FACT SHEET
Nike Apparel
Nike’s European distribution centre in Laakdal, Belgium
serves markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The
200,000 m2 facility houses 3 operations - one for apparel,
one for footwear and one for sports equipment - which
share a common, high-bay warehouse.
In the past, Nike had warehousing operations in 20
European countries. They decided to consolidate their
European distribution operation to provide customers
with all items in the product range, while reducing costs
and enhancing efficiency. The facility was opened in 1994.
Vanderlande Industries built the material handling system.
Since the opening, Nike has partnered with Vanderlande to
make several adjustements to the existing system. Within
Nike, the Supply Chain is considered as one of its key
pillars, considering the competitive advantage it can bring
to the company. They felt a focused capacity and service
optimisation program was required to support their growth
(capacity) and to safeguard and improve their Supply Chain
capabilities (service related). Objectives of the program
were: a) Capacity and efficiency improvements, related to
resolving the capacity bottlenecks and support business
growth at an optimal supply chain cost, b) Lead time
improvements, related to realising increased operational
flexibility, essential to support more complex and
demanding supply chain models. While redesigning some
of their processes and processing areas, they placed high
emphasis on incorporating employee related benefits.
MOVING YOUR BUSINESS FORWARD
Facts & figures
System
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Movable telescopic conveyors to unload trucks
Inbound sortation system
High bay storage for pallets and cartons
Items are stored in baskets or on shelves. Operators
use pick trolleys supported by voice picking
Pre-sort via tilt-tray sorter
Final sort via tilt-tray sorter into shipping cartons
Transportation to shipping docks, where cartons are
loaded onto trucks by telescopic conveyors
‘Transport highway’: A loop circuit facilitates
transport between all the various parts of the facility
Waste carton handling
Process
>> Inbound (goods received in containers from various
countries)
>> Sorting and manual palletisation
>> Inbound to high bay storage (pallet trucks)
>> High bay storage of pallets (40 aisles)
>> Cartons sent to picking
>> Item picking (batch picking concept) from:
- baskets
- shelves
> vanderlande.com
>> Value Added Services, such as:
- price tags
- hangers
- size labels
>> Primary and final sortation
>> Packing in outer cartons
>> Shipping
Benefits
>> Ability and flexibility to handle significant business
growth, both in terms of volume (double-digit yearon-year growth) and product range (as result of Nike’s
brand strategy)
>> Ability and flexibility to handle increasing supply
chain complexity (customised supply chain solutions
for customers, for example tailored Value Added
Services)
>> Lead time improvement, faster order throughput
>> Better ergonomics, user friendliness, safety for
employees
>> Higher productivity, efficiency
> Vanderlande - Fact sheet: Nike Apparel
This information is subject to change without notice and should not be construed as a commitment on the part of Vanderlande.