The online beauty store Flaconi was founded in Berlin in 2011 and has quickly developed into the largest online pure player for beauty products in Germany. With the categories perfume, skincare, make-up, haircare and accessories, Flaconi covers all product segments from drugstore to natural cosmetics to premium. The strong growth of the past is set to continue in the future. The basis for this is the new logistics center in the "Star Park" commercial center in Halle an der Saale, which is tailored to the needs of the online beauty retailer.

Flexible solution

The task was to develop a warehouse solution that was precisely tailored to Flaconi's product and process requirements. The small-scale goods were to be kept in stock in line with current demand. The aim was to speed up the flow of goods by keeping the goods routes as short as possible. For example, fast-moving products that can be stored and retrieved as easily as possible were to be placed close to the packaging area. However, the products themselves posed a particular planning challenge. Most of them are hazardous substances that require a complex fire protection concept. Perfume, for example, has several hazardous characteristics within the meaning of Section 3 of the Hazardous Substances Ordinance, as it is classified as oxidizing and highly flammable. "Fire protection when storing hazardous goods in complex facilities is always a difficult issue, especially if changes are made during the implementation phase," explains Sascha Lichtenthäler, Sales Manager at Schulte Lagerkonzepte. "In such situations, a joint test setup on site is particularly important. Adjustments can then be made if necessary," continues Lichtenthäler. After several workshops and presentations, the contract for implementation was awarded to the warehouse specialists from Schulte Lagerkonzepte in Sundern. "Schulte's solution is ideal for us as it is particularly flexible. In the fast-moving online business, we have to remain agile and be able to act at short notice and seasonally, for example. It is often not possible to reorganize logistics as quickly as marketing dictates," explains Flaconi COO Dr. Steffen Christ.

Scalability through manual picking

At the heart of the project are over 2,000 shelving bays with six or twelve levels. A total of 18,690 Multiplus shelves with around 225,000 storage spaces were installed. With its optimized edge height of just 25 mm, the Schulte shelf - in combination with the 25 mm grid of the T-profile frames - provides more storage levels with the same shelf height and therefore ergonomic operation thanks to a lower handle height.

Further advantages of Multiplus shelving are the simple assembly using the plug-in system and the option of easy conversion. At the customer's request, the solid sheet metal side panels have been painted in the corporate design colors. In order to meet the special requirements of fast-moving products, 30 flow rack bays with a total of 1,200 storage channels have been installed. Each shelf level is of different lengths to ensure optimum access opening. In addition, a wide carpet of rolls was planned in order to be able to store as many different cardboard boxes as possible. The fire protection concept also specified a sprinkler system and thermal insulation panels for this type of racking. 84 pallet racking bays with almost 700 storage locations complete the storage concept. Flaconi deliberately opted for a manual picking process. "Our storage must be scalable. We generate 40 percent of our annual turnover during the Christmas period, so an automated system that gets bored for ten months and is then overloaded is no use to us," says Dr. Christ.

Deployment and direct communication

The project was completed in just six months, from order to acceptance. A period of just six weeks was scheduled for the installation alone. "Everything went smoothly so that we were able to put the warehouse into operation on time. There was a great project spirit throughout and we were always able to lead the joint project to success in a pragmatic and solution-oriented manner. Even when hardly any suppliers made it to us due to a snowstorm, the Schulte team was on site!" says Anne Kriegsmann from the Operations Excellence department at Flaconi. Dr. Christ is also very satisfied with the project implementation: "This was the first project of this size for us. It was important for us to always have a single point of contact. This enabled us to ensure that no information - for example due to unnecessary interfaces - was lost from the offer to acceptance. Shelf construction was never on my escalation list during the entire implementation phase - it couldn't have gone any better."

The article appeared in materialfluss 11-12/21.