As one of the nation’s fastest growing distributors of specialty ingredients, Natural Essentials is a go-to partner for retailers, consumer products companies, and private brand manufacturers. The company offers a steady supply of essential oils, waxes, botanicals, and other quality components to customers. However, the spread COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 led to a new product offering: hand sanitizer.
Early on during the pandemic, Natural Essentials decided to manufacture hand sanitizer for hospitals and government buildings. This new product would not only support the company, but also help protect people in higher-risk positions. Natural Essentials had the means to manufacture a large supply of hand sanitizer. Unfortunately, they lacked the proper packaging to distribute it. That’s when they turned to Pipeline Packaging to secure a steady source of plastic bottles for hand sanitizer.
The Challenge
Natural Essentials’ project seems simple at first – find a source of standard one-gallon plastic bottles. However, there are some key details that complicated the process. To start, one-gallon plastic bottles became hard to secure during the COVID-19 pandemic.
It wasn’t long before other entities joined Natural Essentials in producing hand sanitizer. This added competition meant Pipeline had to compete for a limited number of available containers or time on production lines.
Natural Essentials was ready to aggressively pursue this new opportunity. The company wanted to order six full truckloads of one-gallon plastic bottles right off the bat. In addition, Natural Essentials wanted Pipeline to ship a truckload of bottles every business day. That order soon ballooned to numerous truckloads, with one shipment per business day.
To summarize, Pipeline needed to quickly secure a source for highly sought after one-gallon plastic bottles. We would also have to ensure that this source could accommodate a massive number of bottles without missing a shipment. While this scenario may seem daunting, it wasn’t a problem for Pipeline.
The Solution
The issue at hand dealt with a matter of supply and demand. Fortunately for Natural Essentials, Pipeline’s relationships with packaging manufacturers meant we could secure a source for all the one-gallon plastic bottles required for this new endeavor.
The first step was to secure production for numerous one-gallon plastic bottles. Thanks to our sourcing network, we secured space on a trusted manufacturer's one-gallon plastic bottle line for 84 straight days. This allowed us to guarantee to Natural Essentials that we’d have the packaging they needed to aggressively pursue hand sanitizer production.
As promised, Pipeline was able to secure and supply a truckload of bottles per business day. After 60 straight shipments, Natural Essentials reached a point where they needed to halt production for a short period. Our bottle manufacturer completed the agreed-upon terms of production, so we utilized our flexible warehousing space to store the remaining 24 shipments of plastic bottles.
This arrangement kept the bottles available for Natural Essentials until they were ready for them. Once Natural Solutions could continue production, we started another 24 straight business days of shipments.
The Results
Great working relationships can make a major difference for a client in need. Since we could guarantee a regular supply of one-gallon plastic bottles, Natural Essentials felt comfortable pursuing a lucrative opportunity. Thanks to Pipeline’s strong relationship with the right suppliers, we connected Natural Essentials with the right manufacturer and enabled a major windfall for Natural Essentials.
Are you looking for a packaging distributor that works hard to find the right solutions for your business? Check out our available packaging products online or contact us today to talk to one of our experts today about your packaging needs.
