As a global company, Fossil is specialized in the design, marketing and distribution of fashion products. In addition to fashionable watches and jewelery for women and men, handbags, small leather goods, belts, spectacles, shoes and clothing are also part of the Fossil range.

The products are marketed in department stores, retail stores, watchmaking and jewelry stores in the USA and in more than 100 countries around the world, with 23 subsidiaries and a network of more than 60 independent distributors.

Fossil also markets the well-known brands Diesel, Emporio Armani, DKNY, Burberry, Michael Kors, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Adidas, Tory Burch and Karl Lagerfeld.

From a primitive start with no IT assistance to state of the art with SAP Warehouse Management

“When we first started, it was pretty primitive”, says Joseph Otter, Director of Operations in the fossil warehouse. Logistics director Otter began his work in Bavaria with a fixed bin storage and paper-based picking without any IT applications. After almost a year Otter realized that the building was too small and the technology was not sufficient enough to keep up with the rising sales.

An SAP solution with radio data integration – where the scanner transmits the data in real time to the central SAP system in America – should get the warehouse ready for the future. The proprietary company in the United States had already introduced the business standard software “SAP R/3” from the German software company SAP.

The subsidiaries were then connected to the central SAP system in America, including the warehouse in Bavaria. By introducing the new software, Fossil promised advantages in material flow, in inventory control, in communication and in reporting throughout the company. For example the availability in all other warehouses was now visible worldwide.

Rollout of the picking solution

After connecting to the centrally hosted SAP solution in Dallas the Chiemsee rollout of picking based on mobile data devices started. As a result, the error rate dropped by more than 90 percent.

The SAP system leads the pickers by showing them the shortest possible route through the aisles. Mostly small delivery quantities allow the combining of up to 16 jobs at one sorting pass. Fossil and SERKEM have developed the solution based on SAP.

Integration of container conveyor technology including Pick-by-Light

In level II in 2006 a container handling technology including Pick by Light was built. That led to a continuous increase in pick number while having constant workforce in the following years.

In level III in 2008 both the leather and the clothing store were relocated to service providers. These service providers also use the functions of the central SAP system of Fossil.

AKL integration in SAP

To be able to cope with future growth, an automated small parts warehouse with about 65000 storage locations was integrated in level IV into the SAP processes covering returns, replenishment, stock receipts, picking and outgoing goods. In addition, RFID processes and a Pack & Hold function were integrated to smoothen peaks at the end of the month.

Alle Prozesse im zentralen SAP-System von Fossil

Since all processes run in the central SAP system global transparency is given, and a global usage of functionalities for example in the warehouse in Hong Kong is possible.