How LPP Logistics Manages 700,000 m² of Warehouses and Survived a Fire in 48 Hours

In this episode of Rozmowy Logistyków, Piotr Skobało talks with Sebastian Sołtys, CEO of LPP Logistics, about the logistics challenges of fashion brands operating in over 40 countries. They discuss how the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and other geopolitical upheavals have shaped the company's strategy, and how it prepares for sales peaks like Black Friday.

CRISIS AS A TEST OF THE ORGANIZATION

In late June, fire destroyed a 150,000 m² building leased by LPP in Romania — a consolidated distribution and fulfillment center that had only been running for two years. Within 24 hours, the entire e-commerce operation had been moved to Poland. Within 48 hours — all warehouse support for the store network. Several hundred containers rerouted, a business continuity plan activated and executed. That wasn't luck — it was the result of an organizational capability for fast reaction built up in advance.

SCALE: FROM A MEZZANINE OFFICE FLOOR TO 700,000 M²

20 years ago, part of LPP's warehousing fit on a mezzanine floor of an office building in Gdańsk, with picking done off a paper list. Today, LPP Logistics manages nearly 700,000 m² of warehouse space, targeting over a million m² by the turn of 2026/2027 — over 8,000 people, 2 billion PLN in revenue, over 50 million e-commerce orders a year (+35% year over year).

THE TRIANGLE: COST, TIME, SCALE

LPP's logistics strategy is described by a triangle of priorities — cost kept in check, order fulfillment time, and the ability to handle a scale that has tripled over six years. With a three-year strategy aiming to double the business, logistics has to not just keep up, but act as an accelerator of growth, not a brake on it.

BUILDING A DC IN A YEAR INSTEAD OF TWO AND A HALF

When a distribution center needed to be added quickly after the pandemic, LPP didn't have time for the classic two-and-a-half-year investment cycle. They built a 75,000 m² facility in a year, and sorter vendors delivered in 8 months instead of a year — with a requirement for 25% more destination slots in the same footprint. The result was a patented solution. The approach: the lean-startup MVP methodology — launch once it works well enough, don't wait for perfection.

ROBOTICS: A THREEFOLD JUMP IN PICKING PRODUCTIVITY

A pilot of 500 robots in the picking zone delivered three times the productivity of traditional aisle-to-aisle picking. The result: scaling to 1,400 robots by year-end at one facility, and over 3,000 across the whole network the following year. LPP's philosophy isn't to be the first innovator, but an "early follower" — watching proven solutions from the market and improving on them.

The biggest piece of advice for aspiring logistics professionals? Stay open to change, because it's coming no matter what, and treat every crisis as a chance to come out of it stronger — not just as something you merely survived.