La Brosse & Dupont opts for the flexibility of UVOTec conveyors

By choosing a flexible motorized conveyor from UVOTec, the French mid-sized company has eliminated up to 4 hours of daily non-value added travel in its logistics warehouse in Hermes (Oise). A standardized solution that the distributor chose for its flexibility and ease of installation.

In 179 years, the French ETI La Brosse & Dupont created in 1845 has been able to carry out its transformation by marketing in distribution brands a wide range of products organized around four universes: home, hairdressing and manicure, hygiene and beauty, haberdashery and footwear. The company today employs more than 900 employees, including 700 in France, and generates 193 million euros in turnover. A nearly bicentenary success that the distributor owes to its rich catalog of 10,000 references but also to perfectly controlled integrated logistics, organized around two platforms: one in Hermes and the other in Longueil-Sainte-Marie, in the department of Oise. The latter manage a volume of nearly 300,000 orders per year, representing more than 8 million preparation lines, for nearly 70 million parts sold in France and internationally.

To improve the operational efficiency of its Hermes site, which manages 4,500 references in the hairdressing, manicure, beauty, hygiene and haberdashery sectors, La Brosse et Dupont installed a 20-meter motorized flexible conveyor last October. UVOTec, the exclusive distributor of the manufacturer FMH Conveyors in France. “When I took up my position in June 2020, my mission was to improve the efficiency of order preparation operations, with the priority objective of identifying sources of waste in order to eliminate them,” recalls Maxime DHEILLY , responsible for logistics projects for the La Brosse & Dupont group. After study, we identified travel times taken on foot between our 12 ventilation stations and the 2 billing stations at the end of the line. These non-value added journeys impacted the work of three people daily who spent a total of up to 4 hours making only unnecessary journeys, a source of fatigue.” 

The elimination of flows carried out on foot

After analyzing the 100% automated tailor-made solutions offered by market integrators, La Brosse & Dupont finally turned to UVOTec conveyors for their flexibility, ease of installation and scalability. A choice explained by the logistics manager: “We already had a motorized conveyor from UVOTec on our Longueil-Sainte-Marie site, for which the collaboration went very well. When we discovered its motorized flexible conveyor, we moved from thinking about a tailor-made solution, long and complex to implement, to a completely standardized tool. Installed in just 1 hour, the plug and play conveyor perfectly suited our needs.”  Indeed, extendable, on casters and easily retractable, the conveyor allowed La Brosse & Dupont to eliminate flows carried out on foot. Where three people were needed to shuttle packages on trolleys between the ventilation stations and invoicing, it now only takes two operators who unload them directly onto the conveyor without having to travel. The third handler was assigned to an order preparation position, a more rewarding task.

Productivity gains on the billing station

In addition to better working comfort for operators, the distributor also recorded productivity gains: almost 3 hours per day on the two billing stations thanks to the greater fluidity allowed by the conveyor. Convinced by the solution, whose ROI the company evaluates at 11 months, and under the leadership of its operators, the company La Brosse & Dupont plans to install a second motorized flexible conveyor from UVOTec to extend the solution on the all ventilation stations. “Sometimes, we look for complex solutions because we want to resolve as many problems as possible on a single subject. However, there are very simple and easy to combine solutions that can save time and money. UVOTec responded to our request by offering a standard and flexible solution that perfectly met our objective” concludes Maxime DHEILLY.

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