Application of Flexible and Scalable Robot System in Decathlon Storage Center
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Decathlon’s recent growth has been very rapid. In order to achieve sustained growth and maintain global competitiveness in the high-standard and demanding retail and e-commerce industries, Decathlon needs to ensure that its warehouses can rely on a powerful automation solution? Low cost, reliable, efficient, flexible and scalable. The last point is particularly important. Based on the consideration of many key indicators such as forward-looking forecast and scalability, human factors, inventory difference, storage capacity, etc., Decathlon finally chose Gzhijia as the automation partner in the Chinese market and continuously deepened cooperation, through Gzhijia customized deployment The flexible and expandable robot system can effectively meet development needs and respond to various challenges.
In recent years, with the rapid development of e-commerce, Decathlon needs an automation partner and solution to help them meet the rapidly growing business needs, while being highly flexible to flexibly manage the unpredictable problems faced by modern retailers Time-consuming and laborious change management. The ideal solution is to choose a suitable partner in China, polish the solution in some branches, and then copy it to other regions of the world. As one of the fastest-growing logistics automation companies in the world, Jizhijia is currently deploying brand new automation systems in warehouses around the world. Based on the technological advantages of Gigabyte and the advantages of global deployment, Decathlon first deployed Gigabyte robot system in the Chinese market, and quickly deepened cooperation after the project achieved excellent results, and responded to business fluctuations through flexible and scalable robotic systems. Challenges to achieve greater development.
Project background and requirements
As one of the world’s largest sporting goods retailers, Decathlon has 1,647 stores in 57 countries and regions around the world. With the continuous expansion of store business scale and the rapid development of e-commerce business, Decathlon’s warehousing operations are also facing more requirements and challenges.
First of all, warehousing is a vital part of Decathlon’s business links, and the operations are complicated. Among them, there are both e-commerce warehouses that directly deliver goods to consumers and retail warehouses that supply physical stores. Take the retail warehouse as an example. Since the company stores do not keep inventory and receive replenishment every day, all the goods received will be sold in the store. Therefore, the retail warehouse needs to be operated efficiently; the e-commerce warehouse needs to be more cost-effective and more efficient. Complete the shipping operation and also need to process the return. With the rapid development of Decathlon’s e-commerce business, the demand for flexible automation has become increasingly prominent.
At the same time, competition in the Chinese labor market is extremely fierce. For many local companies, hiring and retaining employees are huge challenges. Decathlon also faces labor challenges.
“Due to the outbreak of the epidemic, the future is full of greater uncertainty, and companies increasingly need flexible and scalable systems to cope with business fluctuations. In the retail sector, this is a particularly obvious trend, and this trend will continue. Go on.” said Bruno Thellier, head of transformation at Decathlon.
Therefore, in order to meet the rapidly growing business needs, deal with the various challenges faced, achieve sustained growth and maintain global competitiveness in the high-standard, high-demand retail and e-commerce industries, Decathlon needs a suitable automation partner and a set of high flexibility. Automated solutions are low-cost, reliable, efficient, flexible and scalable, to flexibly manage the unpredictable demand cycle faced by modern retailers, and calmly deal with time-consuming and laborious change management, through the solution in some outlets Polish and perfect, and then copy it to other regions of the world.
Main technical concerns
1. Forward-looking predictions and scalability
One of Decathlon’s strategies is not to overinvest in automation solutions. Although Decathlon expects future sales to increase substantially, it is unable to make accurate forward-looking forecasts due to uncertainties in the business and international environment.
2. Human factors
The human factor is one of Decathlon’s most important key performance indicators, so robot solutions are needed to solve the problem of human shortage. At the same time, Decathlon believes that the skill development, happiness and safety of all employees are as important as productivity. The substantial increase in productivity means that employees can free up time to do work with higher added value.
3. Inventory differences
In the retail sector, inventory variance refers to the fact that the actual inventory is lower than the book record. The robot system needs to record accurately to avoid inventory data errors or loss of inventory items.
4. Storage
Storage capacity is not a key criterion for evaluating robotic solutions, but monitoring indicators that are used to predict when the warehouse needs to be expanded. Choosing a suitable robotic solution will help delay Decathlon’s need to invest in the expansion of new warehouses.
5. Return on investment
Large-scale rigid automation solutions usually require a payback period of 5 to 10 years, which has a greater cost risk for Decathlon. Therefore, a solution that can be expanded in time with business growth becomes the most suitable solution for its strategy.
Main solutions and implementation
After a comprehensive evaluation, Decathlon finally successfully joined hands with GeekPlus and expanded the project several times after the first project achieved outstanding results, deepening the cooperation with GeekPlus (see Figure 1).
Figure 1 Expansion status of Decathlon/Geechika project
1. Scheme and its characteristics
It is the principle of Jizhijia’s solution selection to eliminate the need for employees to travel long distances in the warehouse. In traditional warehouses, employees spend nearly 70% of their time walking to find goods. In the warehouse where the Zhizhijia solution is deployed, the pickers only need to stay at the fixed picking station, and the robot will transport the goods to them. This new generation of automated warehouses can maximize productivity and throughput.
Jizhijia Robot “goods to people” solution gives Decathlon warehouse a high degree of flexibility
The Zhijia system includes P800 picking robots, which are integrated with the matching rack array, and are driven by a set of AI software systems to operate efficiently. The robot will pick up the entire shelf and transport it to the warehouse picker. The picker only needs to go to a single picking station and complete the picking process according to the electronic label on the shelf.
