Kiddicare ends shouting and paper chase

Baby and children's equipment retailer Kiddicare has gone live with a warehouse management system to automate stock control in its £16m distribution centre (DC).

silicon.com Retail & Leisure

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Speaking to silicon.com, Scott Weavers-Wright, MD of Kiddicare said he hoped the bespoke system developed in collaboration with K3, will increase picking productivity by 100 per cent.

He said: "Up to now the warehouse has been using a paper-based system. It involved lots of people shouting to each other across the floor and inevitably pallets went missing. With the new system, pallets are received using a handheld PC and instructions are automatically sent to the truck drivers who have to confirm where the pallet is stored."

The new system has eliminated administration processes and made sure picking stations never run out of stock.

The £16m 160,000sq ft DC was opened in April, along with a new Kiddicare superstore in Peterborough. The DC processes about 200 pallets of goods daily, with around 2,500 items picked per day and 3,500 Stock Keeping Units live at any one time.

Although Kiddicare operates out of a large format superstore, 80 per cent of its business comes through its website. The company is expected to turnover £35m for the current financial year.