Bleckmann is a third-party logistics partner for fashion and lifestyle brands, founded in 1862 and now part of the Netlog Logistics Group. It runs omnichannel fulfilment across warehousing, inventory, transport, returns and recommerce. This is a company whose entire commercial model depends on being more efficient than its clients could be alone.

In November 2022 it partnered with Optioryx to improve picking. The published result is a 15 to 20% reduction in walking distance compared with non-optimised routes.

Two things about that number are worth sitting with.

Where the number comes from, and who did the work

To be clear about the record: Optioryx implemented this with Bleckmann directly. OptiChain Solutions had no involvement. We are the South African implementation partner for Optioryx, and we are publishing this because it is a useful reference for what routing optimisation does in a real operation at scale.

The figure is Bart Gadeyne's, founder and CEO of Optioryx.

"Smart Sequencing works alongside Bleckmann's existing warehouse management system (WMS) to automatically generate a customised route that's specific to each pick list as soon as the order picker is ready to start walking. This enables Bleckmann to reduce walking distances on the warehouse floor by an average of 15 to 20% compared to non-optimised routes."

Note the timing in that sentence. The route is generated when the picker is ready to walk, against that specific pick list. This is a live routing decision, not a slotting change made once a quarter and left alone.

The other detail that matters is how the floor gets into the system. Each warehouse is digitally mapped first, including obstacles in the aisles, so the calculated route is the shortest actual route rather than the shortest theoretical one. The Optioryx team also made site visits.

Stijn Vandeperre, Innovation Engineer at Bleckmann, on that process:

"By spending time in the warehouse with our order pickers and warehouse managers, they gained a deep understanding of our operational pain points in order to develop a truly tailored optimization solution."

The strongest evidence is not the percentage

A single number from a single site is easy to discount. The rollout pattern is harder to argue with.

Smart Sequencing went live first with a Bleckmann client in the UK, a major sportswear brand. A major footwear brand in Belgium is now using it. Implementation teams are working on further rollout across other client fulfilment operations.

A 3PL operates on thin, contested margins and does not repeat a change across client accounts unless it pays. The extension is the proof.

Kevin Paindeville, Warehouse Solutions and Innovation Director at Bleckmann, on working with the Optioryx team:

"The process with Optioryx has been very collaborative. Together, we've exchanged ideas and tested concepts through detailed simulations before fine-tuning them into a viable product. Thanks to their responsiveness and collaborative approach, we were always able to test an updated version within a few hours."

That describes what implementation feels like, which is usually the real question behind a software decision.

Why the headroom is larger if you are earlier

Here is the part most readers will get backwards.

Bleckmann is not a warehouse with obvious problems. It is a specialist 3PL with a continuous improvement function, an innovation engineer, and a director of warehouse solutions. It had already taken the easy wins. Pulse found 15 to 20% in an operation that was actively being improved.

An operation that has not run a slotting review in three years, or that still batches pick lists by order receipt time, is not starting from Bleckmann's baseline. It is starting further back, which means the available gain is larger, not smaller.

Optioryx puts the general range across its deployments at 20 to 55%, depending on warehouse layout, order profile and starting optimisation level. That is a product-wide figure and not a Bleckmann result, so treat it as an indication rather than a promise. The variable named last is the relevant one: starting optimisation level. Less mature operations sit at the top of that range.

What this is worth in your peak

Black Friday lands on 27 November 2026. That is 15 weeks out.

Walking is the largest non-value activity in a manual pick face, and it scales with volume. At peak it scales fastest, which is exactly when you have the least room to absorb it. The Optioryx case study names peak periods such as Black Friday as where the reduction matters most.

A 15% reduction in walking is not primarily a cost saving. It is capacity. It is orders per hour you get without hiring, in the one window where extra hands are hardest to find and least productive because they are new.

The implementation window for peak is closing. Digital mapping, integration and a pilot zone need to run in August and September so the method is stable before October volumes arrive.

Where to start

Pulse connects to your existing WMS by API. It does not replace the WMS, the TMS or the ERP. Optioryx are explicit about this and so are we.

The starting point is a picking assessment on your own data. Twelve months of order lines, pick confirmations and your current layout are enough to model what routing would return in your building, before anything is committed.

If the answer is small, you have spent a week and learned your pick face is already tight. If it is the size Bleckmann found in an operation that was already being improved, you have 15 weeks to act on it.

See what this could look like in your warehouse

We model routing gains on your own order data before anything is committed.

Book a picking assessment Explore picking optimisation

Sources

Note on the figure: Optioryx's page title cites 20%. The quoted figure in the body of the same page, and the one used throughout this article, is 15 to 20%.