AI-driven software products are the core value of the solution, which can realize the smartest warehouse workflow to the greatest extent. The software can analyze all orders and automatically optimize the warehouse inventory; manage the storage method and location of the goods in the warehouse, and guide the robot to move according to the optimal path.
Decathlon employees working at the picking station
Subsequently, employees manually pick the goods to the correct order. This process can also be carried out in reverse, managed by different placers located in special place goods stations, who are responsible for placing the required goods on the selected shelves, and then the robot will transport the selected shelves back to the storage area. The robot requires very little manual intervention when working, and can automatically charge to ensure 7×24 hours of operation.
2. RFID customized solutions improve the picking process
In the retail industry, Decathlon is a pioneer in the use of RFID technology. Geekica engineers worked closely with Decathlon to develop a set of RFID solutions that run in tandem with standard picking solutions to improve the picking process. In the past, whenever a shelf arrives at the workstation, the staff has to manually scan the barcode to ensure that the correct product is selected. This operation can be performed automatically using RFID technology, which reduces the average sorting time for each product from 12 seconds to 3 Second. With this technology, Decathlon has also improved its inventory system. The robot transports the shelves to a dedicated RFID inventory station. These stations scan all the goods on the shelves and compare them with the inventory registered in the warehouse management system, and automatically detect any errors.
Geeklink and Decathlon have jointly developed a set of RFID solutions that run in tandem with the standard picking scheme to improve the picking process
3. Rapid deployment and adjustment
Since launching the pilot project in June 2018, Decathlon has successively applied Zhizhijia robot solutions in e-commerce warehouses and retail warehouses, and all projects have been deployed and completed in a short period of time. Taking the pilot project of Shanghai E-commerce Warehouse as an example, 15 Jizhijia robots and two workstations are deployed in a 700 square meter space for picking operations. Decathlon only arranged one project leader and one IT developer. In just one month, the Gichika installation team completed the preparatory work for the project.
Taipei is one of the locations of Decathlon’s early retail projects and is responsible for supplying all Decathlon retail stores in Taipei City. Similarly, Decathlon also completed a pilot project in Taipei, deploying 17 robots and 4 workstations in a space of 1,500 square meters. This time, the implementation work is more complicated-the Decathlon team cannot go to the site to work in person. Even so, Decathlon completed the project evaluation and decided to expand within only three months from the decision to start the project (including the time when the Gzhijia robot was shipped to Taipei). After the robot is installed, it only needs one day of testing to ensure the smooth operation of the project, so that Decathlon will officially start the system and collect the data required for decision-making.
Main project effects
Based on the robot solution of Gigabyte, the efficiency and multiple indicators of Decathlon’s e-commerce warehouse and retail warehouse have been greatly improved. Mainly manifested in:
First, the storage capacity has been greatly increased. Decathlon found that in warehouses equipped with Zhizhijia robots, the storage capacity increased by 40% due to the significant increase in shelf density, which greatly delayed the need for Decathlon to invest in the expansion of new warehouses. In Shanghai’s retail store warehouse, the storage capacity increased from 500,000 to 700,000 pieces; in the Shanghai e-commerce project warehouse, the storage capacity increased from 300,000 to 500,000 pieces.
Second, the productivity of warehouse employees has increased by more than three times. This is mainly due to the fact that the technology of Gigabyte effectively reduces the walking time of each employee and fundamentally improves the working environment of the employees. In the case of a retail warehouse in Shanghai, the average picking quantity per employee has increased from 125 pieces/hour to 450 pieces/hour, and the daily throughput of the warehouse has increased from 75,000 pieces to 100,000 pieces; in an e-commerce warehouse, each employee’s average The picking quantity has increased from 95 pieces/hour to 285 pieces/hour, and the average daily throughput of the warehouse has increased from 22,500 pieces to 35,000 pieces.
Third, the added value of labor has fallen sharply. The solution of Geekga has greatly reduced the labor required for Decathlon’s warehouse in China. In the operation of e-commerce warehouses in Shanghai, the number of operators has been reduced from 35 to 17; while the number of operators in retail warehouses has been reduced from 100 to 24, a quarter of the original number.
Fourth, the inventory difference is greatly reduced, and the accuracy rate is as high as 99.99%.
In addition, the investment payback period of the Gzhijia robot system is relatively short, and the goods-to-person order fulfillment program can achieve a return on investment within 3 years. And, robotic solutions also help to better predict business. Thellier said: “We want to be wise and cautious not to over-invest. With the help of Giga Robots, we don’t need to make predictions a year in advance, but can be based on short-term forecasts or within a few months. Significantly increase automation capabilities when demand surges.”
It is worth mentioning that during the epidemic, the Gigabyte solution helped Decathlon effectively manage the surge in e-commerce orders due to home isolation, effectively alleviating the challenge caused by the sudden shortage of warehouse manpower. At the same time, the highly flexible characteristics of Giga Robots also help Decathlon to urgently transfer the robots from the retail warehouse to the e-commerce warehouse in the shortest time under the explosive growth of e-commerce warehouse orders. This is a traditional conveyor belt-based method. Hard to achieve with rigid automation solutions.
“Gee Chika not only solves Decathlon’s current specific problems, but also gives us new capabilities, bringing unprecedented efficiency and improvement.” Bruno Thellier emphasized.
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