Clarks Case Study

New Automated Robotic Distribution Centre for UK

It all began in 1825 in the Somerset village of Street when Cyrus Clark started tanning sheepskin rugs. He was joined by his brother James who introduced sheepskin slippers in 1830. Production soon flourished helped by the purchase in 1856 of recently invented Singer sewing machines.

An early marketing success was William Clark's introduction of the 'Hygienic line', a range which followed the natural shape and line of the foot and established Clark's reputation for producing foot friendly shoes. The 1960s saw a huge success for Clarks children's shoes as their unique fitting properties set the standard for comfort and fit. Today, 180 years after it all began, Clarks is now the No.1 shoe retailer in the UK, the leading UK children's shoe brand and the world's leading shoe brand.

Ensign's secure wireless solution helps the new Westway Distribution Centre ship over one million pairs of shoes a week. The new automated robotic distribution centre in the UK, uses the Intermec CK30, being a small lightweight hand held terminal with a bright clear screen and an ideal candidate for the Clark's picking requirements. The internal Cisco certified radio meant that the unit was fully inter-operable and security compliant with the proposed Cisco wireless network. The Intermec CV60's combined flexible mounting arrangements and ruggedness was an ideal candidate for use at the dock doors. A key success factor to this project was Ensign's ability to design, manage and support the entire wireless solution, which was seen as vital to the delivery of a high availability, highly secure wireless data capture solution. Ensign provides a 24/7 managed service that combines the pro-active support and management of the wireless network with the support and management of the mobile terminals.