Intersport France has lifted order-picking productivity eightfold at its national distribution center in Saint-Vulbas, after commissioning a large automation system from TGW Logistics. Work began last October and the site was formally accepted in February, once it hit its performance targets.
Operational Details
The historic warehouse, on the PIPA industrial park in the Ain, gained roughly 33,000 sqm for the project, with general contractor GSE taking the building to 77,000 sqm. The center feeds nearly 1,000 Intersport France stores, mainly with apparel and footwear, handling about 45 million pieces a year across 30,000 SKUs and 25 million items in stock. At its core sits TGW’s Flashpick goods-to-person solution, the largest in France, with more than 80,000 totes spread over 10 aisles of a Stingray shuttle system.
Automation starts at receiving, with a de-trucking island, automated sorting and robotic palletizing for homogeneous loads, plus depalletizing and carton-opening robots. The goods-to-person engine supplies 18 PickCenter One stations over two levels. On the outbound side, a three-aisle shuttle system feeds order consolidation, while three AutoStax robots build mixed pallets at a rate of 1,550 cartons an hour.
Strategic Rationale
The investment is part of a wider supply chain overhaul led by SC director Ludovic Delcroix, recruited from Auchan in mid-2021, working with consultancy Mews Partners. The retailer posted €3.91 billion in revenue in 2025 and absorbed around 60 Go Sport stores in 2023, so volume pressure was real. Centralizing flows, smoothing seasonal peaks and shortening lead times to stores were the goals. After 20 weeks of operation, logistics director Frédéric Grassart said the site had already beaten its targets, with picking productivity up eightfold and palletizing up fourfold.
