How Pick-to-Light Transformed Operational Efficiency for a French Fashion Brand
QUICK ANSWER
Emerdis and Isitec deployed a Pick-to-Light and Put-to-Light solution for French fashion retailer La Fée Maraboutée, replacing manual sequential picking with parallel, multi-order fulfilment. The result was a reduction in mis-picks and faster pick cycle times — strong enough that the client expanded its mobile picking fleet from four to six carts within months of go-live.
THE CHALLENGE
Manual Picking Couldn't Keep Pace with Fashion Retail Growth
Founded in 1996 and headquartered in France, La Fée Maraboutée had built nearly three decades of market presence in one of Europe's most demanding retail verticals. By 2020, the brand's order preparation infrastructure had become a constraint on that growth.
Manual, sequential picking workflows were failing to scale with order volume, creating downstream delays across the supply chain. Without intelligent guidance at the point of pick, operatives were increasingly prone to mispicks — driving costly returns processing and customer service overhead. At the same time, excessive travel time within the warehouse, combined with a laborious post-pick sort stage, was consuming workforce capacity the business could no longer justify at scale.
To protect speed-to-market and order accuracy — non-negotiable differentiators in fashion distribution — La Fée Maraboutée needed a picking operation that could scale across European markets without a costly platform replacement.
EMERDIS APPROACH
Engineering a Parallel, Intelligence-Guided Picking Workflow
Emerdis’ automation specialist Isitec ran a full diagnostic review of La Fée Maraboutée's operational infrastructure — covering warehouse workflows, Warehouse Management System (WMS) architecture, and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) integrations.
The assessment identified the highest-impact intervention: a technology-led redesign of the picking and sortation workflow that eliminated unnecessary motion, embedded real-time decision support for operatives, and integrated with the existing systems stack — no platform rip-and-replace required.
The resulting solution was built on three principles:
SOLUTION
A Fully Integrated Pick-to-Light and Put-to-Light System
Emerdis and Isitec deployed a combined hardware-and-software solution that converted multi-order fulfilment from a sequential, manual process into a parallel, intelligence-guided operation.
-
Isitec Mobile Picking Carts: Four Isitec-engineered multi-order mobile carts, each fitted with illuminated Pick-to-Light modules mapped to individual storage zones — enabling operatives to fulfil multiple orders in a single warehouse pass instead of one order at a time.
-
ProGlove Display Scanner Integration: Wearable display scanners deliver real-time, hands-free pick instructions at the point of action — confirming aisle location, exact quantity, and validating each pick before the cart advances. This closed-loop confirmation removes mis-pick risk at source.
-
Isipick Software Platform: Orchestrates the full workflow — optimising pick routes to cut operative travel time, managing real-time inventory replenishment signalling, and driving the Put-to-Light LED system at sortation, where each item is routed to the correct destination bay automatically.
%20Solutions.png)
The result is an end-to-end fulfilment cycle — from warehouse pick to sorted, shipment-ready order — that is faster, more accurate, and fully traceable.
IMPACT
Measurable Gains That Drove Immediate Fleet Reinvestment
This deployment has modernised La Fée Maraboutée's core fulfilment capability — lowering cost-per-order, eliminating mis-pick exposure, and establishing a picking infrastructure built to scale as the brand expands across European markets.
By implementing a Pick-to-Light and Put-to-Light solution in partnership with Isitec, Emerdis has helped La Fée Maraboutée strengthen order accuracy, throughput, and workforce productivity — reinforcing its position in a fashion retail sector where speed-to-market and accuracy are non-negotiable.
This deployment has modernised La Fée Maraboutée's core fulfilment capability — lowering cost-per-order, eliminating mis-pick exposure, and establishing a picking infrastructure built to scale as the brand expands across European markets.
The confidence in the solution was immediate — La Fée Maraboutée scaled its mobile picking fleet from four to six carts within months of go-live
Looking to eliminate mis-picks and scale
fulfilment capacity in your warehouse?
Contact Emerdis Automation experts at sales@emerdis.com for solutions that match your needs.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Pick-to-Light?
Pick-to-Light is a warehouse automation system that uses illuminated modules at storage locations to guide operatives directly to the correct pick, in the correct quantity, reducing travel time and eliminating manual errors.
2. What is Put-to-Light?
Put-to-Light is the inverse of Pick-to-Light: picked items are routed to the correct destination bay via illuminated indicators, automating the sortation stage and removing the need for manual sorting.
3. How does Pick-to-Light reduce mis-picks?
By combining illuminated pick guidance with real-time scanner validation at each pick point, the system confirms the correct item and quantity before allowing the operative to proceed — closing the loop on human error at source.