Introduction

Location: Texas
Industry: Apparel, Fulfillment

Well known for their stylish outdoor apparel, the company has seen explosive growth in its brand over the recent years.

They currently own multiple fulfillment centers across Texas where they manage the logistics of all their clothing, ranging from parkas to boardshorts to beanies. 

Roles: Picker, Packer, and Material Handler

Problem

In December, they faced delays with a 3PL for e-commerce orders, causing a growing backlog of over 8,000+ orders. Swift action was crucial to maintaining their renowned customer experience.

With the 3PL strained by huge spikes in holiday orders, a near-term solution seemed unlikely, prompting the need for an urgent, alternative resolution. They needed a team of high-quality fulfillment workers who could start the next day and commit to the project’s duration.

Solution

On December 7th, our team met with two leaders from the company to discuss backlog elimination and the next steps. They agreed to establish and operate an independent fulfillment center within the 3PL.

Traba sprang into action, and in 6 hours, Traba successfully:

1) Organized the project
2) Matched quality workers to specific roles
3) Vetted the workers’ skillsets
4) Gathered two additional backups on standby outside the facility

In the early morning of December 8th, Traba met with the company's team at the facility to welcome the new workers to the project.

Results

Over the next two weeks, the team picked, packed, and shipped 8,000+ backlogged orders.

While these steps set the foundation for stabilizing their fulfillment operation and regaining customer confidence, they still had to fully transition to a new 3PL provider and show their customers that their fulfillment network was sound. 

Throughout the two-week project, Traba delivered a 100% fill rate, and our operations team maintained constant communication with our client's team regardless of the time of day.

When replacements were needed due to missing production numbers, the company benefited from Traba’s Matching Algorithm Technology to suggest the optimal replacement. When replacements were needed, they arrived the next day and on-time.  

Worker Matching

The replacement workers operated at 90% efficiency on their first day due to Traba’s matching algorithm and onboarding process.

Our client was suggested qualified fulfillment contractors who had their submitted work experience cross-referenced which led to prioritizing contractors with experience using the 3PLs fulfillment technology.

Operational Excellence

Traba’s operation teams constantly communicated with the client and contractors throughout the project. With tight deadlines and potential order delays, the operations team instantly hit the ground running by finding and coordinating the schedules of multiple workers in six hours.

Learnings/Best Practices For You

This experience is not a one-off for DTC companies across the country. Finding the right 3PL partner can be difficult, especially when assessing if they can deliver during peak season. To help prevent these production issues…

You should always ask your 3PLs, do you stress test your team and facility?

A stress test is when a facility intentionally inflates the order volume in its facility to see how its team handles spikes in volume. It’s a great way to predict how facilities will perform in demand surges. 

In addition, ask about their temporary labor provider for the facility and what their fulfillment and consistency rates look like. If you want to learn more about finding the right provider, reach out to our team.