Körber future-proofs Zalando’s Polish DC

Zalando Lounge, the fashion and lifestyle online shopping club relies on software from Körber to control operations at its fulfilment centre in Olsztynek, northern Poland.

Körber is supporting Zalando Lounge’s further growth with a high-performance, automated system for advanced material flow control. The 130,000 sq m logistics centre took up operations in 2019 to cater to the success of Zalando’s steadily growing shopping club, the Zalando Lounge.

It is one of the most successful online shopping clubs in Europe, with more than 50 million members in 14 European markets. The site in Olsztynek is Zalando Lounge’s first international fulfilment centre.

Zalando and Körber previously introduced technically complex and demanding projects at sites in Łódź (Poland) and Nogarole Rocca (Italy). At each of these sites, Kӧrber successfully implemented its warehouse control system (WCS). These control a multitude of components, from shuttle systems to different types of sorters. Based on the success of these projects, Zalando Lounge needed a similar solution to control the two-stage sorting plant, which will sort more than 200,000 multi-item orders a day.

At the site in Poland, Kӧrber again integrated its WCS. This controls the item sorter system, the largest of its kind in Europe. The commissioning process takes place in two phases. In phase one, bulk order picking carried out according to batches. In phase two, the WCS uniquely controls the sorters performing individual order picking. This system effectively enables management of high-order volumes from a wide array of customers. As a result, the fulfilment centre can now handle the increasing number of orders from its steadily growing customer base.

In a second project at the same site, Körber integrated additional project-specific functions in the WCS. This includes inventory management in the narrow aisle store, achieving higher storage density, as well as automatic warehouse navigation to execute and control put away and retrieval of all forklift transports.

“Our experience from previous projects convinced us Körber is the right partner for our logistics centre in Olsztynek. We appreciate the co-operation with the Körber team, which supports us especially with its know-how with the increasing requirements for seamless interaction of logistics components,” says Sven Thiessen, Director Offprice Logistics for Zalando Lounge. The WCS allows us to process the steadily increasing number of orders to serve our customers with the expected high quality.”

Michael Brandl, CEO Software Europe and Middle East, Körber Business Area Supply Chain, comments: “There is no room for downtime in logistics installations, which is why customers worldwide rely on us to get it right. We at Körber draw from decades of experience in logistics projects. We focus on choosing the right solution from a consultation, customisation, integration, product and add-on point of view, adapted for the respective environment. This can be in terms of customising the solutions as well as using the right type of automation. Continued trust from organisations such as Zalando Lounge and the outlook of growing together as partners is what makes projects like this so rewarding.”