logistics hub. Following an in-depth study of the warehouse’s processes, volumes and spatial constraints, DIAGMA drew up the specifications, then analyzed the possible technological solutions from a functional point of view. The aim was to enable the logistics hub to make a well-informed and reasoned choice of an automation solution for its retail order-picking operations that met its constraints. The solution had to integrate the existing infrastructure – a two-storey warehouse with mechanization and space constraints – and be capable of meeting the objectives set, while ensuring continuity of service during deployment.

Cécile Mansuy, Director of Operations at CLARINS, comments: “Against a backdrop of major changes in our environment, we had to transform our retail preparation processes within 18 months. DIAGMA immediately demonstrated a strong knowledge of the market and its best practices, as well as a concrete and practical approach. Their support enabled us to get to the heart of the matter in each of the key stages of the preliminary project, right up to the selection of the equipment supplier”.

In June 2022, the SCALLOG “Goods to Man” solution made all the difference in CLARINS’ eyes, enabling it to accelerate its order-picking rates with total efficiency and agility, while improving working conditions for its operators.

DIAGMA assisted CLARINS’ logistics hub from the design of the automated warehouse to the deployment of the solution, including acceptance testing and operator training. The project was divided into several phases: design in October 2022, deployment in December 2022, two test phases in February and April 2023, with no impact on current logistics activities. In order to support employees as effectively as possible in the change and (r)evolution that robotization represents, DIAGMA and SCALLOG, in close collaboration with CLARINS, are currently training three teams of 14 operators, so that they can increase their skills and autonomy.

“SCALLOG quickly positioned itself as a partner for CLARINS. We defined the business processes in collaboration with their pre-sales team, and their responsiveness to our requests continued throughout the project. In this way, SCALLOG was able to propose a 2-phase installation plan guaranteeing the continuity of our business during the work and the future scalability of the solution.”

Numerous benefits, from agility to Quality of Life in the workplace

Cécile Mansuy, Operations Manager at CLARINS, describes the initial benefits of robotization:

“The installation of the SCALLOG solution has enabled us to adapt the site’s Details area to the development of its business portfolio: increasing hourly capacity to absorb the growth of our markets, doubling our stock coverage directly available in detail, as well as controlling and reducing crossing times for our e-commerce order preparation”.

She adds: “CLARINS has also made quality of life at work a top priority. The intuitive man-machine interface, which guides our pickers through each step, gives them greater autonomy, while guaranteeing better picking quality. Feedback from the field also proves the considerable ergonomic improvement, with a reduction in ambient noise, in the number of steps taken, and also in joint amplitude.”

Bruno Hérard, Director of DIAGMA, comments: “This new project with CLARINS illustrates a strong trend in logistics: the transformation of existing warehouses to absorb new flows, driven by the development of e-commerce and the shortage of land. The configuration of warehouses is changing, boosted by e-commerce, combining several levels and a multiplication of ergonomic workstations for retail order picking. A Goods to Man solution like SCALLOG’s, which offers resolutely agile and flexible robotics, fits right in to meet the need to speed up order picking and boost productivity.

Ludovic Mailly, Business Development Manager at SCALLOG concludes: “In addition to integrating into the warehouse, without transforming or interrupting operations, our Goods to Man solution demonstrates, within CLARINS logistics hub, our ability to manage large flows of BtoB and BtoC retail order preparations, all product typologies and classes, with agility and efficiency.”

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