URBN & TGW Logistics
A Partnership in Innovation
Fulfillment Center of the Future
URBN, a portfolio of global consumer brands, is passionate about creativity—and about their customers. URBN aims to provide a unique and inspiring shopping experience while making a real connection. To meet their company’s growing demand, URBN turned to TGW Logistics to design, install, and maintain an ambitious fulfillment center in Kansas City, Kansas. KC1 is a greenfield automation site, custom-designed from the ground up to meet URBN’s needs. The installation is the largest project either company has ever tackled, and its success today shows what is possible when two visionary companies dream together.
URBN faced a capacity challenge and needed channel flexibility as part of its solution. KC1’s streamlined warehouse automation depends upon TGW Logistics’ state-of-the-art FlashPick system, which uses an efficient shuttle network to handle 625K tote positions and 300K order lines a day—with plenty of room to grow. Best of all, the system empowers URBN to achieve its most important goal, a goal we share at TGW Logistics: giving customers the best possible experience. KC1’s flexibility, scalability, and cost-efficiency have positioned URBN to continue its trajectory of growth and customer care for years to come.
Solution at a Glance
Challenges
- Labor scarcity
- Fast growth, with fluctuations in sales channels
- Minimize need for additional DCs in the future
- Support different branding, packaging, and VAS
- Global standardization of processes
Impact
- Reduced labor, with training times of <1 hour
- Fulfill >300,000 order lines/day—any channel, any time
- KC1 is 50% more efficient than legacy network
- Multiple packing operations to meet branding and SLA needs
- Standardization of automation systems with UK facility
The Backstory: From UK Upgrade to US Greenfield Automation Site
URBN is a portfolio of global consumer brands comprised of Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Free People, Nuuly, and more. The company values creativity, ingenuity, and passion, and those values motivate and inform everything they do. Because we at TGW Logistics also emphasize out-of-the-box creativity, and our mission is to enable our customers’ success, the partnership has been harmonious from the start.
URBN first turned to TGW Logistics when it was looking to upgrade its existing facility in Peterborough, UK. At the same time, the company was looking to expand in North America. They needed to design and install a flexible, scalable facility that could grow along with their growing company. They already had distribution centers on the east and west coasts of the US, but they wanted a facility that could cover most of the US from the middle of the country. The new facility would need to support different branding, packaging, and VAS. With retail sales predicted to increase, URBN needed a system that excels in meeting their needs while also providing reliable, efficient, and channel-agnostic order fulfillment. It was time to expand the partnership with TGW Logistics and head across the Atlantic Ocean.
As the planning phase got underway, URBN knew TGW Logistics would prioritize creativity and collaboration, just as they do. “TGW is a thought partner,” says Kellen Wadach, URBN’s Chief Supply Officer. “They come to the table with solutions, and they live by our mantra, which is ‘Lead with creativity.’” Together, we began to envision what a US greenfield automation site would look like for URBN.
It soon became evident that URBN’s new US facility would be the most significant project either company has ever undertaken, and both companies embraced the challenge. URBN needed the new greenfield automation warehouse to be large enough to handle 50 to 60 percent of their demand. Jeff Rhodes, Director of Sales for TGW Logistics, recalls, “We realized this was a much bigger project than what was going on in Peterborough: three times the size.”
URBN needed to house 125,000 SKUs, 625,000 tote positions, and get over 300,000 order lines out the door daily—with room to expand in the future. At TGW Logistics, we believed it was possible.
The result? KC1, an innovative warehouse in Kansas City, Kansas, which is now URBN’s flagship fulfillment center. KC1 has six shuttle aisles for reserve storage, and each aisle is 60 feet high and 400 feet long—the largest shuttle aisles TGW Logistics has installed in the US to date. Those six shuttle aisles feed 18 FlashPick shuttle aisles, totaling 625,000 tote positions. The FlashPick aisles then feed 48 PickCenter One workstations. Picked orders then are conveyed to large packaging and VAS areas for final preparation before outbound. Together, this enormous system allows URBN to get its orders out in as little as 10 minutes.
Proven Technology for Fashion Logistics, Retail Logistics, and More
In addition to the like-minded creative partnership, URBN also chose to partner with TGW Logistics for practical reasons: “First and foremost, it came down to a capacity challenge,” says Wadach. “We needed to solve for that growth. Beyond the growth, we had to solve for channel flexibility, and that’s something we really looked for in the solution, as well as product flexibility.”
After benefitting from TGW Logistics’ improvements to their Peterborough facility, Wadach and the URBN team were confident that TGW Logistics’ systems could handle their needs for the new stateside facility: “The automation there lent itself very well to the expansion we were looking to do here in North America.” In KC1, Wadach and his team would need more than just a greenfield automation solution provider. “We were looking for an integrator, and TGW came to the table with just that.”
The Future of Retail
As URBN and TGW Logistics collaborated to design the new warehouse, the design solution became clear: URBN needed FlashPick.
Inside the KC1 facility, FlashPick combines industry-leading material handling equipment with the TGW Logistics' warehouse execution system. Shuttles store and retrieve SKUs in totes, then transport them to manual picking workstations using a high-speed conveyor network. The SKUs and order totes or cartons arrive at the picking station in perfect sequence for delivery. After picking, the system automatically restores unused goods while directing the order totes or cartons to the shipping area.
