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SOURCING & SUPPLY CHAIN
G
erman footwear brand Lloyd Shoes is pressing
ahead with plans to revitalise its logistics set-up. It
has held a ceremony to celebrate the laying of the
cornerstone of a new automated warehouse facility
in Sulingen in Lower Saxony. The project is taking place at
Lloyd’s existing logistics centre there, its corporate
headquarters. Affectionately nicknamed the Shoe Box, the new
warehouse will have the capability to sort, store, load and
dispatch cases of the company’s shoes automatically. Joint
managing director Maximilian Müller says the new facility will
constitute “the core of our future logistical system”.
It’s part of a far-ranging project, Lloyd 2015+, which the
company launched at the start of 2011 to give “a consistent
response to the challenges of tomorrow”. The new section of
the building is 75 metres long, 25 metres wide, and 17 metres
high. It will have storage capacity for approximately 500,000
pairs of shoes at a time and the technological capability to
move 2,000 cases of shoes per hour.
Speed of response
According to Lloyd Shoes, introducing automation to its
logistics process is a necessary step if it is to continue to meet
“the constantly growing expectations” of the footwear retailers
that stock its collections. For example, it says retailers these days
are placing orders in keeping with “optimal space
management” in their stores. No one wants to keep high levels
of stock because inventory always costs money. The retailers
have their models and management systems that tell them the
best time to bring in more pairs of particular styles that are
selling well, and when they place their orders, they want quick
and accurate delivery.
This type of relationship between retailers and footwear
suppliers is certain to become more and more common; speed
of response is going to become an increasingly important part
of suppliers’ offering. Lloyd is intimately familiar with this
dynamic because it has more than 60 own-brand stores
around the world.
WORLD FOOTWEAR | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2012
Work is well under way on a new automated logistics centre that German footwear
brand Lloyd Shoes will open in Sulingen, near Bremen, in 2013, coinciding with the
company’s 125th anniversary.
Lloyd Shoes
opts for
automation
Part of the Lloyd Shoes collection for last winter. Its retail
customers want deliveries that are in keeping with their efforts
to optimise store space. An automated warehousing set up will
help the company store and ship shoes quickly and accurately.
CREDIT: GDS/CONSTANZE TILLMANN