KNAPP receives major order for Douglas distribution center

With a new logistics center in Hamm, which will start operations in the summer of 2022, the e-commerce and supply chain service provider is tripling its capacities for Douglas and continuing its proven partnership with KNAPP AG.

KNAPP was awarded the contract to equip the new, state-of-the-art distribution center, construction of which began in December last year. On a total area of 38,000 square meters, Arvato will manage the complete logistics and fulfillment for orders from Douglas' online shops in the DACH region and the Netherlands for up to 150,000 different items.

First fully integrated beauty platform in Europe

As early as 2018, Douglas focused on the e-commerce business with its FORWARDBEAUTY strategy and expanded the company into a successful omnichannel retailer with a fast-growing online business. Now Douglas is taking a decisive step further and developing the company into the first fully integrated European beauty platform on which online shops, marketplaces and stores are networked.

KNAPP AG is supplying the distribution center with a highly dynamic shuttle system of the latest 2D generation OSR Shuttle Evo with approx. 130,000 storage locations, 32 state-of-the-art, ergonomic workstations and a storage and retrieval capacity of 12,500 containers per hour, including the entire KiSoft material flow software.

Long-term partnership with Arvato

The contract value for KNAPP is more than 50 million euros. "This is our largest investment in technical infrastructure to date," emphasizes Frank Schirrmeister, CEO of Arvato Supply Chain Solutions, underscoring the importance that state-of-the-art automation technology has today, especially for the fast-growing online business. In addition, KNAPP will provide technical support for the system as part of a service contract with on-site personnel.

"The plant at Arvato in Hamm will thus be the most modern and efficient of its kind in Germany. What we are particularly pleased about is the close partnership, also in the operation of the system, which we have been able to live for many years," says KNAPP CEO Gerald Hofer proudly.

About KNAPP

 KNAPP AG is one of the leading technology companies and offers efficient, safe and economical automation solutions for the entire value chain. In addition to customers from the wholesale, healthcare, textile logistics, food retail and production logistics sectors, KNAPP also counts well-known online and omnichannel retailers such as Asos, Boots, John Lewis, Parfum Christian Dior and Zalando among its customers.