Five Times Greater Output: totes ISOTONER (UK) Responds To Festive Demand by Investing in Automated Bagging System

The run-up to Christmas 2021 was a particularly busy one for the well-known garments and accessories company totes ISOTONER (UK). Their cosy toasties® slippers and slipper-sox make for particularly thoughtful gifts during the winter season, triggering a significant upturn in online orders for the team each year. With their popularity booming, the B2C e-commerce firm resolved in 2022 to tackle the next festive peak season with an automated packing solution.

Who Are totes ISOTONER?

totes are the name behind the well-known totes toastie® brand, a unique design of sock with rubber grip soles. They also create gloves, scarves, slippers, umbrellas, wellies and boots, all perfect for surviving cooler climes in style. With men’s, women’s and children’s ranges, the luxury brand is suited to the whole family and has a focus on not only comfort and fun, but fashion-forward designs. Headquartered in the US and with operations in Scandinavia and Europe, totes UK’s warehouse and office facility is located in Billericay, Essex.

The Project

Although totes products are available in-store from most national and independent retailers across the UK, the firm actively runs a B2C e-commerce service, shipping online orders out directly to customers' homes on a daily basis. Prior to the recent investment in YPS-supplied machinery, the despatch of orders involved a manual pick and pack process.  This set-up often proved problematic during peak periods when demand would outstrip physical capacity, or when staff absence would threaten productivity.

Our bagging expert, Tom Hill, attended totes’ facility in the first quarter of 2022 to gain an in-depth understanding of the firm’s needs and their product range. totes stipulated that the target speeds required were 720 packed bags per hour (equating to 12 packs per minute) and that a strong package of after-sales support was non-negotiable to maintain long-term success. Perhaps most importantly, the proposed solution needed to allow totes to stop relying solely on Royal Mail’s data system, which could be slow at peak times, by replacing the facility with a GDPR compliant, in-house alternative for the courier label printing.

YPS’s Solution

To measure up to totes’ needs, Tom recommended our innovative Flexo 500 E-COM horizontal automatic bagging unit, manufactured by German automation specialists Hugo Beck, with an internally mounted VULCAN direct apply labeller from Clearmark. This solution is more than capable of managing all the heavy lifting of totes’ busy e-commerce process, being high-speed, high volume and highly data secure.

The Flexo 500 E-COM creates shipping bags for totes’ orders in grey mailing film before applying the correct despatch label from a bank of data corresponding exactly with the unique barcode scanned at the infeed. Alongside the machine, extended infeed conveyors were also supplied which allows for multiple operators to load orders in turn at high speeds. The project was approved by totes’ Operations Director, Karl Blackburn, and commissioning took place in July 2022, leaving plenty of time for the firm to ramp up production in time for the Christmas rush.

Technical Method of Operation

Garments from each online order are placed on the infeed conveyor atop a sheet of downward-facing paper displaying a unique printed barcode specific to that order. As the items enter the machine, the barcode is scanned from beneath and the correct address label seamlessly recalled by the VULCAN. The length of each product is also detected and the Flexo E-COM then tailors the bag length to match precisely, resulting in a snug finished pack and minimised material usage. The bag width can also be adjusted on the fly with a simple wheel winding mechanism. In fact, the machine is able to accommodate over 95% of totes’ product range, from single pairs of socks right up to boxed boots. This responsiveness to product dimensions makes the E-COM ideal for totes’ dynamic and busy warehouse, as production does not need to be batched in advance.

After the bag formation, the internally mounted labeller applies the recalled address label before destroying the data in a one-in, one-out method, translating to complete security and GDPR compliance for totes. The label is applied to each bag via an all-electric system using a roller, negating the need for compressed air supply and pneumatic parts, which can both require regular maintenance. The continuous motion of the VULCAN significantly increases the line speed compared to stop-start application models. This offered a clear advantage over the competitor equipment that totes explored, which housed much older labelling tech.

As per totes’ requirements, the system was designed to sync with their existing ERP systems as well as Royal Mail’s label system. The equipment is able to retrieve this third party data and store it on command, circumventing the need for a live feed to the Royal Mail system, which is known to lag in peak periods.

A Complete Solution

YPS’s strength is in the delivery of a total packaging solution, comprised of machinery, materials and support. This approach suited totes who stringently approve all suppliers and recognise the benefits of a one-stop-shop supply to keep their equipment running at peak performance.

So in terms of materials, the fashion accessory firm wanted to maintain brand consistency by replicating the plastic film used on the new line to the pre-formed bags they had been using in the manual packing process. YPS colour-matched the shrink film to the exact shade of grey required, creating the bags from 525mm 50mu grey polythene, which provided an opaque result for enhanced product security during transit. totes had also been keen to use recycled content material in the operation, so the film specification supplied is 100% recyclable with a 50% post-consumer waste blend. YPS maintain high stocks of the film year-round, enabling totes to benefit from next day deliveries.

Furthermore, YPS included a generous package of support for the new operation. This was comprised not only of a four visit service contract and an extended two year warranty period, but also a 24 hour priority engineering support agreement to ensure totes’ complete peace of mind. In fact, it was Yorkshire Packaging’s history of award-winning after-sales support that helped to really clinch the contract, over and above the outstanding technical solution that was provided.

Results That Exceed Expectations

It’s no exaggeration to say that, since installation, the dedicated e-commerce line has entirely overhauled totes UK’s operation. Far outstripping the target speeds of 12 packs per minute, at sign off the E-COM 500 achieved a hugely impressive speed of 18 packs per minute and 1080 packs per hour.  totes, unsurprisingly, have been delighted with the increases in efficiency and capacity this has afforded in time for the festive rush in 2022, reporting a daily order output five times greater than pre-install. True to promise, the machine has also reduced dependency on manual operators and patchy data systems, reduced material waste and produced snug fitting, aesthetically pleasing mailing bags.

Karl Blackburn, Operations Director at totes ISOTONER (UK), enthused

Investing in this equipment from YPS has proven to be a gamechanger. We’ve radically increased our throughput, allowing us to complete more online order despatches in a faster timeframe and pleasing more of our customers. The support offered by the team at YPS has been second to none; every technical query has been answered and resolved quickly and professionally, allowing us to run at peak performance around the clock.