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By deploying Exotec’s Skypod® System at its Venlo site, GXO – operating on behalf of global fashion brand Guess – achieved a throughput of 2,200 order lines per hour, handling up to 70,000 pieces per day at peak. Exotec acted here as full system integrator, delivering a complete end-to-end solution combining 127 robots, 60,000 rack locations, 8 goods-to-person picking stations, and 200 metres of conveyor network – all under a single point of responsibility
About GXO Logistics and Guess
GXO Logistics is one of the world’s largest pure-play contract logistics providers, operating a global network of warehouses for leading brands across retail, fashion, e-commerce, and industrial sectors. Known for its technology-driven approach to supply chain operations, GXO partners with major brands to design and run fulfilment sites that combine operational excellence with scalable automation.
Guess is a global fashion brand with a presence in over 100 countries, offering a wide range of apparel, accessories, and lifestyle products. With a distribution network spanning retail stores, wholesale partners, and e-commerce channels across EMEA and Asia, Guess requires a fulfilment operation that can handle high SKU variety, seasonal volume swings, and demanding delivery timelines – at scale.
At Venlo, in the Netherlands, GXO operates a dedicated site for Guess – managing inbound flows, value-added services including quality control and quality conditioning, and outbound distribution to retail stores across EMEA and Asia, with e-commerce fulfilment for Benelux set to go live imminently…
The challenge
Apparel fulfilment is one of the most demanding environments in logistics. A global fashion brand like Guess carries thousands of SKUs across sizes, colours, and seasonal collections – each requiring precise handling, impeccable picking accuracy, and the ability to scale rapidly during peak periods.
At Venlo, GXO was handling a large and seasonally variable volume of Guess products, distributing to retail stores across EMEA and Asia while preparing to absorb new e-commerce flows for Benelux. The combination of volume volatility, SKU variety inherent to Guess’s product range, and a growing scope of value-added services meant that incremental improvements to the existing setup were no longer sufficient.
The site needed a step-change: a solution capable of handling Guess’s distribution requirements at scale, reducing picking effort without adding operational overhead, and absorbing future growth without requiring a full redesign. As Mark Donne, Operations
Manager at GXO Venlo, puts it: “We were looking for solutions to automate.The question was: how can we reduce the picking effort?“
The solution: One Integrator, One System, Built Around Guess’s Operation
GXO and Exotec worked together to design a complete automated system tailored to the operational realities of Guess’s fulfilment requirements – high SKU count, seasonal peaks, and a growing mix of B2B and e-commerce flows. Rather than assembling components from multiple vendors, GXO chose Exotec as a single system integrator – a decision driven by the desire to simplify accountability, reduce integration risk, and ensure that every component in the chain was optimised to work together in service of Guess’s distribution needs.
The core of the system is the Skypod platform: 127 robots navigating 60,000 rack locations, bringing goods directly to operators at 8 Order Mover goods-to-person picking stations. A 200-metre conveyor network connects the storage, picking, and dispatch zones, while a set of purpose-built specialty machines eliminates bottlenecks at every handoff point: a spiral conveyor handles vertical flows between levels without manual transfers, tray-box joiners and separators enable flexible consolidation and mixed unit handling, and a tote destacker feeds picking stations automatically with zero manual intervention.
Critically, the collaboration went well beyond technology deployment. Throughout the design phase, Exotec’s teams worked closely with GXO’s operations experts to shape the system around the specific constraints of the site and of Guess’s product mix. When a given configuration was not the optimal path, Exotec would explain why and propose a better alternative. As Mark Donne recalls, “it wasn’t ‘do it exactly like we want it’ – it was: here is our problem, find a solution for it. It was a mutual effort to get the best system.“
| Robots | Picking stations | Storage locations | Order lines / hour | Articles / day | |
| 127 | 8 | 60,000 | 2,200 | 40,000 – 70,000 |
The result: A Calmer, Faster Operation – Ready for What Guess Needs Next
Since go-live, the Venlo site has been transformed. The system now processes between 40,000 and 70,000 pieces per day depending on the season, with a throughput of 2,200 order lines per hour at peak – giving GXO the capacity and responsiveness needed to serve Guess’s retail network across EMEA and Asia while absorbing the addition of e-commerce volumes. Processing times have been reduced to a single day, and what was once a high-pressure, heavily manual environment is now, in Mark Donne’s words, “more organised, more calm.”
The ramp-up was among the smoothest deployments GXO has experienced – a direct outcome of the joint preparation between both teams and the quality of on-site support throughout the go-live phase. Looking ahead, the success of the Venlo deployment has strengthened the partnership between GXO and Guess – and set a clear benchmark for what end-to-end automation can deliver in fashion fulfilment.
I would recommend this system to anybody. The cooperation was really good – and when something wasn’t the right approach, there was always a clear explanation and a better alternative proposed