At a Glance
About Nutrition Formulators
Nutrition Formulators is a leading manufacturer of private-label
nutritional supplements. In 2020 the Florida-based company expanded
its services to include end-to-end delivery, shipping online orders
directly to the consumer.
Wellness & Fitness Services
275 employees
For Nutrition Formulators, excellence is not just a goal but a
standard. That’s why they’ve been the trusted partner for businesses
seeking high-quality private label supplements since 1987.
In 2020, the Florida-based company set their sights on growth,
and expanded their services to offer end-to-end delivery. With so
much purchase volume shifting to e-commerce, it made sense to
package and ship online orders on clients’ behalf.
But as Fulfillment Manager Edwin Molina explains, those growth
plans hit a brick wall in the warehouse. The culprit? A lack of
structure that wasted time, caused mistakes, and left everyone in
the dark. It was a stressful environment, with daily headaches.
“Things were very volatile,” Molina said. “Everything was analog, with paperwork and calculators, and we had no system in place. Everyone always asked, ‘Where did I put that?’ It was a big challenge.”
Without a foolproof system to easily track inventory, knowing what
items they had was a big pain point. To avoid selling out-of-stock
items, the fulfillment team spent two hours each day performing
manual inventory.
Even when inventory was accurate, the team didn’t know where
items were located in the warehouse. Disordered picking and packing
resulted in mistakes, threatening customer satisfaction and risking
unhappy clients.
The team made do with the lack of transparency when the fulfillment program was new, but it became a sticking point as the program grew.
“Once we started having more clients and more than 10,000 units in inventory, things got chaotic,” Molina said.
Fulfillment had hit its growth ceiling and needed a way to smash through.
Nutrition Formulators turned to Extensiv to bring efficient order and insight to its fulfillment program. Combining expert advice from Extensiv’s Professional Account Services with its 3PL Warehouse Manager platform, the manufacturer sought to optimize inventory, picking, and packing systems. Doing so would save time, eliminate mistakes, improve client relationships, and remove the growth ceiling.
Extensiv stood out from other solutions for its willingness to cater to Nutrition Formulators’ needs — not just with consulting services but also with software. Molina was familiar with the take-it-or-leave-it attitude of tech companies that do little more than sell a subscription. By contrast, Extensiv was anything but cookie-cutter.
Molina’s team gained immediate insight into warehouse inventory using Extensiv’s warehouse management software, designed by and for 3PLs. Working alongside Extensiv’s professional account services team, Molina
began implementing automated workflows to improve picking efficiency and packing accuracy, using tools like mobile scanners.
The Extensiv team revealed existing gaps and areas for improvement, optimizing every process.
Molina’s team members weren’t the only ones who benefited from greater visibility. Nutrition Formulators gave clients unique logins to view their inventory and follow every step in order fulfillment. That transparency worked wonders for client relationships.
“When we implemented Extensiv, new clients looked at us like, ‘Oh, they’re legit,’” Molina said.
"Extensiv gave us a structure to work better, with fewer headaches and
mistakes. Everything is synchronized, everything is a process, and everything is checkable.”
Before signing off on Extensiv, Nutrition Formulators’ CFO asked, “Do you think this is worth it?” Molina replied: “We might not see its worth in the next couple of months, but I promise you: Before the end of the year, we’re going to see tons of results.”
Today, every fulfillment metric is a multiple of what it was before Extensiv: revenue is up 5x, clients have increased 7x, and weekly orders have grown 30x. The only exception is time spent on inventory, which has
dropped by 2 hours daily.
Without the structure Extensiv provided to the Nutrition Formulators warehouse, this scalability would be unthinkable, Molina adds. “It would be impossible to control that kind of volume.”
Extensiv has also made a qualitative difference, which can be summed up in one word: trust. Everyone in the warehouse breathes a little bit easier because they trust the system will get them through each day without any headaches. In turn, leadership has more trust in Molina, having seen what he achieved with Extensiv.
Molina trusts the entire Extensiv team, especially his customer rep, who is always there for him. “Extensiv always comes up with a solution to help us streamline our operations,” he said.
Last but not least, clients trust Nutrition Formulators. “They trust in the process because now they have visibility,” Molina said. Packing accuracy is at 99%, improving the end-customer experience and helping clients grow their business. With that, everyone wins.