AutoStore | Site Visit | XXL

XXL is a leading sporting goods chain with stores and e-commerce in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Austria. We have three warehouses: one in Norway, Sweden and Austria. We offer a wide variety of sporting, outdoor and fishing goods. We have about 5,500 employees, and we had sales of NOK 10.4 billion in 2020. Today, we have a total of 158,000 bins spread over 8,000 square meters at the facility you see behind me. We started with 10,000 bins in 2010. We have a total of 86 robots and 23 works

tations, of which 22 are CarouselPorts and one is a RelayPort. Today we pick in two different ways at our facility. One is picking goods for stores, and the other is picking for online customers. There's little difference. One goes directly to stores, the other directly to our customers, but the system works the same way. In 2010, we had a different warehouse than what you see in the background here, where we mainly had pallet racking and lift trucks. We had issues with space and where to store

our goods. We have many small items, so we started looking for other solutions. We had contracted this new warehouse, but we needed a temporary solution. We contacted Element and AutoStore. We decided on AutoStore. We saw the potential benefits because we have many smaller items, and we liked AutoStore's concept. We started off with 10,000 bins and ten robots. From the outset, we needed a system that could grow with XXL, that could follow our development and help us to develop as well. AutoStore

has done so the entire time. Thanks to this system, we have been able to develop in terms of efficiency and logistics. First and foremost, we had space issues. We needed a more efficient way to store our goods, and not least a more efficient solution for getting goods out to customers. Efficiency has always been important to us, to make sure we have satisfied customers. We really liked the AutoStore concept. We had several meetings where we saw how the system worked and what it could offer. We

were unsure if AutoStore was the right system for our products, because it was so new at that time. But we liked the idea. Now, we have had AutoStore for years, and we don't regret it for a second. It has improved our logistics and shortened shipping times to our customers. That makes for satisfied customers. The greatest advantage of AutoStore is efficiency compared to manual picking, with a lift truck, for example. The system is very reliable, with excellent uptime. In addition, it's easy to l

earn. It only takes a few minutes to learn to use the system independently. It gives us a great advantage. In 2010, we started here at Gardermoen with a relatively small facility of 10,000 bins and ten robots. Today, it's Norway's largest AutoStore facility, with over 158,000 bins. In 2013, we installed XXL's AutoStore facility in Sweden, and in 2021, we did the same in Austria. The collaboration between XXL, Element and AutoStore has been excellent. It's easy to submit support tickets, and foll

ow-up and communication are great. We consider ourselves more partners than customers. The collaboration between XXL and Element Logic is crucial in the after-market phase we are in now. The systems must be up and running. We have a guaranteed uptime of over 98% at the facilities. Then you must have a close relationship with the distributor and the players in terms of maintenance, support desks and more, so that both we and our customers get the expected value out of the facility. One might expe

ct challenges in connection with expansions. It has been a great journey for both Element Logic and XXL. We have not experienced any major challenges so far. We have solved nearly all issues on the same day, so construction could continue. What's unique is that we have maintained uptime during the construction phase, and had full production at the facilities even during expansions. XXL's facilities are special in the sense that they started small, but have become Norway's largest AutoStore facil

ity. Precisely this scalability is unique with XXL's facility. As the distributor, we help dimension for the customer. We start by dimensioning how big it may become. Then we optimize the investment based on current needs. We have expanded our system a total of eight times. The last time was in January 2020, when we added 30,000 bins. We did it while the system was operating. It only took about a month until the system was 100% up and running. We didn't experience any issues using the system as

normal during the expansion. We moved and expanded one part of the system at a time. The system was in full operation, with no issues, despite the expansion. Together with Element, our IT department created a third-party integration. Axapta, which we use, works with EWMS, which we have from Element. What Element Logic brings to the table is this software that runs on top, or between, the customer's WMS or ERP systems and the AutoStore software. Simply put, an AutoStore facility like this one her

e, functions almost like a library, but without a librarian who knows where the book is or if it is actually available, even a great library or AutoStore would be useless. Our unique contribution is our eManager, our software, which does this job. It's like having a librarian. There hasn't been a big difference in the way we work during the pandemic. Our ports are separated. We can work independently. We maintain social distance. That's helped us keep operations going. We haven't had any obstacl

es at work due to the pandemic. We've had this RelayPort since 2019, when we had the chance to try it, and we've been very happy with it ever since. It has an uptime of nearly 100% and we produce up to 30% more on that port than on a regular CarouselPort. It costs more because it takes up a little more space at our facility, but we feel it is worth it because it produces so much more. If you are considering, or have just purchased, AutoStore, my tip is to have a plan from the start. We already h

ad an expansion plan when we bought AutoStore. And we've followed that plan. For our eighth and most recent expansion, we already had a plan in 2010 for how we wanted to expand the system. That is a great advantage in planning. We recommend new customers to focus on that.