Progressive approach at IKEA - Interview with Hans Vandijck

At IKEA, they are working on innovative solutions for a sustainable future. We spoke Hans Vandijck, Fulfilment Development & MCN Manager at IKEA about the latest innovations and what strategy they are adopting for the warehouse of the future leading up to the conference Logistics Hotspots & Warehousing at May 23, 2024.

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Q1: CAN YOU FIRST EXPLAIN IN 3 SENTENCES WHAT DRIVES YOU WITHIN YOUR POSITION?

I am driven by the search for continuous improvement, believing that simplicity is the key to effective innovation. Innovation must have a clear purpose and add value. Following trends or hypes without a clear purpose can lead to a waste of time and money. Therefore, a clear understanding of the needs, goals and challenges that you are trying to solve is crucial.

Q2: IKEA IS VERY PROGRESSIVE IN SOLUTIONS. WHAT IS THE REASON WHY DRONES WERE CHOSEN?

Drones are a good example of innovation with a purpose. Proper inventory control is essential to a good customer experience. Today, the drones perform inventory checks automatically, making this much more efficient and frequent.

It is also better for the employee, since taking inventory in a warehouse is not a safe and ergonomic task and is very repetitive. So advantageous for the customer, the company and the employee.

Today the drones help our employees with inventory, but we believe the "use-case" for the drones in the near future could be more than just inventory. (Shelf checks and checking proper pallet placement are examples of this).

Q3: HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH INNOVATIONS IN THIS AREA? HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR IKEA TO BE INNOVATIVE?

I am not doing this alone, there is a whole team behind this. At the global level, a network has been established that acts as a catalyst for innovations; DIN, Development and Innovation Networks.

Innovations, new ideas can be bottom-up or top-down. IKEA is a global company and this way we don't want every country or unit to have to reinvent the wheel.

Regarding image, to give drones as an example again, for this innovation we won the Mercurius Prize which got a lot of media attention. This is nice but it also strengthens the innovative image of IKEA Belgium.

Q4: WHAT INNOVATION AT IKEA ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?

Most recently, those will be drones and the COSS-T or Collectomat, an automated solution for storing Collect orders on an IKEA cart. IKEA Zaventem and IKEA Amsterdam are pilot stores for IKEA Global to test this solution. In this way we can offer 24/7 pickup, including before and after store opening and very important for Belgium, also on Sundays.

But in addition to these innovations, there is also a lot to improve and optimize within current processes, which too can make a big difference and be satisfying once implemented.

Q5: WHAT FOR YOU MAKES THE WAREHOUSE OF THE FUTURE? WHAT WOULD THAT LOOK LIKE IN YOUR EXPERIENCE?

For IKEA, this will be more of a store of the future. IKEA wants to transform its stores, the store will remain a physical store, an experience center for customers, but at the same time we want to transform our stores into fulfilment (logistics) units. Our strategy is to invest in our existing units and fully optimize them before opening new units.

This is the model we apply:

Q6: WHAT INNOVATION AND/OR SOLUTION ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON AT IKEA FOR THE WAREHOUSE OF THE FUTURE? 

We need to automate more of our operations in IKEA Belgium. Not to replace people, but simply to meet the changing needs of customers without increasing the pressure on staff.

IKEA is 40 years old in Belgium, we can say that for 35 years we were a purely physical retailer with a do-it-yourself business model where we expect the customer to do as much as possible themselves.

The growth is in online and in orders with a service, which means more is expected of our logistics workers. To keep IKEA profitable and affordable and to maintain and improve the working conditions of co-workers, we have to adapt to this.

Here are some examples of our automation projects.

Want to learn more and talk further with Hans Vandijck? Come to the Logistics Hotspots & Warehousing and participate! Use the promotional code LogisticsHotspots100 and get €100 discount. You can sign up using the button below.