Flexible, Scalable, and Cost-Efficient
Jeff Rhodes and the TGW Logistics team see FlashPick as the future of retail. “The solution is flexible, it’s scalable, and it allows for better SLAs, lower costs, and higher internal investments,” says Rhodes.
FlashPick’s benefits for KC1 and other facilities include:
- Efficiency: Achieves earlier delivery and/or later order fulfillment
- Flexibility: Easily adapts to changes in SKUs and/or product ranges
- Scalability: Positions companies for growth with no limitations in system size
- Lower cost: Saves money through energy-efficient, low-maintenance components
- Channel agnostic: Manages orders from any distribution channel at any time, in any priority
- Adaptability: Can be easily scaled for peak seasons to handle increased order loads
- Future-proof: Resilient systems run efficiently no matter how the sales or order types fluctuate
Versatile Packing and VAS Area
URBN’s unique packaging needs require a distribution center with versatile packaging options. KC1’s large packing and VAS area is equipped with these capabilities:
Even though the new facility houses a wide range of SKUs, from clothing to home goods and more, KC1’s packaging capabilities facilitate extremely lean picking and packing operations. They also allow URBN to provide personalized customer experiences with distinct packaging for each brand. Because TGW Logistics’ automation "plays well with others," it was easy for the KC1 facility to integrate other technologies, like third-party packaging automation.
An Omni Channel Solution for Fashion Logistics and More
Because URBN comprises multiple brands drawing customers from many channels, they needed a channel-agnostic system. Wadach says, “The omni channel node in Kansas really allows us the optimal flexibility to go and fulfill all of our channels: stores, digital customers, and even into our wholesale channel, and TGW did a great job delivering for us a solution that is agnostic.”
As an omni channel solution, FlashPick empowers URBN to continuously fulfill any mix of orders—retail, ecommerce, or wholesale—from one system and change priorities on the fly without losing efficiency. Bottom line, Rhodes says, “Omni channel allows URBN to bring all their units into one facility and seamlessly ship them to their customers at a lower cost from a centralized network.”
Put all this together, and in KC1, URBN has an integrated, dynamic system that pushes over 300,000 order lines out the door every day, with capacity for more in the future. And the system is fast. Once an order is allocated, URBN can get it into a trailer and ready to ship in as little as 10 minutes.
Employee Well-Being
At KC1, URBN can fully train new employees within a couple of hours. Training on the PickCenter One stations is especially efficient: It typically takes less than twenty minutes to get a new hire up to full picking rate. This efficiency is especially important during URBN’s peak season when they usually bring in additional workers.
Multiple elements combine to create a positive work environment for KC1 employees. The automation is intuitive, and the computer interface is simple, allowing workers to decant, pick, and pack accurately and confidently. And picking at a PickCenter One is more ergonomic than traditional and competitive workstations, which benefits employee well-being while also reducing turnover.
Ongoing, On-site Support
Once KC1 was up and running, the partnership between TGW Logistics and URBN only grew stronger. “TGW is really from beginning to end,” says TGW Logistics’ Jeff Rhodes. “We helped plan the building, we manufactured the equipment, we designed it, we installed it, we brought it up until it went live. And now our team is on board helping the URBN team run the facility.”
Daily Support
Every day, TGW Logistics has 35 Lifetime Services members working on the warehouse floor, supporting URBN’s ongoing work. They maintain the facility, troubleshoot, and perform preventative maintenance to keep KC1 running smoothly and without interruption. That support helps the URBN team maintain 98-percent automation system availability every single day.
In assessing what it took to launch a complex greenfield facility with automation successfully, Chief Supply Officer Wadach says, “Having an onsite team has been very beneficial so far. Like any launch, there were some hiccups along the way, but having TGW’s expertise here on-site helped work through those initial launch problems, and it’s continued to be a great partner today.”
Meaningful Partnership
The URBN and TGW Logistics teams working in KC1 don’t view themselves as separate entities; they are partners pursuing a common goal. “We literally call ourselves one team working together,” says Michael Elliott, Director of Lifetime Services for TGW North America. “We call out operational issues during the day, and we work together on solving those issues. And in the end, that’s what it’s all about: the customer getting the best service from our department.”
Forrest Lewis, a Site Engineering Manager for TGW Logistics, echoes that sentiment: “The goal of an onsite LTS team is to add value to our customers’ business, but do it in a way that promotes a culture where our own teammates can thrive and be friends with each other.”
A Culture of Shared Success and Growth
URBN is already seeing a huge cost and throughput efficiency from the automation: KC1 is 50% more efficient than their legacy network. As a result, URBN plans to run even more orders through KC1 in the future. To do so, they need to scale up the automation. Thankfully, TGW and URBN planned for scale in the initial design.
Building and launching KC1 has been rewarding on multiple levels for both TGW Logistics and URBN. The dreaming, planning, and building were a team effort, and now everyone is reaping the rewards. Looking back on the experience, URBN's Chief Development Officer, David Ziel, expresses a deep sense of pride and satisfaction: “Every employee and every executive in TGW and URBN, when they go into the building now, the success that they feel, the pride that they feel that we accomplished it—and not only we accomplished it, but to see the pride of it actually employing those people and functioning [at] the high anticipated productivity levels—the largest project by either group to date… wonderful.” He adds, “I can define it as the perfect project.”
Are you looking to grow?
Is your company looking for flexibility, scalability, and a supportive partner as you expand? Contact TGW Logistics today to discuss how we can work together to make your growth possible.
