Logistics Planning, Supply Chain
Finding the Ideal Layout for a Logistics Center Through Modular Site Planning
The steady growth in the e-commerce sector has prompted our customer who is operating in the segment of pet supplies retail to switch parts of its online sales line to in-house operations at at least one location. The most important factors in this decision were an increased quality of shipments and a high delivery promise.
The customer's existing online fulfillment network at the start of the project was based on a large number of logistics service provider locations in Central Europe. The first action therefore was to determine optimal locations for a future e-commerce location network by means of network planning. In addition to the actual location, there was also the question of the respective location size.
In order to be able to fully assess the costs, an initial estimate of the capex and opex costs for different sized locations was necessary. Therefore, Metroplan developed a modular warehouse concept which enabled us to scale basic processes on various throughput volumes. In the course of this, a modular system was used to select different subsystems for the same process blocks in the different sized locations, which enabled the different throughputs. Furthermore, this modular system was used to provide an initial estimate of investment, space, personnel and energy requirements so that these costs could be taken into account in network planning. The result of this first project phase was both the ideal number of logistics locations in Europe and their ideal position and size. Subsequently, the optimal intralogistics solution for our customer's requirements and the optimal manufacturer were identified using the guided engineering process.
Metroplan furthermore accompanied and supported the implementation of the warehouse which processes the online distribution lines.
Industry
(E-)Commerce
Produkcts
Pet Supplies
Services
Holistic Logiistics Planning
Dimension
70.000 m² Logistics Area
