How Infuze Reduced Their Fulfilment Error Rate By 35% With ShipBob’s WMS [Case Study]

By

Need Help With Order Fulfillment? ShipBob Can Help.

Let’s Talk

Subscribe for More

Enjoying this article? Join the tens of thousands who get the latest from ShipBob’s blog emailed every other week.

Learn how Infuze uses ShipBob’s warehouse management system to reduce fulfilment errors, while speeding up the delivery process.

“Prior to ShipBob, we’d ship 300 orders/day. One of the first nights, we shipped 700 orders in the same timeframe.”

Rick Corbridge, COO at Infuze Hydration

Customer Profile

Based in Logan, UT, Infuze Hydration is a beverage tech company that created a patented water bottle innovation that lets you switch from water to flavoured water at the turn of a dial, without contaminating the water in your bottle. As 75% of Americans suffer from chronic dehydration, adding flavour on-demand can help them drink more water — and Infuze allows you to add any of your favourite liquid flavour enhancers (e.g., Mio, Kool-Aid, Stur, Crystal Light, and their own electrolyte-packed and calorie-free Elixirs).

Key metrics

  • 35% reduction in picking error rate 
  • 130% increase in fulfilment speed 
  • 12k sq ft warehouse

Some people need a little something extra to enjoy plain water. Unsurprisingly, the water flavourings and enhancers market is a large one — but getting the balance right is not always a perfect science.

The idea for Infuze Hydration was born in 2015 out of a backpacking trip that was ruined by bad flavours in the hydration pack. The solution to this problem started as a reusable, refillable backpack attachment, called the Hydro, that lets you go back and forth from water to flavour with the turn of a dial. Users fill the refillable flavour tank with any water enhancer, turn the dial on to infuse the water, and then turn the dial off to go back to plain water.

Fast forward 2 years to the creation of the Infuze Vessel, a water bottle version of the product, where the flavour is stored in the lid. A backflow preventer keeps all flavouring and backwash out of the bottle. This keeps your water clean, and the flavour dial on the lid allows you to control your preferred flavour intensity. Infuze customers can even use their own water bottles in conjunction with an Infuze lid.

In 2021, Infuze acquired LifeFuels to take over the LifeFuels product line and pod system, allowing you to inject several flavours together (e.g., strawberry and piña colada) and use an app to track water consumption.

We sat down with Rick Corbridge, COO at Infuze Hydration, to learn how they revolutionized hydration and implemented ShipBob’s WMS in their 12k sq. ft. warehouse to fulfil customer orders.

Fulfiling highly customisable orders ourselves

As told to ShipBob by Rick Corbridge, COO at Infuze Hydration. 

From day one, we realised we needed to have tight control of all operations, supplies, and stock. Our product’s lid alone has 26 parts in it. Yes, 26 parts in just the lid.

We purchased our own injection mold machines to control the production process. With the exception of a few outside metal and silicon parts, we maintain all production and assembly in house.

With so many SKUs that point to the same product — meaning 1 black water bottle could have 15 different lid options — we also wanted to keep inventory management and fulfilment in-house. To do this, we used a variety of software and systems.

Prior to ShipBob, it was brutal to ship orders. We went through 3 shipping solutions. One of the softwares we used was good, but had a big learning curve. With it, we could get orders in and ship them out, but we had lots of errors and no way to track inventory. Training new employees to ship was very difficult. SKUs had to be memorized in order to package the correct products, and overall fulfilment was very difficult.

We wanted something that would be both functional and easy for people to use. We chatted with ShipBob, and found the perfect solution that combines best-in-class fulfilment, shipping, inventory tracking, and warehouse management capabilities.

Implementing ShipBob’s intuitive WMS

Marc from ShipBob’s Implementation team came out to get our warehouse set up. We walked through all of our products, including grouping and linking parent SKUs in the warehouse management system (WMS).

We got scan codes put on each storage location, spent time on how each step of the fulfilment process would work, received scan carts, and were trained how to do it.

When ShipBob came on site, we were over 1,000 orders behind. As soon as we learned the basics, we got to work.

“Our old system had 2 people we trusted to ship, since otherwise there were too many errors with the complexities. Now anyone can do it! We brought in 5-6 friends on a large order day, and they were pulling carts and picking orders within 5 minutes without any errors.”

Rick Corbridge, COO at Infuze Hydration

Prior to ShipBob, we’d ship 300 orders/day. On that first night, we shipped 700 orders in the same timeframe. That speed is so valuable and so seamless.

Housing production and fulfilment in house comes with many benefits and challenges. One challenge being the fluctuation of inventory. Many times we have a surplus of one product, but no inventory of another.

The team at ShipBob showed us how we could put orders on hold that we were not ready to ship, and release the orders we wanted to fulfil. This allowed us to continue to ship products out the door that we had in stock, while maintaining the on hold orders until inventory was replenished. This was the only way we survived during Christmas —otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to catch up.

Reducing picking and inventory errors

Shipping was always one of our biggest concerns because of the errors we’d face due to similar-looking products, a large SKU range, and the ability to customise and add flavours.

“With ShipBob, there are so many checks and balances, so we don’t screw up picking. It’s been great. We can track our inventory in real time now, knowing the number of units we have for each product and where they all are in our warehouse.”

Rick Corbridge, COO at Infuze Hydration

What’s next for Infuze?

We have a lot of new stuff coming out, including partner flavour lines with energy drinks, supplements for the Lifefuels product, and new updates and improvements for all our products.

Lifefuels supplement flavours include pre-workout, post-workout, and CBD additions, as well as a berry lavender flavour sleep aid and a wellness blend that will be available in the near future.

With ShipBob’s blended fulfilment approach, we can expand into Europe and Australia. International shipping has been rough for us.

Half the time the package doesn’t get there, and other times the recipient sends it back because of duties and fees.

Utilising international locations through ShipBob will be a game-changer. We’re excited to expand into ShipBob’s other capabilities in this partnership.

@infuze_hydration #infuze #waterbottle ♬ FEEL THE GROOVE – Queens Road, Fabian Graetz

Richie Miller

Richie is on our Sales team at ShipBob and originally spoke to Infuze about their fulfilment needs.

Marc Varon

Marc is the Sr. Implementation Manager at ShipBob who helped train Infuze on ShipBob’s WMS

Emily Krieger

Emily is the Merchant Success Manager at ShipBob who helps support Infuze.

Let’s talk about ShipBob’s WMS

Click the button below to get in touch with ShipBob about our warehouse management software to see if we can help your business, discover if we’re a mutual fit, and get a pricing quote.

Written By:

Kristina is the Sr. Director of Marketing Communications at ShipBob, where she writes various articles, case studies, and other resources to help ecommerce brands grow their business.

Read all posts written by Kristina Lopienski