07/07/2020 | Hardis Group
The firm is using Hardis Group’s warehouse management software, coupled with a mechanization system, to optimize the way it manages logistics processes at its distribution warehouse for Darjeeling-branded products. The site handles B2B flows for 170 stores in France, plus B2C flows for online sales via the darjeeling.fr website.
Grenoble, July 7, 2020 – Hardis Group, a consulting firm, digital services company and independent software vendor, announces that Chantelle Lingerie has deployed Reflex WMS at its dedicated Darjeeling warehouse, a 5,000 sq m facility in the Somme area of northeastern France. The group will soon be rolling out the same system at another of its logistics sites.
A new WMS to handle Darjeeling e-commerce flows
Chantelle Lingerie is an independent, family-owned French group founded in 1876. It employs 5,300 people and sells products globally under several lingerie brands: Chantelle, Passionata, Chantal Thomass, Femilet, Livera and Darjeeling. Its sites include seven plants—in Morocco, Tunisia, Viet Nam and Thailand—plus three distribution logistics warehouses in the Somme area of France.
Toward the end of 2017, Chantelle Lingerie decided to invest in a new warehouse management system for its 5,000 sq m site in Villers-Bretonneux, from where it distributes Darjeeling-branded products. The decision was guided by two aims. First, the group had been forced to outsource the management of logistics flows for e-commerce sales via its darjeeling.fr website since it went live in 2011, because its existing WMS was incapable of handling this aspect. Second, the company wanted to use the opportunity to deploy a warehouse control system (WCS) to manage its mechanized station conveyor.
Premium deployment support
The group launched a tender in early 2018, shortlisting three vendors. After a series of product demonstrations and deployment site visits, and having examined all three bids in detail, the firm opted for Reflex WMS in October 2018. “After weighing up the three competing bids, we settled for Hardis Group on account of their care and attention to detail, and the conversations we had with their hard-working team,” said Léa Lechevallier, Site Director at the Darjeeling warehouse. The project kicked off in late November and Reflex WMS went live just six months later, managing the Savoye mechanization system at the Darjeeling site. “Reflex WMS has a short learning curve and it gives us granular management capability for our e-commerce flows,” added Lechevallier.
Switching to mask production in three days
In April 2020, the group decided to refocus its operations to make washable, reusable cloth masks at its plants. “Group-wide, our aim was threefold: to support public-health efforts, to protect jobs by selling masks to consumers (online) and local authorities, and to donate some of our masks to charities and voluntary organizations,” said Philippe Sophys, Distribution Logistics Director at Chantelle Lingerie. The firm launched a special operation for Darjeeling customers, releasing 10,000 five-mask packs for sale on its e-commerce website. “In normal times, we prepare between 600 and 700 orders a day,” said Lechevallier. “We had to completely rethink our e-commerce workflow, reducing the number of the steps in the process so we could deliver 50,000 masks in 48-72 hours.” Thanks to the flexible configuration options that Reflex WMS offers, and the support of Hardis Group’s teams, Chantelle Lingerie was able to deploy the new mask production workflow in just three days.
The group logistics division is so impressed with Reflex WMS that it plans to deploy the system at a second logistics site in the Picardy area of France.