Transport & Logistic 20 METTLER TOLEDO IndMagazine 2/2005 Escalating warehouse to embrace opportunities With a product portfolio of more than 15,000 “Do it your- self” (DIY) items for homes, technology and hobbies, logistics is crucial for Clas Ohlson. Having a product turnover averaging two months and a growing customer demand, Clas Ohlson saw the pressing need for automatic data collection of a diverse product portfolio. Gert Karnberger Managing Director On site
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20 METTLER TOLEDO IndMagazine 2/2005
Escalating warehouse to embrace opportunities
With a product portfolio of more than 15,000 “Do it your-self” (DIY) items for homes, technology and hobbies,logistics is crucial for Clas Ohlson. Having a productturnover averaging two months and a growing customerdemand, Clas Ohlson saw the pressing need for automaticdata collection of a diverse product portfolio.
Gert Karnberger Managing Director
On site
21METTLER TOLEDO IndMagazine 2/2005
non-intrusive, integrated data capturesystem, which from Clas Ohlson’s pointof view, far exceeded other products onthe market.
Securing accurate measurementsPrior to the installation of a Cargoscan-ner, measuring every item sold was man-ual. This is no longer the case, the firm isnow able to automatically and more ac-curately measure crucial parcel data,such as weight, dimension and productidentification, unseen before in the firmshistory. The accurate data gathered bythe Cargoscanner, is transferred to theirwarehouse management system and en-ables Clas Ohlson to improve efficiencythroughout key operations, such as facil-itating order picking, packing and re-source capacity planning.
Clas Ohlson’s history dates back to 1918 inInsjön, Sweden. They have evolved from amail order firm to being labelled as “thechildren’s garden for men”. Together withthe growing interest in DIY products thefirm achieved sales of 315 million Euros in2004, making it one of Scandinavia’slargest firms of its type. After having in-vested heavily in its operations the ClasOhlson name can be found throughoutScandinavia. Although the firm witnessedthe opening of ten new retail outlets in2004, aggressive plans are in place toexpand to other countries throughoutEurope.
Expanding central warehouse With an aggressive growth strategy that isstrongly based on customer demand,every product sold, via their retail, mailorder and e-commerce channels, needsto be handled accurately and quickly. In2002 Clas Ohlson realised that it had toexpand and modernise its central ware-house and distribution centre in Insjön.These investments have cost nearly 30million Euros to enlarge the building to29,000m2 and install a new automatichigh bay storage facility and sortingequipment. According to Gert Karnberg-er, Managing Director, Clas Ohlson, theinvestments in the central warehousewere necessary in order to develop andexpand.
Automating data captureClas Ohlson has a product portfolio thatincludes everything from pencils to mo-bile phones and it is necessary to capturethe weight dimensions and identificationof all parcels, before placing them intostock. After consulting with METTLERTOLEDO Cargoscan, Clas Ohlson decidedthat a CS5120 Cargoscanner would be in-valuable equipment in their automatichandling process to measure both irreg-ular- and regular-shaped goods as smallas 5x2.5x5cm. The CS5120 provided a
Such requirements are becoming in-creasingly important for firms like ClasOhlson. Many firms have begun to realisethat visibility throughout their supplychain operations is a critical element inachieving world-class excellence. Withthe help of the CS5120 Cargoscanner atClas Ohlson’s central warehouse the firmexpects to increase visibility, efficiencyand the capacity to serve its mail orderand e-commerce customers, ninetystores, and be prepared to meet currentand future customer demand.
