Who are Exotec?

Exotec, founded in 2014, are a specialist intralogistics company, headquarters based in Lille, France. Now, venturing throughout Europe, they are working exclusively in the UK with LAC Conveyors & Automation, to spearhead their high-performing and scalable goods to person system. The Exotec Skypod System is unique to the UK logistics and automation arena. It offers flexibility depending on volumes of growth, a short lead time from order to installation, and tote retrieval capabilities like no other system.

LOGILEC’s Installation of the Skypod Shuttle System

LOGILEC’s, the logistics branch for E.Leclerc, was created in 1996 by the Mouvement E. Leclerc with the aim of controlling and organizing its supply chain. Fast forward to 2018 and outgrowing their existing warehouse, LOGILEC approached Exotec to find out more about a robotic Ecommerce Solution.

The Brief

LOGILEC struggled for space to expand in their existing warehouse and found that during the holiday periods they could no longer achieve their 30% annual growth rate. The warehouse operations involved using manual pickers in a 5,000 sqm maze of shelves and could only achieve a productivity of 30 lines per hour.

The Challenge

When planning the installation of the robotic Ecommerce solution, Exotec had to ensure minimal disruption to LOGILEC’s operations during the set-up period. This made it necessary to plan the roll out of The Skypod System in two separate phases.

The Solution

Exotec’s robotic Ecommerce solution was an innovative system of 50 robots and 30,000 totes. The first phase involved the installation of nearly 10,000 bins and 6 goods-to-man workstations, which left enough space to continue processing orders with the existing system. Around six months later, Exotec added 20,000 additional bins and 2 more workstations without any downtime or disruption.

The Benefits

LOGILEC’s productivity has increased by over 560% after installing the Exotec Skypod System – from 30 lines per hour with manual picking to 200 lines per hour with robotised picking. Typically, Exotec systems achieve 400 lines per hour with one reference per tote. However, several references per tote were required for the LOGELIC system which means the operator must take an additional step to confirm the correct reference. Beneficially, as the Skypod System only takes up 3,000sqm of space, 5,000sqm which was previously shelving, LOGILEC has the potential space to expand and integrate other businesses or a multi-channel site.

The Testimonial

Solange Marie, Agile Transformation at LOGILEC, said: “We needed a solution that could be scaled according to order volumes variations and business growth rate. Our range of products was becoming more and more diverse with fast-moving cultural goods and many different batches for drugstore products. We needed a solution that could be quickly implemented.”

LAC launches the Skypod into the UK

LAC Conveyors & Automation, leading providers of conveyor systems and automation solutions, recently announced the new and exclusive partnership with Exotec to sell and promote the revolutionary Skypod System in the UK. CEO of LAC, Chris Unwin said: “I’m delighted to secure this partnership with Exotec, which will not only further enhance our business capabilities but also contribute towards the goal of growing market share within the logistics sector.”

 

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