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From Shark Tank Spotlight to Sustainable Success: R.Riveter's Manufacturing Transformation
With the help of: FloridaMakes
About
R.Riveter is a military spouse-owned handbag company that employs military spouses nationwide, offering them portable, flexible income opportunities. After appearing on Shark Tank, the company faced rapid growth challenges that threatened their operational stability.
The Challenge
Following their successful Shark Tank appearance, R.Riveter experienced unprecedented growth that revealed operational weaknesses. The company faced issues with inefficient inventory management in an oversized 11,000-square-foot warehouse, unsustainable gross margins of 37%, resource-heavy purchasing processes, and operational distractions that diverted focus from core manufacturing. These challenges jeopardized the company's future, threatening both their business model and social mission of supporting military families.
FloridaMakes transformed R.Riveter at a critical time. Post Shark Tank, visibility brought opportunities and challenges, with inefficiencies and an oversized warehouse straining our mission-driven business. Pavel from FloridaMakes understood our struggles—operational bottlenecks and time-consuming inventory management—and paired us with a consultant who integrated seamlessly, offering clear solutions and genuine commitment.
The impact was profound. We boosted our gross margin from 37% to 52%, moved to a 3,000-square-foot warehouse, and cut costs significantly. Streamlined inventory freed us to focus on quality and growth. FloridaMakes didn’t just stabilize us—they empowered us to thrive, ensuring our mission’s sustainability. They’re true partners in our success.
MEP's Role
The FloridaMakes business advisor partnered with R.Riveter to implement a comprehensive operational transformation. A comprehensive and aggressive project was designed and implemented to streamline the company’s warehouse operations and space utilization, create an optimized inventory management systems, restructure the manufacturing processes to improve product and information flow, implement an efficient purchasing process to streamline and standardize the company’s purchasing functions, and provide expert consultation to achieve sustainable growth for the company. As a result of these improvements, R.Riveter realized cost savings by avoiding unnecessary investments and retaining sales that would have otherwise been lost due to the company’s inefficiencies. These improvements essentially saved the company from catastrophic failure and set it up for a bigger, brighter, and sustainable future.