Bestseller partners with KNAPP for logistics centre in Netherlands

Global fashion company Bestseller will partner with Knapp, an industry leader in automation, to deliver technology, including more than 1,400 robots, for the company’s upcoming logistics centre in the Netherlands.

Located in Lelystad, 60 km east of Amsterdam, the logistics centre will be built over the coming years. Logistics Centre West (LCW) as the building is known, will feature cutting-edge technology to enhance efficiency and create optimal working conditions.

“Through our partnership with Knapp we are aiming to develop one of the most highly automated logistics centres in the fashion industry and across Europe. Investing in this scale of technology will optimise the efficiency of the centre and the process of distributing products to retail customers in our largest markets,” said Allan Kyhe Kjærgaard, logistics director at Bestseller.

Automated piece picking and palletising, an automated pallet storage and handling system, and more than 1,400 robots optimising fulfilment in the robotic shuttle system, are some of the new technologies Knapp will implement at LCW.

“It is a special honour for us to build the most efficient logistics centre for Bestseller. The innovative approaches that we are pursuing with our technology and our expertise as a value chain technology partner with this concept will offer Bestseller better advantages along their supply chain. The one-touch and low-complexity concept represents a further milestone in the development of logistics centres,” said Franz Mathi, chief operations officer, Knapp.

The increased scale of automation technology set to be developed at the centre will deliver a high level of efficiency. The company expects that the centre will operate at more than 20,000 retrievals per hour, a significantly higher capacity than the system at the company’s largest current centre.

"The ambition for this logistics centre is one-touch automation, where products are received, processed, and shipped using limited manual handling. The dynamic solutions result in increased efficiency and reduced risk of redundancy caused by single machine malfunction in storing and retrieving items," added Kjærgaard.

Automation of picking products in fashion has traditionally been more difficult than in other industries. These are difficult for robots to select and manipulate compared to harder items with flat surfaces. At LCW, picking robots powered by AI learning technology will supplement the work done at manual picking stations.

When LCW is fully operational at the end 2026, it is expected that 600 colleagues will be employed there. More than half will work hand in hand with robots. Automation will result in significantly easing physically demanding tasks such as loading pallets, while helping reduce the need for repetitive manual labour.

At the same time, the investment in automation technology will create new jobs requiring a highly skilled workforce. Types of jobs include maintenance technicians, data analysts, mechanical, electrical and software engineers, as well as process and continuous improvement specialists.

“Bestseller’s customer experience will be prepared in the new warehouse by a software-driven breakdown of order streams into the different resources that are implemented. This means ideal use of AI-powered single unit picking robots that work alongside people at system guided goods-to-person workstations, that both compose the order for the individual store. The combination of robotics and human interaction allows for the highest efficiency and quality while creating an excellent work environment,” said Johannes Holas, vice president, fashion solutions, Knapp.