Everyone’s run into this problem—you can put Ikea furniture together, but you can’t take it apart and put it back together again. When the average American moves 11.4 times in their lifetime, it stands to reason that furniture is always easier to move when it’s been broken down. But what if you can’t do that?
In 2014, Kyle Hoff and Alex O’Dell wanted a solution to the issue. That’s when they came up with the concept of the Floyd leg—a steel table leg that secures to any type of flat surface, capable of turning that surface into a desk, coffee table, and so on. The steel legs are easily attached and detached, making moving that table or other piece of furniture much easier.
From the leg, Floyd moved on to other pieces of furniture: a coat rack, bench, shelf, and finally, a bed. The Floyd bed boasts assembly time that takes only a few minutes, and is easy to disassemble and transport.
The Floyd concept is a response to a furniture industry that doesn’t take into account the high rates of moving across the country, especially among younger populations—and the furniture that should be easy to move, but just isn’t. Not only is Floyd’s furniture easy to put together and easily disassembled again, it’s easy to ship.
CHALLENGE
Floyd was experiencing a massive amount of growth, and at the same time, an influx of cash and growth expectation. However, issues in the shipping process were causing products to be shipped out in a less-than-desirable way, and needed to be addressed comprehensively. Floyd’s shipping provider at the time was also the manufacturer of the wood for Floyd’s tables. Since shipping was not the core competency of the wood manufacturer, Floyd needed an expert to handle the fulfillment of their product.
SOLUTION
In 2016, Evans began to centralize the kitting, packaging, and value-added needs for Floyd. Evans optimized the kitting process by improving packages for shipping, utilizing waterbased tape, collaborating on better corrugate, and ultimately, bringing the cost down. Evans was also able to help out Floyd with a real-time supply chain, in transportation as well—carrying approximately 4-5 truckloads a week from here out east. Floyd now ships all over the world.
RESULTS
Since partnering with Evans, shipments have increased from 23 SKUS per week. And now they ship 37 SKUS per week. The account began with one shipping location, requiring 1-2 trucks weekly. Now, there are 5 shipping locations which require 5-6 trucks, as well as occasional special orders. Not to mention, Floyd began as an $18,000 kickstarter, and sales grew 250% from March 2016 through April 2017.
“We came to Evans about a year and a half ago because we were struggling to scale how we were packaging our product. At that time, we had been packaging with our fulfillment center and weren’t able to keep up with how quickly material was growing and the number of SKUs we were offering,” says Kyle Hoff.
“We can partner with Evans and they help us to be more nimble and lean with our team at Floyd, but also rely on them to do some of the other things we wouldn’t have in-house resources for,” says Daniel Stevens.
Hoff continues, “the best thing about working with Evans is that we’ve really been able to work with their team to scale our packaging solution…the fact that we were able to come here on a smaller scale, and Evans worked to scale with us, and help us think about scale, was really important to our growth.”
“First and foremost, they’re just a great partner,” adds Stevens.
It’s the extension within Evans of the supply chain division and space—the level of partnership, control, and communication with partners—which makes for a fully collaborative working environment. Evans has proven to be a successful partner for Floyd.