Made In Cookware

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Made In Cookware Leverages On-Demand Labor to Cut Costs and Increase Speed

In a time when consumers have the ability to pick and choose between a vast number of companies and products -- the speed at which they receive the desired product along with the quality of that product are paramount. With that in mind, the team at Made In Cookware went looking for a solution that would give them best-in-class speed to customer without sacrificing money. Then they met Veryable.

*some quotes have been altered slightly to enhance clarity

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Structuring their operation with On-Demand Labor at the center

Made In Cookware's distribution and fulfillment center, in Selma, Texas, provides high restaurant quality cookware that is sold to world-class chefs and the general public alike. Made In opened the doors to its distribution center in January of 2023. This was a pivot from how they had previously operated, using a 3PL company in Kentucky to fulfill their customers' needs. By opening its DC in Texas, Made In had two fulfillment locations that could quickly deliver to its customers and uphold its standard of quality while growing the business as demand requires.

However, that wasn’t the only way they changed the playbook. Instead of relying on full-time employees in a direct-to-consumer, seasonal e-commerce-fueled business, Made In stood up its fulfillment operation by taking a unique approach to labor planning. "We needed to be flexible and agile to adjust to our customer demands," said Albert Kelly, Outbounds Manager for Made In. Instead of relying on the typical way of doing things, Made In only has three full-time employees who are all in management positions. Outside of these three managers, the team at Made In has turned to Veryable’s On-Demand Labor marketplace to bring in anywhere from 5 to 30 operators per day to maintain an industry-leading turnaround time. Made In started by bringing in a handful of operators per day to help them complete kitting projects needed to hit the ground running. This helped them quickly identify a group of hardworking and reliable operators that they could pull from as their forecasted demand peaked and valleyed. Less than six weeks after opening their doors, Made In had a Labor Pool of about 20 operators that they were able to pull from as projects and customer demand fluctuated, meaning, Made In was able to scale up during peaks (usually centered around holidays) and then were able to quickly scale down as those peaks in demand tailed off.

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Reaping the rewards of agility and flexibility

By taking this agile and flexible approach, Made In has driven down the impact that labor costs have on its cost-per-order, increasing the profit margins and allowing for that money to be reinvested into the business. "It's all about keeping our cost per unit as low as we possibly can by being able to throttle up and throttle down -- that allows us to put money into other places,” said Wilson Duke, Warehouse Director for Made In. Money that would traditionally be used for fixed labor costs, could now be dumped into areas to help grow the business. Made In has used these cost savings to invest in things such as research and development, marketing, and equipment and spacial improvements. "It allows us just to spend money elsewhere to grow our brand and our product," said Duke.

Now, Made In has a Labor Pool of about 60 operators who are familiar with the way they do things. So familiar, in fact, their Veryable operators are so skilled that they are now training new incoming operators, allowing managers to stay focused on meeting the needs of their customers and ensuring that their operations run as efficiently as possible. Since posting its first op just 9 months ago, Made In’s Texas facility now outperforms their 3PL on a daily basis through the utilization of Veryable operators.

Made In goes above and beyond to deliver quality products in a timely, best-in-class, manner. While growing at a rapid pace, Made In orders are consistently sent out on time and in full, even when demand hits record highs.