Adidas Casestudy

Total Logistics Helps Sportswear Giant Find The
Winning Formula
European supply chain specialist, Total Logistics, provided a supply chain rationalisation solution to adidas,
leading worldwide supplier of sportswear and equipment. The successful project consolidated four
distribution centres into a single, new 30,000 m2 facility at Trafford Park in Manchester, providing cost
savings as well as capacity to deal with future volumes and expansion.
The Challenge
When adidas, one of the global leaders in the sporting goods industry, took over sporting brands Reebok
and Rockport, the company wanted to take advantage of the synergies and efficiencies that could be
achieved by consolidating inventory from five key brands addidas, Reebok, TaylorMade, Rockport and
Ashworth.
At this time, adidass Northern European operations, serving leading retailers in the UK, Ireland and
Benelux, was split between four conventional warehouses, each using different systems and processes,
with the overspill being handled by third parties.
5a Market Place, Wokingham, UK, RG40 1AL Noordhoven 19b, 6042 NW Roermond, Netherlands
T: +44 (0)118 977 3027 | F: +44 (0)118 989 0081 T: +31 (0)475 322 306
E: [email protected] E: [email protected]
An analysis of the merged companys distribution network highlighted that an initial investment in supply
chain rationalisation would achieve economies of scale, providing benefits which could shape the adidas
distribution strategy for Europe and wider markets.
Total Logistics, appointed as lead consultants on the project, recommended and oversaw the rationalisation
of four distribution centres into a single 20 million automated site in Trafford Park, Manchester.
The Solution
Following Total Logistics recommendation, they developed a concept for a 30,000 m2 fully automated
facility. This was implemented in just 18 months, including the implementation of a new warehouse
management system. The procedures took into account the current requirements of all five brands, the new
facility layout and requirements this brought, as well as the overarching adidas warehouse management
system requirements.
The Trafford Park facility has become the best practice benchmark and set a framework for future adidas
implementations throughout the globe. Some of the technologies used were new to adidas, and are now
being adopted in other facilities within the adidas group.
Andy Keith, managing director at Total Logistics said: Consolidation within any mature market such as
sports retailing, often results in legacy systems being plugged together in the hope that bigger will mean
better. As was proven with the adidas project, an understanding of the supply chain processes at a detailed
level, can identify potential efficiencies on a scale that can provide significant results.
The key to the success of the adidas project was designing a system to support the organisations need for
flexibility. Through automation, the new facility is able to handle orders for a range of customer formats,
such as small orders for small stores, through to major launches of new football club kits. The initial aim for
the new site to increase productivity by 66 percent was actually exceeded by almost 100 percent.
The automated system handles over 65,000 SKUs and has allowed the area allocated to manual picking to
be cut by two thirds. The automated system delivers further efficiency benefits over a manual operation as
the seasonal nature of the business means the resource schedule continually changes. More than 40,000
loose items can now be picked per day. And, as a result of the space savings, contracted-out value added
services have been accommodated in house.
Total Logistics successfully managed the entire construction, equipment installation, commissioning and go
-live for the automated distribution centre. The project increased productivity and lowered the cost base for
distribution in the UK, exceeding the benefits stated in the business case.
Tim Adams, global warehousing project director, adidas, is delighted with the success of the project; Due
T: +44 (0)118 977 3027 | F: +44 (0)118 989 0081 T: +31 (0)475 322 306
to sheer volume, size and complexity, the project was seen as a tremendous challenge from the outset. Our
expectations of the projects value were exceeded and the independent contribution made by Total
Logistics was invaluable.
Automation has allowed us to handle a lot of volume in a relatively small amount of space, which keeps
our overhead costs down. It has allowed us to be far more flexible, enabling a range of possibilities from the
picking of cartons to an individual pair of shoes and allows us to achieve greater order accuracy.
The system allows us to balance work over several peaks and troughs between brands and enables us to
be more responsive to our customers weve been able to turn around big orders in a very short period of
time, and customers have fewer deliveries through consolidation.
Dematic
T: +44 (0)118 977 3027 | F: +44 (0)118 989 0081 T: +31 (0)475 322 306

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What challenges did adidas face that led them to consolidate their distribution centers?

What was Total Logistics' proposed solution to adidas' distribution challenges?

Total Logistics Helps Sportswear Giant Find The

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