Lesley Cosmetics implements a new vertical carousel

As the exclusive distribution partner of Mary Kay, one of the leading companies specializing in the direct sale of makeup and skincare products, in Finland, Norway and Sweden, Lesley Cosmetics’ headquarters (located in Mölndal, Sweden) has a product range consisting of more than 600 SKUs.

All orders—for consultants and online customers in the Nordic market—placed in the online shop are processed and shipped from this location. In addition, all incoming orders received by the warehouse contain an average of 17 lines per order.

With this order complexity in mind, Lesley Cosmetics needed an efficient solution to reduce delivery time while also increasing order picking speed and precision. And, a flow of goods in the warehouse would not only need to be implemented, but ergonomic workstations for employees would have to be introduced.

To solve the problem, Lesley Cosmetics implemented a vertical carousel in combination with inventory management software. All items are now stored on carriers within the carousel, which operate similarly to a Ferris wheel—the carrier is brought to an ergonomically positioned pick window using the shortest path and presented to an operator for picking.

Integrated with a position indicator LED light bar, every item that needs to be picked is identified with a simple light on the position indicator, which increases picking accuracy and speed.

In fact, while picking 3,000 order lines per day, Lesley Cosmetics has increased its picking by up to 300% in some instances. Furthermore, the company is now able to pick goods and replenish its stock levels simultaneously, resulting in a much more efficient process overall.