The BLONDEL Group is a supply chain expert specializing in industrial logistics, and AIRBUS is one of its leading clients. BLONDEL places its human capital at the heart of its CSR policy in its pursuit of an ambitious objective: a business volume of 300 million euros in 2023. Currently undergoing strong growth – over 45% in the space of 5 years – BLONDEL is a family-owned group with a workforce of 3000 and over 400,000 m2 in warehousing surface distributed across 40 sites, 12 of which are dedicated to industrial logistics in the service of 80 clients in France, the Maghreb and Canada.
BLONDEL’s Rochefort site is the jewel in the crown of its aerologistics division. As logistics provider to AIRBUS, it shares the conviction of the parent company that the primary objective of innovation is to improve working conditions for employees - with a consequent gain in performance.
After AIRBUS announced in 2021 that it would be stepping up production, the BLONDEL Group decided to equip its Rochefort facility with an automation solution enabling it to accelerate its picking operations and improve working conditions for its employees. In addition to the ability to manage significant volumes, the solution makes picking operations less arduous, eliminates the need to move around, prevents stress and musculoskeletal disorders, and reduces the need for shift work, frequently the source of stress and other problems.
With SCALLOG’s Goods to Man robotics solution, robots carry the requested items to the operators on mobile shelf units. For Groupe BLONDEL, faced with the need to step up its productivity without compromising on working conditions, the SCALLOG solution was exactly what it was looking for.
Management at the Rochefort site got involved right from the start of the project to inform employees of the challenges, objectives and benefits of a robotics solution - notably improved working conditions and far fewer errors, a major source of stress. After selecting the SCALLOG system, Groupe BLONDEL applied the Kaizen method of continuous improvement (Kai – change; Zen – good) to get its employees on board with every stage in the adoption of new processes and practices.
The Rochefort site now accommodates a SCALLOG-equipped automated warehouse of 515 m² surface area, with 2 picking stations, 6 Boby robots and 176 mobile shelf units holding 10,000 SKUs - over 40% of the items processed - and accounting for over 50% of the site’s picking operations. By 2024, the SCALLOG solution is expected to handle 80% of picking operations in the warehouse.
Groupe BLONDEL has already improved its storage efficiency by over 30% and achieved a twofold increase in productivity at its Rochefort site. The final objective - a fivefold increase in productivity - should be reached in 2024 after the full rollout of the SCALLOG solution. Another benefit: as every stage of the picking operation is monitored by the system, picking errors have fallen by 85%.
