Jolipa has about 12,000 items in stock. Every 6 months, 2,500 new items are added to the product range.

Ideally, you would let the goods flow to the operator, but due to the variety of items and the constant renewal of our product range, this was not feasible. The latest study by Logflow offered a good interim solution.

Dick Sabbe, CEO: “In the past, one operator used to prepare a complete order, which meant that he travelled up to 30 kilometres in the warehouse every day and prepared 10 orders. Now, the orders are picked by several operators and a large part of the route is covered by a continuously rolling conveyor belt, where the picker deposits the collected goods. The conveyor belt brings the goods to the picking zone via a spiral. There, the goods are pushed out on the antennae. The orders are then completed and palletised."

The installation also caters for e-commerce. A third of Jolipa's turnover are orders from distributors that are delivered directly to the end customer. That is why they have planned the lay-out of some roller conveyors to be connected to a packing table.

Our experience with complex goods flows and our focus on the best possible solution for our customer also come together in this project. A few facts:

• We used different transport systems on the long route from the warehouse to the sluice Stations. Long conveyors are alternated with curve conveyors, a spiral tower, ascending conveyors and push-out systems to get the box to the final station.
• At the end of the route, the box or carrier box is scanned in order for it to be pushed out at the right sluice station.
• The newly built warehouse can be completely closed off from the existing building in case of a fire. The fire doors were therefore placed in the middle of our installation and we take this into account in the event of a fire alarm. Together with the client, we also determined where the fire wall would be placed in relation to the installation, in order to limit the number of fire doors we would need to install on the four different levels.
• On each floor there is an access and an exit route to and from the lift. This allows us to get the best possible interaction of pallets between the different floors.

When Jolipa decided to build on the site next to the existing warehouse, they had to take into account the high-voltage cable across the site. In order to stay far enough from the cable, the best solution turned out to be putting the warehouse one floor below ground level. This required the installation of a lift that could transport the goods from the old to the new warehouse. The consultancy agency Logflow helped us come up with the design and Fraxinus poured that design into the final result you see today.

Once the boxes have been scanned and palletised, the pallets can be taken to the new warehouse via a lift installation. While studying the flow of goods, we also connected a wrapping unit to the line. That way, the pallet is immediately prepared for transport. Then the pallet goes through to the lift shaft, where a scanner detects which floor the pallet has to go to.

Patrick Stockman, technical director: “The main flow of goods goes down and is dispatched for transport, but orders that have to be delivered later can also be stored on two mezzanine floors. When it is ready for transport, any given pallet is retrieved via the software.”