Punt ups the volume
September 1st 2009 Spanish clothing retailer, Punt Roma, is handling the fickle nature of fashion thanks to an automated garment system from SDI Group that continues to deliver the goods – despite the opening of new stores
Punt Roma, the women's fashion
retailer that has shops across
Spain and other international
locations, required an automated
warehouse system at the company's
distribution centre located in Mataró,
Barcelona. The 35,000 sq m facility had
previously operated a manual picking
system, but Punt Roma needed a
solution that would increase the
capacity and efficiency at the site to
handle added volumes that would result
from the planned opening of new
stores.
As Punt Roma's only distribution
centre, the Mataró site serves all retail
shops within the company's network.
Therefore, it was essential that any new
solution did not disrupt the company's
day-to-day operation and minimum
downtime occurred.
SDI Group designed and installed a
bespoke automated warehouse solution
for both hanging and folded garments
that could handle both inbound and
outbound products to ensure that Punt
Roma stores received orders in the
timeliest manner possible.
By automating the picking and
storage processes of garments within the
distribution centre, the company has
been able to handle a significant growth
in throughput without the need to
expand the warehouse footprint or
workforce at the site. Furthermore, the
installation has been designed to cope
with further increases inline with Punt
Roma's ambitious expansion plans,
which will see the retail network
increase in the next few years.
In addition, Punt Roma has achieved
greater speed when preparing orders to
better manage incoming demand from
stores that have limited storage space to
hold stock. It has also reduced the
number of errors through enhanced
pick accuracy and improved the returns
process through enhanced verification
and counting.
The automated warehouse solution
incorporates a hang sorter for the high
speed unit distribution of hanging
garments and a flat sorter that will
handle flat garments and accessories
using totes. It will enable Punt Roma to
handle day-to-day store replenishment and pre-prepared consignments for new
campaigns.
A four-aisle double deep mini load
with 160,000 locations provides storage
for around 700,000 units. The storage
and retrieval system feeds the SDI flat
sorter inducts and the whole system is
integrated with conveyors for inbound
and outbound flows. Once an order is
completed empty totes are returned
automatically to the mini load.
The installation was undertaken
during a fourteen month period in
several stages to minimise any operation
disruption and downtime, and was
completed in the middle of 2007. As a
result of effective project management
the solution was delivered on time and
on budget, and SDI Group continues to
provide preventative maintenance
support on an ongoing basis.
Punt Roma currently operates 167
shops around Spain and some 20 stores
in international markets. More articles from SDI Group Limited: | 
