VST builds its future with Exotec.

VST, a purchasing cooperative for building trade professionals, has deployed Exotec’s Skypod® system at its new logistics platform in Chavagnes-en-Paillers (Vendée, France). The goal: to absorb the company’s growth over the next five to ten years, without compromising its service level and while improving working conditions for its employees.

Made up of 27 robots, the system now processes between 4,500 and 5,000 order lines per day, enabling each operator to reach nearly 200 lines picked per hour — three to four times more than before automation. Despite this change in scale, VST has maintained a service rate close to 99.5%, in line with its standards.

To tell the story of this transformation, we spoke with Guillaume Mauduit, Director of Logistics Operations at VST, who is overseeing the rollout of the Exotec system with his teams.

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Founded 50 years ago, VST is a purchasing cooperative dedicated to building trade professionals, from independent plumbers to SMEs. It brings together around 850 member companies, who are shareholders in the cooperative, and employs 434 people for revenue of €221 million. Its promise: to negotiate, purchase, store, and deliver on behalf of its members, via its fleet of 66 trucks, either to their warehouse or directly to the job site.

Over the past ten years, the number of members has grown from fewer than 600 to 850, driven by a consistently positive balance between new members joining and others leaving each year. Beyond distribution, VST offers its members support services: communication, a subsidiary dedicated to non-strategic products, and a “cooperative life” division that supports them with technical and administrative training.

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Existing platforms under pressure

The cooperative’s steadily growing membership quickly put pressure on its logistics infrastructure. By the time the Covid crisis ended, its logistics platforms were already at capacity. VST chose to invest in a third platform, 30 minutes from its original site, sized from the outset to last the next ten years.

This investment is part of a broader investment plan led by the cooperative. With this new site, the cooperative now operates three platforms in the Vendée region, for a total of 7 sites spread across 5 départements and 60,000 m² of storage space.

Working conditions in need of transformation

Beyond logistics capacity alone, the human factor weighed just as heavily in the decision to automate. For the products now handled by Exotec, operators previously had to walk up to 20 kilometers a day to complete their order picking. Reducing this physical strain while increasing throughput became a goal just as important as logistics performance itself.

A reliable, scalable solution

VST evaluated several automation solutions before choosing Exotec, notably after visiting partner sites already equipped with the system. The reliability of the solution, along with its ability to evolve over time (expanding the structure, adding robots or bins), were decisive factors in the final choice.

“We are very proud to support a French cooperative serving so many independent tradespeople. Our robotic mechanization solutions offer the flexibility and scalability needed to avoid initial overinvestment, while combining logistics efficiency, better working conditions, and an eco-responsible approach.”

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Exotec’s Skypod system covers part of the cooperative’s catalog: between 12,000 and 13,000 SKUs out of the 28,000 referenced in total, sourced from more than 300 suppliers. With two to three picking stations, complemented by one manual station, the platform reaches nearly 200 lines picked per hour per operator — three to four times more than before automation.

“What’s changed the most for picking is the simplicity, the ergonomics, and the significantly reduced physical strain, which leads to an even lower error rate. Better storage and better picking for better delivery.”

To support this transition, VST has benefited from a better distribution of tasks throughout the day: picking, put-away, sorting, system replenishment, returns management, and handling oversized parcels are now shared among operators. This new organization reduces physical strain and diversifies daily tasks.

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The first metric tracked by VST is its service rate, which measures the share of orders delivered on time to members. Before deploying Exotec, the cooperative already had a rate close to 99.5% — a level it has managed to maintain throughout the transition to automation. VST has therefore been able to safeguard this critical indicator, which is key to maintaining the trust of its 850 members.

Automation has also allowed the cooperative to make its inventory management more reliable, thanks to a rolling inventory system that has now replaced the manual physical inventories previously carried out.

“We can clearly see that we’ve taken a hugely important step forward. Whatever happens five years from now, we’ll be ready.”

With its new automated platform, VST now has an infrastructure capable of absorbing its future growth, while continuing to improve working conditions for its teams.