German Textile Retailer Ernsting to Expand Online Retail with inconso

Logistics software specialist inconso is working on a project to expand online retail for large German textile retailer Ernsting. The project kicked off with the construction and move to the dedicated location for e-commerce logistics in the town of Coesfeld-Lette. The textile retailer processes up to 3.3 million orders via its online shop that went online in 2003; all related logistics processes will continue to be uniformly planned and controlled via SAP in the course of expansion.

The new warehouse has five levels with, among other things, a bag sorter including a dynamic buffer for efficient pre-picking and a goods issue sorter in shipping. To expand its logistics capacities, Ernsting’s family is relying on SAP EWM (Extended Warehouse Management) to implement efficient planning and control for all goods movements using a central system basis. In addition, inconso supports the development of native Android apps in order to optimize process handling when using mobile terminals via an intuitive user interface.

This project has remarkable key performance indicators: In the future, up to 100 pickers will be working at the same time in the new warehouse’s manual picking area. In order to be able to handle the increasing order volume, the current multi-order picking strategy will be replaced by a batch-based picking strategy that is more efficient. The picked parts are then bagged, sorted by a bag sorter on an order-by-order basis and transported to the packaging workstations.

The expansion of e-commerce logistics is integrated into the development of a holistically synchronized logistics IT system that creates a uniform SAP system landscape for smooth omnichannel logistics. Since moving into the new logistics building is already finished, connecting the sorter in the goods issue area is in progress, which will be followed by changing the picking strategies, thereby adapting the site to the significantly increased requirements for e-commerce logistics.

“We are excited to start another project with the inconso experts and continue our long-standing collaboration. Due to our close and trusting collaboration with inconso, we always manage to realize large projects on time and within budget and support them ourselves shortly thereafter. This means that our SAP EWM system will also be perfectly prepared for future logistics processes at Ernsting’s family,” as Frank ter Duis, IT Logistics Coordinator at Ernsting’s family, emphasizes.