Modernizing Warehouse Operations at Scale

Customer Success Story

How Shipedge Transformed Fulfillment for Nestlé® and The Bountiful Company.

A partnership built on integration, continuity, and 21st-century infrastructure.

Active Shipments

3,250,493

$5.75 Billion

acquisition value of TBCo core brands

1 Million+

shipments processed per year

4,000+

employees supported worldwide

50+ Countries

sold in worldwide

Executive Summary

When Nestlé® acquired the core brands of The Bountiful Company (TBCo) in August 2021 for $5.75 billion, it inherited a portfolio of globally recognized nutritional supplement brands, including Nature's Bounty®, Solgar®, Osteo Bi-Flex®, and Puritan's Pride®. It also inherited a warehouse infrastructure that predated the modern enterprise era. Prior to Shipedge's engagement, TBCo's warehouse management system had been in operation since the late 20th century, presenting immediate challenges as Nestlé® moved to align the business with its global standards for technology, scalability, and operational efficiency.

Shipedge, a cloud-based Warehouse Management System (WMS) and Order Management System (OMS) provider headquartered in Durham, NC, was selected to modernize TBCo's fulfillment operations. The engagement required seamless integration with UPS, SAP, and existing legacy systems, a zero-downtime go-live during business hours, and the preservation of historical order data. Shipedge delivered on all fronts, and today TBCo continues to process over 1.25 million shipments per year on modern, scalable infrastructure designed to grow with Nestlé's® expanding supplement portfolio.

Background

The Challenge of Legacy Debt

The Bountiful Company is one of North America's most established dietary supplement businesses, founded in 1971 as Nature's Bounty and later rebranded. As of its acquisition by Nestlé® Health Science, TBCo employed over 4,000 people worldwide and maintained manufacturing, packaging, warehouse, distribution, and administrative facilities throughout the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, supporting a product catalog spanning vitamins, minerals, herbal supplements, protein bars, and more, sold in over 50 countries.

Nestlé® completed its acquisition of TBCo's core brands on August 9, 2021, integrating them into Nestlé® Health Science alongside an existing portfolio that included Vital Proteins, Garden of Life, and Pure Encapsulations. This transaction created a global leader in vitamins, minerals, and nutritional supplements, with the combined entity expected to leverage scale across manufacturing, distribution, and supply chain.

The fulfillment challenge was immediate: TBCo's U.S. warehouses were running on a warehouse management system originally developed and deployed in the late 1990s. Nestlé's® business requirements demanded that these facilities integrate with modern UPS shipping infrastructure and SAP enterprise resource planning systems, support high-volume fulfillment of over 3 million shipments with over 1 million per year, and sustain uninterrupted operations throughout a technology transition. A modern, purpose-built WMS was not a luxury; it was an operational necessity.

Challenges and Concerns

Complex Hurdles, Zero Room for Error.

The path to modernization involved significant technical and logistical hurdles. Shipedge and the TBCo operations team identified the following key challenges at the outset of the engagement:

Data Loss and Historical Continuity

Migrating from a decades-old system to a new platform carries inherent risk of data loss. TBCo required that on day one of the new system, historical reporting be accurate and complete, not starting from zero. Any lapse in order history would impair reporting, compliance, and operational decision-making.

Zero Downtime During Business Hours

TBCo's warehouse operations run continuously during business hours to meet customer demand. A go-live event that required pausing active workflows, even briefly, was not acceptable. The cutover needed to occur without impacting day-to-day operations.

Multi-System Integration Requirements

Nestlé's® enterprise standards demanded simultaneous integration with multiple existing platforms, including:

• UPS Open API for direct carrier label generation
• SAP systems for enterprise resource planning (ERP) workflows
• TBCo's existing legacy warehouse management system during the transition period
• Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) systems already in active use
• A-Frame automated dispensing system for high-velocity SKU fulfillment
• Pick to Light (PTL) system for guided, accuracy-driven warehouse picking

Warehouse Automation Continuity

TBCo's warehouse floors relied on two active automation systems: an A-Frame automated dispensing unit and a Pick to Light (PTL) guided picking system. Both were pre-existing, third-party platforms that had been tightly woven into TBCo's daily fulfillment operations. The core challenge was not introducing new automation, but ensuring that these systems continued operating without interruption after the WMS transition. Any failure to communicate with either system on go-live day would halt fulfillment on the affected product lines entirely.

