ASDA & Clipper Logistics
Customer Case
Automated Packaging Agility for Click & Collect
ASDA is one of the largest supermarkets, convenience, home, fashion and general merchandise stores in the UK, serving over 19 million customers every week. Customer service is a core focus for the company, and this extends to their fast order processing, efficient packaging and reliable delivery. Picking and packing some 31,000 units a day of general merchandise at peak is a big challenge – one the retailer’s logistics service provider, Clipper Logistics, undertakes with great dexterity.
The Challenge
- Reduce volume of oversized packaging and save on materials spend
- Boost operational packaging efficiency to eliminate congestion
- Reduce manual labor dependence, especially during peak periods
- Accelerate packing speeds to meet customer demands and rapidly growing George.com home business.
We wanted to move towards a right-size packaging solution as we saw huge benefits from reducing the amount of corrugate we used, as well as getting more parcels on a trailer through building smaller boxes. To support the continued rapid growth in our George.com business, we needed to provide more packing capacity, as our current packing machines were fully utilized at peak times.
Andrew Coffey | Senior Manager for Engineering Development & Innovation at ASDA Logistics Services
The Solution
Customer service is a core focus for the business and this extends to the fulfillment operation with all its attendant requirements for fast order processing, efficient packing and reliable delivery. “During peak we were experiencing congestion within our existing automation,” said Graham Thornley, operations manager of the ASDA contract at Clipper Logistics. “We process around 31,000 units on a daily basis at peak, so that put pressure on our workforce for at least three months of the year.”
ASDA and Clipper implemented the CVP Impack in 2019, an inline automated packaging solution that measures, constructs, tapes, weighs and labels each order ever seven seconds while creating a custom-fit parcel using only one operator. The performance of the CVP Impack has exceeded expectations for both ASDA and Clipper Logistics. Following the installation of the machine, ASDA has been able to lower their shipping volume by 50% and eliminate one 40ft shipping trailer per day, which has an added significant environmental benefit. In addition, ASDA expects to purchase 30% less corrugate while shipping the same volume of packages.
“The CVP Impack has allowed us to dramatically increase the number of boxes that we can get on a pallet – that’s 60 boxes per pallet as opposed to 30. That’s a significant cost savings over a year and reduces CO2,” says Andrew Coffey, senior manager for engineering development and innovation at ASDA Logistics.
There are important advantages to ASDA customers as well. 65% of ecommerce orders are click & collect from an ASDA store. By creating custom packaging for each order, the customer receives a compact, right-sized box that is more convenient to carry, eliminates ‘consumer distress’ over wasteful packaging and delivers a positive environmental message.
The uptime and performance is great, and the ROI has outperformed our projections. The CVP has hit just about every metric we set for it. Saving one vehicle a day was over and above what was stated in our business case – we’re very pleased with how its performing.
Andrew Coffey | Senior Manager for Engineering Development & Innovation at ASDA Logistics Services
