Sportisimo: optimized warehouse with pallet racks and picking shelves

Sportisimo: optimized warehouse with pallet racks and picking shelves

The storage solutions ensure that the order picking process is highly productive

Sportisimo

Czech sporting goods distributor Sportisimo has equipped its warehouse in Rudná, Czechia, with pallet racks and picking shelves. The storage solutions, designed and installed by Mecalux, provide storage for more than 35,000 pallets and enhance the order picking process.

  • Pictures
  • Sportisimo's e-commerce warehouse in Czechia for sporting goods
    The Sportisimo facility consists of four physically separated zones
    The direct access to goods improves management and speeds up order prep
    The racks installed enable Sportisimo to store 35,879 pallets
    Both solutions installed streamline order picking
  • Technical Specifications
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About Sportisimo

Sportisimo is a Czech company dedicated to the sale of sporting goods: clothing, footwear, equipment, and accessories. It began doing business in 1999, and over the years, the business has strengthened its position in Czechia, where it currently has over 100 points of sale. In recent years, it has expanded its activity to other countries, opening stores in Slovakia, Romania, and Poland.

Sportisimo has sold its merchandise online since 2008 and was the first sporting goods chain in Czechia to offer this type of service. Sportisimo contacted Mecalux to outfit its warehouse in Rudná (near Prague) with one primary objective: to optimize the order preparation process — both in its physical stores and for online users — with the aim of adapting to omnichannel retail.

Increased process efficiency

The space allocated for storage has been divided into five zones. The company’s logistics efficiency has improved with the installation of two storage systems that were adapted to Sportisimo’s goods of different sizes and turnovers: pallet racks and light duty shelving.

In addition to their ability to store all types of products, both solutions streamline order preparation for both brick-and-mortar stores and online customers.

Four zones with pallet racking

The main area in the Sportisimo warehouse is made up of four physically separated sections. Each has been equipped with 26 aisles of pallet racks. The 256-foot-long by 28-foot-tall pallet racking offers total storage capacity for 35,879 pallets measuring 31.5" x 47.2" and with a maximum unit weight of 1,102 lb.

Mesh panels have been placed on a large portion of the lower levels of the pallet racks to make it possible to prepare orders with smaller SKUs. Meanwhile, the working aisles have been tailored to the size of the handling equipment used. This way, the operators can move about the warehouse safely using both forklifts and order pickers.

Likewise, Mecalux has installed underpasses that run crosswise through the racking to optimize operator travel.

The first level of these passageways is protected with electro-welded wire mesh panels to guarantee load stability and prevent materials from falling. The racks have been fitted with protectors that absorb potential impacts from forklifts and preserve the integrity of the structure.

The warehouse has loading docks on both sides of the racking, which increases effectiveness in flows and speeds up the goods receipt, loading, and dispatch processes.

Order preparation area: picking shelves

In an adjacent facility, Mecalux has set up a four-story mezzanine where orders are picked from light duty shelving. This structure leverages the height of the building and quadruples the useful storage area.

Each floor features 38 rows of picking shelves with four levels and measures 6.6' tall with a maximum length of 44'. Each storage shelf can support up to 264 lb.

The operators walk up and down the aisles using RF scanners to prepare orders. The orders are then moved to the lower level via conveyors where they are sorted, packaged, and sent to customers or to physical stores.

Advantages for Sportisimo

  • Optimal storage capacity: the pallet racks enable Sportisimo to store 35,879 pallets.
  • Efficient picking: the storage solutions ensure that order preparation is highly productive.
  • Agility in operations: the direct access to the loads improves management of SKUs and expedites order picking.
Pallet racking
Storage capacity: 35,879 pallets
Pallet size: 31.5" x 47.2"
Max. weight per pallet: 1,102 lb
Rack height: 28'

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