Workflow Preservation and Enhancement

TBCo had developed specific warehouse workflows over decades of operations. Nestlé's® requirements dictated that these workflows not be abandoned in favor of generic, out-of-the-box functionality, but rather carried forward and meaningfully improved upon. Disrupting established processes would increase training time, introduce errors, and delay adoption.

Solutions

Shipedge as the Central Hub

Shipedge developed a targeted implementation strategy built around TBCo's unique operational profile. Rather than deploying a generic configuration, Shipedge's implementation team built a tailored solution addressing each challenge directly.

UPS Direct Integration

Direct label generation, removing 3rd-party costs.

SAP Integration

Meeting Nestlé® global enterprise visibility standards.

A-Frame & PTL Systems

Custom integration with existing communication protocols.

Cloud-Based WMS Modernization

Shipedge replaced TBCo's legacy system with its cloud-based WMS platform, providing the modern infrastructure Nestlé® required for scalable operations. The platform was integrated with TBCo's existing technology stack, enabling a seamless deployment that allowed for a controlled, phased transition rather than an abrupt cutover.

Historical Data Preservation

To resolve data continuity concerns, Shipedge engineers exported all orders from the prior 30-day window before the go-live date and imported them into the Shipedge platform programmatically. This ensured that on day one, TBCo warehouse managers and reporting personnel had accurate historical data fully accessible within the new system. Shipedge also built a custom integration with TBCo's existing legacy system to preserve and continue supporting previously established automated workflows, effectively bridging old and new infrastructure without forcing a binary switch.

Results

Operating at the Standard of a World-Class Enterprise.

Following the successful implementation, TBCo's warehouse operations entered a new phase of efficiency, accuracy, and scalability. The outcomes of Shipedge's engagement include:

• Full SAP integration now provides TBCo with access to a comprehensive suite of ERP applications built for modern enterprise requirements, aligning TBCo's operational data with Nestlé's® global standards for financial and supply chain reporting.

• Direct UPS integration reduces the possibility of labeling errors by retrieving carrier-generated shipping labels on demand, improving shipment accuracy across all outbound orders. TBCo also avoids per-shipment costs associated with third-party shipping platforms, as labels are generated directly through Shipedge.

• TBCo maintained a consistent order volume throughout the transition, meeting Nestlé's® expectations without disruption to customer fulfillment cycles. The platform continues to support over 1.25 million shipments per year.

• With cloud-based, actively maintained infrastructure, TBCo and its subsidiaries now operate with technology designed for competitive use in the current century and beyond, increasing their ability to maintain or outpace competitors in the fast-growing global nutritional supplements market.

• Both the A-Frame and Pick to Light automation systems continued operating without interruption on go-live day, with Shipedge's custom integrations preserving all existing automated picking workflows. By connecting the new WMS to TBCo's existing automation infrastructure, Shipedge established the technical foundation for TBCo to expand and build upon its warehouse automation capabilities as the business grows under Nestlé's® ownership.

The Shipedge and Nestlé® / TBCo engagement demonstrates how modern WMS technology, applied with precision and a deep focus on integration, can modernize complex warehouse operations without sacrificing continuity or performance. By replacing a legacy system of late-20th-century vintage with a cloud-based platform built for today's fulfillment demands, Shipedge helped TBCo align with Nestlé's® mission to enhance quality of life and contribute to a healthier future, while delivering the operational reliability a brand of this scale demands.

The partnership reflects a shared commitment to process improvement, modern technology, and the kind of collaborative implementation that turns a potentially disruptive platform change into a seamless evolution. For Nestlé®, the result is a subsidiary operating at the standard of a world-class enterprise. For Shipedge, it affirms the platform's capability to serve the most demanding fulfillment environments in the nutritional health sector.