Scaling a Global 3PL's Fashion Warehouse for Peak-Season Online Demand
SF-DHL Supply Chain (SF Holding & DHL Supply Chain Joint Venture)
Results at a Glance
The Challenge
SF-DHL Supply Chain — a joint venture of SF Holding and DHL Supply Chain — operates a fashion-brand fulfilment centre serving B2B replenishment, B2C e-commerce and returns processing. During China's major online shopping peaks (618 in June and 11.11 in November), order volumes can multiply several times over in hours. The existing manual warehouse was under pressure on two fronts: it could not add enough pickers fast enough to hit outbound service levels, and the shelving layout was optimised for walking access, not storage density. Adding more SKUs meant running out of storage space; adding more pickers meant more aisle congestion. The solution had to fit inside the existing footprint, survive the variety of a fashion-brand SKU catalogue, and be installed and commissioned fast enough to be ready before peak season.
The Solution
An ACR goods-to-person system replaced manual shelf picking: 9 Autonomous Case-handling Robots move totes to and from high-bay shelving up to 4 m tall, eliminating walking time and unlocking vertical storage. Three ergonomic workstations keep operators in one place while the robots deliver exactly the right tote — reducing fatigue, errors and training time for peak-season hires. Warehouse orchestration software with path-planning and depth algorithms coordinates every robot, tote and order in real time, integrated with the client's WMS. Kanban visual management provides real-time status on orders, robots and workstations. Physical installation was completed in 7 days, with the full system live 1 month from project kickoff — so the site was ready in time for peak season.
Systems Used
- 9 ACR robots (4.2 m reach)
- 3 ergonomic goods-to-person workstations
- Warehouse orchestration software with WMS integration
- Kanban visual management
- 7-day physical installation
Why This Matters for South African Operations
Fashion e-commerce has an unforgiving rhythm: long planning cycles followed by sharp, concentrated peaks around promotional events. 3PLs are paid on service-level performance through those peaks, not on the average day. Manual warehouses hit a ceiling quickly — more SKUs means more shelving, more shelving means more walking, more walking means more pickers. This project is a template for 3PLs and brand-owned warehouses that need to break that ceiling without building a new DC. And because the system can be installed in days rather than months, it is realistic to target a specific peak-season window as the go-live date.
Partner Technology Case Study
This project was delivered using automation technology from Allied Automation's manufacturing partners. Allied Automation supplies, integrates and supports the same technology platforms across South Africa and Africa. The results and specifications shown are those of the original deployment.
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