In Lelystad, 60 kilometers east of Amsterdam, the 155,000 square meter logistics center will be built in the coming years. The Logistics Center West (LCW), as the building is called, will be equipped with modern technology to increase efficiency and create optimal working conditions.

"Through our partnership with Knapp, we aim to build one of the most automated logistics centers in the fashion industry and across Europe. Investing in technology of this scale will optimize the efficiency of the center and the distribution process of goods to retail customers in our largest markets," says Allan Kyhe Kjærgaard, Logistics Director at Bestseller.

Automated single-item picking and palletizing, an automated pallet storage and handling system and more than 1,400 robots that optimize fulfillment in the OSR Shuttle Evo automated storage system are just some of the new technologies that Knapp will implement in the LCW. "It is a special honor for us to build this highly efficient logistics center for Bestseller. The innovative approaches that we are pursuing with our technology and our expertise as a value chain tech partner with this concept offer Bestseller numerous advantages along their supply chain. The one-touch and low-complexity concept is another milestone in the development of logistics centers," says Franz Mathi, Chief Operations Officer at Knapp .

A new dimension in automation technology

The automation technology that will be used in the center offers maximum efficiency. Bestseller expects the new system to achieve 20,000 retrievals per hour, which is a significant increase on the company's current largest system. "The goal for this logistics center is one-touch automation, where goods are received, processed and dispatched with minimal manual intervention. The dynamic nature of the solution increases efficiency and reduces the risk of redundancies caused by the failure of individual robots when storing and retrieving items," says Allan Kyhe Kjærgaard, Logistics Director at Bestseller.

The fully automated picking of fashion items is considered particularly difficult. In contrast to dimensionally stable items, fashion items are more difficult for robots to recognize and handle. At LCW, special picking robots, the Pick-it-Easy Robots, with artificial intelligence are used to supplement the work at the manual picking workstations.

New jobs are created

The LCW should be fully operational by the end of 2026, when 600 employees will be working there. More than half of them will work hand in hand with robots. The automation technologies are intended to make physically demanding tasks such as loading pallets considerably easier and at the same time help to reduce repetitive and manual work.

At the same time, the investment in automation technology will create new jobs for highly skilled workers, such as maintenance technicians, data analysts, mechanical, electrical and software engineers, as well as specialists in process optimization and continuous improvement. "The new warehouse lays the foundation for Bestseller's customer experience. The order flows are distributed by the software to the different areas and technologies. Employees at system-guided goods-to-person workstations work side by side with the AI-supported picking robots and compile the deliveries to the stores. The combination of robotics and people enables maximum efficiency and quality while creating an excellent working environment," says Johannes Holas, Vice President Fashion Solutions at Knapp.