French textile brand Damart has commissioned a high-cadence sorting installation at its 56,000-sqm distribution centre in Hem, near Roubaix, in a project led by Lyon-based software publisher and integrator Enjoy Automation. The system is dedicated to managing customer returns and to preparing B2B shipments for the brand’s retail network, and was redeployed from a previous installation rather than purchased new.
From Camaïeu’s Closed Site to Damart’s Returns Hub
The sorter had originally been operated by logistics provider Dispeo on behalf of fashion retailer Camaïeu at a nearby site that closed at the end of 2024. After the Camaïeu shutdown, the equipment was dismantled by Viaposte and stored at C-Log, both of which are clients of Enjoy Automation. The asset was then reinstalled at Damart’s Hem facility, with full mechanical and software start-up completed in less than six months. The configuration centres on an Equinox high-cadence split-tray, or Bombay-type, sorter equipped with six injection stations and 164 chutes, complemented by a waste-evacuation circuit and a dedicated outbound shipping line.
Three-Phase Deployment, WCS at the Core
The project unfolded in three sequential phases: physical transfer and reassembly, also handled by Viaposte; go-live for returns processing; and finally activation of order preparation flows destined for Damart stores. The second and third phases involved the deployment of Enjoy Automation’s WCS solution for piloting and supervising automated equipment, interfaced with the Hardis Group WMS, which generates and dispatches operational missions. Inside the WCS, those missions are translated into operational instructions and pushed to a new Beckhoff PLC for execution.
6,000 Items and 1,000 Parcels per Hour
The orchestration layer is described as agnostic, communicating natively with both reused equipment and newly integrated assets, including Interroll conveyors on the materials-handling side and Datalogic reading arches for identification and traceability. With the new installation in place, Damart can now sort up to 6,000 items per hour and ship as many as 1,000 parcels per hour from the Hem site. The project also reflects a wider intralogistics trend toward extending the lifecycle of automation assets, where redeploying refurbished equipment offers a faster route to performance gains and a lower environmental footprint than building from scratch.
