In the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, Chantelle Lingerie is expanding its activities and becoming a producer of masks for non-health related professionals. This is a major challenge, which relies on the efficient and optimized logistics solutions offered by its long-term partner, the SAVOYE Group.
As a lingerie designer founded in 1876, the Chantelle Lingerie Group employs 5,500 people focusing on the development of six brands: Chantelle, Passionata, Chantal Thomass, Femilet, Livera and Darjeeling. The company specifically uses its logistics site in Corbie, in the Somme region, to supply its 11,000 points of sale around the world. This logistics platform was enlarged – from 14,000 to 20,000 m2 – and modernized in 2007 with the assistance of the intralogistics specialist, Savoye: “Our partnership with Savoye dates back many years, but in 2007, managing the extension of our transitic system marked a turning point. This massive undertaking sealed our collaboration”, remembers PHILIPPE SOPHYS, Distribution Logistics Director at Chantelle Lingerie.
The logistic site in Corbie in the Somme
A powerful logistics tool supporting a fourfold increase in productivity
The entire facility was revamped. Savoye added four new stacker cranes, with the first two, comprising display units, used for high-speed picking, as well two others dedicated to specific services. On site, the company offers its clients customized order preparation: the addition of anti-theft systems or labels and hanging garments, are just some of the services available. All the mechanization tools are controlled by Savoye’s Logys WCS (warehouse control system). Thanks to pick-to-light technology, Chantelle has quadrupled the productivity of its picking, which handles around 15 million items annually. 550,000 individual consignments are now shipped every year from the Corbie platform: “The facilities put in place by Savoye allow us to maintain this pace”, emphasizes PHILIPPE SOPHYS. The customization of orders offers us a competitive advantage, which we have been able to develop thanks to Savoye’s tools. Today, this flow represents around 92 % of our consignments and we have the means to manage it optimally.” Ten years later, in order to continue its logistical optimization, Chantelle opted for the LM TMS transport management system developed by SAVOYE. The aim? To digitize and energize transport management, which had previously been a manual process. “We are now maintaining closer relationships with carriers and are seeing an improvement in the quality of the service offered to our clients”, he continues.
An agile supply chain to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic
With its efficient logistics and faced with the global health emergency, the Chantelle Group decided to devote its production tools to combating the worldwide pandemic caused by Covid-19. Having worked on prototypes for masks and having submitted them to the French Defense Procurement Agency, the company began producing masks in all its factories. These masks, initially intended for the group’s employees and partners, as well as charities, now form the subject of sizable orders, in particular from a large hardware-store chain for 100,000 units, as well as from the National Council of Automotive Professionals (CNPA) for one million masks. “Whatever the environment and the context, the company, and more specifically its supply chain, needs to be agile. Faced with this crisis, it is essential to increase its ability to adapt and to adjust to the issues encountered in the world in which we are living”, concludes PHILIPPE SOPHYS, Distribution Logistics Director at Chantelle Lingerie.