- Client: Leading Energy Drink Brand
- Services: E-Commerce Fulfillment, Kitting Services, Multi-Channel Distribution, Technology Integration
- Industry: Beverage / CPG
- Location: United States
A leading energy drink brand’s explosive growth created a capacity nightmare. The company was managing both manufacturing and warehousing in the same facility, and incoming volume had completely outpaced available space. Pallets backed up on production floors. Aisles became storage zones. Finished goods took hours to locate because internal tracking couldn’t keep pace with goods moving in and out.
The real crisis wasn’t just space. It was control. Without accurate, real-time inventory visibility, the team couldn’t plan production runs, commit to retail orders with confidence, or prevent shipment delays. They needed a 3PL partner who could relieve the immediate overflow pressure while building a structured system for sustainable growth.
The Challenge
As a beverage brand experiencing rapid market expansion, this company faced the classic fast-growth problem: operations couldn’t keep up. Manufacturing and warehousing shared the same facility, creating constant conflicts for floor space. When production ramped up, there was nowhere to store finished goods. When inventory arrived, it blocked production areas.
Internal tracking systems couldn’t provide the real-time visibility needed to manage this complexity. The team spent hours searching for specific SKUs. Retail commitments became risky because inventory accuracy was uncertain. Production schedules got disrupted by warehouse congestion. The situation demanded immediate relief and a long-term solution that could scale with continued growth.
The Solution: ERP Integration + Rapid Deployment
The answer wasn’t simply moving pallets to another warehouse. This brand needed operational visibility and control that only comes from true systems integration.
ERP Integration as Foundation
States Logistics connected directly with their existing ERP system, creating real-time inventory synchronization across multiple facilities. Every pallet movement, every inbound receipt, every outbound shipment updated instantly in their system. This gave their team the visibility to make production decisions, commit to orders accurately, and track finished goods without manual reconciliation delays.
Immediate Capacity Relief
While building the integration, the team deployed a rapid response team to relocate overflow pallets. Often within 24 hours of the request, this freed up production floor space and restored workflow immediately.
Multi-Facility Coordination
States Logistics added a facility to its network specifically to support the brand’s overflow, then created live inventory reconciliation processes between locations. Dedicated teams managed daily trailer pulls and scheduled shuttles between the warehouse and their plant to prevent future buildup.
Operational Partnership
Beyond storage, the partnership provided the structured inventory management and packaging support processes their rapid growth had outpaced internally.
The Results
Production Impact:
- Production downtime caused by congestion dropped by more than 50% within the first 90 days
- Manufacturing floor space fully reclaimed for production operations
- Eliminated hours-long searches for finished goods
Inventory Control:
- Real-time inventory visibility across all facilities through ERP integration
- Accurate stock levels enable confident order commitments to retail partners
- Seamless tracking between manufacturing plant and off-site warehousing
Operational Flexibility:
- 24-hour response time for overflow situations
- Scheduled shuttle service prevents future capacity bottlenecks
- Dedicated team manages daily coordination without requiring client staff time
Scalability:
- Partnership continues to expand as volume grows
- Infrastructure in place to integrate additional technology and services
- System designed for sustainable long-term growth, not just crisis management
Why It Worked
Many 3PLs can offer warehouse space. Few can integrate directly with client ERP systems to deliver real-time operational control. States Logistics, Inc. combines the technical infrastructure (on-site IT department, systems integration capability) with the flexibility and responsiveness that fast-growing brands require.
For this beverage brand, that meant immediate relief from the overflow crisis combined with the structured inventory management needed to scale sustainably. The partnership demonstrates how integrated warehousing services backed by robust technology infrastructure can transform operational challenges into competitive advantages.
Outgrowing Your Current Warehouse Partner?
Fast-growing CPG brands face capacity challenges that require more than just square footage. They need partners with the technical capability to integrate with existing systems and the operational flexibility to respond in hours, not weeks.
Ready to explore what integrated 3PL partnership looks like? Reach out and we’ll walk you through what it could look like for your brand.
