New Wave Textiles
Utrecht Warehouse
16,000
Storage locations with up to 64,000 items stored
300
Totes per hour
12
Metres picking height
99%+
Order picking accuracy
New Wave Textiles
New Wave Textiles is a leading distributor of corporate, promotional, and custom-made apparel across the Benelux region, serving a diverse client base with a focus on quality, sustainability, and customer satisfaction. Located in Utrecht, the company’s warehouse supports its fast-growing B2B operations with a broad SKU portfolio and complex inbound and outbound logistics.
To keep pace with rising order volumes and increasing SKU variety, New Wave needed to significantly expand warehouse capacity and improve operational efficiency without compromising accuracy or ergonomics. Key challenges included:
- Scaling operations while maintaining high storage density in limited space
- Improving picking and inbound efficiency to meet demanding throughput targets
- Ensuring future scalability and seamless integration with new WMS system
- Enhancing ergonomics and operator safety
New Wave partnered with Hai Robotics to deploy HaiPick System 3 (HPS3) - a next-generation automated storage and retrieval solution combining Autonomous Case-handling Robots and Fast-Transit AMRs working in tandem. The system optimises storage, accelerates picking and replenishment, and provides ergonomic, safe operations for the workforce.
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ACR + AMR Collaboration: 16 HaiPick A42T ACRs retrieve cartons and totes with telescopic uprights from triple-depth racks up to 10.8m high, capable of handling up to 60 totes/hour each at heights up to 10m. While 30 HaiFlex K50 AMRs, only 461mm wide, race through narrow aisles at up to 4 m/s to shuttle totes to workstations, enabling an exceptionally fast and compact workflow.
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Smart Tote & Tray Strategy: ~76% of inbound cartons are placed on custom-designed trays, and ~24% are decanted into plastic totes. Both are engineered with hook-and-groove structures for secure handling, allowing mixed storage formats within the same rack system to maximise space utilisation.
The system went live in June 2025 as part of the broader NWT 3.0 transformation, marking a key milestone towards full operational launch. The deployment supports NWT’s new ERP/WMS and redesigned logistics flow, and is positioned to scale across both warehouse sections.
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Extreme Storage Density: Customised triple-depth racking - reaching up to 10.87 meters clear height - increases storage capacity by 36.5% compared to double-depth systems. The current deployment provides 84,832 storage locations across two warehouse sections with different structural orientations, maximising capacity within the existing footprint and designed to support more than 133,000 locations as the system scales.
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Efficient, Ergonomic Workstations 8 workstations - 5 for picking and 3 for inbound - support up to 462 lines and 97 cartons per hour respectively. All stations are designed for ergonomic handling at waist height, enabling fast, accurate operations and ensuring a smooth switchover during go-live.
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Seamless integration ensures real-time visibility and smooth coordination of inbound and outbound flows.
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Industry-leading premium safety solution with personal safety vests and premium interlock. Robots slow down within 8 meters and stop completely within 2.5 meters, allowing safe human intervention with minimal disruption.
New Wave selected Hai Robotics’ solution after evaluating competing approaches, citing several key advantages:
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Higher storage density and consistent performance thanks to the triple-depth racking and robust tote/tray system.
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Shorter cycle times and better alignment between robot throughput and operator efficiency.
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Superior ergonomics at picking stations and advanced safety solutions with minimal system downtime.
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High-quality customer support ensuring smooth integration with NWT’s newly launched ERP/WMS system.
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Proven scalability and flexibility to accommodate evolving business needs.
Looking Ahead
Building on the success of the current deployment, New Wave is preparing for further system expansion within the warehouse, aiming to double capacity while maintaining the same high levels of efficiency and service quality. The solution’s modular design allows for straightforward addition of robots, racks, and workstations as demand grows.
“We are excited to see our warehouse operations transformed with HaiPick System 3. The system delivers the efficiency and scalability we need to continue serving our customers at the highest level.” — Henk Duijsters, Managing Director, New Wave Textiles
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