Before writing this article, I looked up some information about Musinsa, and its story turned out to be quite fascinating.

I hope this short introduction will spark some curiosity about the logistics center I’m going to talk about here.

Musinsa began in 2001 as a private online community called “Mujinjang Sinbal Sajin Maneun Syo” (“A place with a lot of sneaker photos”) for sneaker enthusiasts — that’s where the name “Musinsa” comes from.

As the community’s sneaker photo posts became popular, its membership grew rapidly. In 2003, Musinsa.com was established, laying the foundation as an online fashion community.

While running this community, they realized that many talented domestic fashion designers were struggling to grow their businesses because they lacked marketing channels and skills. In response, Musinsa recruited editors and photographers in 2005 and launched Musinsa Magazine (a webzine format), expanding into a media content business that promoted Korean fashion brands.

At that time, Musinsa’s membership had already surpassed 150,000, and by 2008 it exceeded 250,000. Riding on the strong network they built with designers, Musinsa established Musinsa Store in 2009, officially entering the e-commerce business.

Having grown from a community → content company → e-commerce company, Musinsa was destined to succeed thanks to its solid fandom (members + designers). In 2019, it received a ₩200 billion investment from Sequoia Capital, becoming the 10th unicorn company in Korea. In 2020, it secured an additional ₩130 billion from Sequoia Capital and IMM Investment, bringing its corporate valuation to ₩2.5 trillion.

Musinsa has continuously expanded its business areas — not only in fashion but also as an investor in startups. In late 2022, it acquired land in Yeoju and entered the logistics business by starting to develop its own logistics center. Given that logistics is a critical element in e-commerce, this was a natural step for a company of Musinsa’s scale.

Musinsa provides fulfillment services through its logistics subsidiary, Musinsa Logistics.

Currently, it operates two logistics centers in Yeoju. In the second half of 2022, it purchased land in Yeoju to develop its own logistics center, with completion targeted for 2025. The center is expected to be around 76,000 ㎡ (approximately 23,000 pyeong) in size.

As the No.1 fashion e-commerce platform in Korea, with around 5,800 brands onboard as of 2022, developing its own logistics center makes perfect sense. The two centers currently in operation are leased and their contracts are scheduled to expire in 2024.

Our company, Altiall, recently participated in Musinsa Yeoju 1 Center’s consolidated packing & sorting line automation project, taking charge of the WCS (Warehouse Control System) implementation — which we successfully completed.

Technically, the project was finalized at the end of February and has been in stable operation since March.

What is a Consolidated Packing & Sorting Line?

If a customer orders just one item, it’s a single-package order. But if they order multiple items, these must be gathered and packed together, creating a consolidated order.

A consolidated packing & sorting line is designed to sort and group items by order so they can be packed together efficiently.

A typical warehouse process consists of inbound – storage – order picking – outbound. Among these, order picking — retrieving ordered items from storage — is the most labor-intensive and cost-heavy, accounting for about 55% of warehouse operating costs. The consolidated sorting line is part of this order picking process.

That’s why automation here is so significant. After introducing automation to this line, Musinsa’s hourly sorting throughput increased tenfold — reaching 3,900 boxes per hour.

Project Overview

The overall project was managed by Hyundai Glovis.

The main sorting mechanism used a sorting robot suitable for small parcel classification. Altiall handled the WCS implementation to ensure seamless integration between the consolidated sorting line and connected equipment.

Explaining a full WCS built for a logistics center is typically not easy. But since this project focused on the consolidated packing & sorting line, I can briefly outline the process.

Process Flow

1. Order details are transmitted from OMS (Order Management System) to WMS.

2. WMS groups the orders for consolidation by wave and allocates inventory.

3. Picking instructions are issued to workers.

4. Items are picked and verified at a temporary staging zone.

5. Picked items move to the consolidation area.

6. WCS confirms picking completion to WMS.

7. WMS sends Wave, Delivery Order, and Item information to WCS.

8. WCS allocates Cells (the white baskets next to the sorting robot) to collect items for each order.

9. Workers scan item barcodes and drop them randomly into the sorting robot.

10. The robot receives the Cell location based on the item code and sorts accordingly.

11. Once sorting is completed, WCS sends an item-level completion message to WMS.

12. WMS checks for unsorted items and takes necessary actions.

13. Sorted orders are scanned again for verification.

14. Shipping labels are printed.

15. Orders move to the packing line.

16. Packed orders are sent to the final outbound sorting line.

17. At the BCR (Barcode Reader) section, WCS receives the shipping destination.

18. WCS sends instructions to ECS for the box to be routed to the correct outbound chute.

19. Once the box arrives at the outbound area, WCS confirms shipment completion to WMS.

WCS’s Role in Simple Terms

WCS functions as the orchestrator between WMS, RCS, and ECS — receiving and transmitting information, instructing where each product or box should go, and ensuring all equipment operates in a synchronized manner.

• WMS – Warehouse Management System

• WCS – Warehouse Control System

• RCS – Robot Control System

• ECS – Equipment Control System (single equipment level)

All logistics flows and movements can be monitored on the WCS dashboard, including equipment status, data communication with WMS, wave progress, unprocessed work, and historical records for troubleshooting.

SCADA Integration

SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) is a control system architecture combining computers, networked data communications, and a graphical user interface.

In this project, SCADA provides a unified screen for monitoring and supervising machine equipment and operational processes.

It’s also linked to the sorting robot’s RCS, enabling real-time monitoring of the sorting robot’s operating status through WCS.

I initially thought this would be a simple explanation, but as I organized it, I realized it’s not that simple after all.

Unfortunately, I can’t show the actual logistics line since the equipment belongs to Musinsa, and sharing such details is strictly prohibited.

Still, I hope this gave you a better understanding of how an automation system works.