Press Releases

Voodoo Robotics Customer Spotlight: Nehemiah Manufacturing Company

FRISCO, TX – August 11, 2022

Nehemiah Manufacturing Company is a for-profit-manufacturing plant that has been in business since 2009. It owns brands such as Kandoo and packages/manufactures several lines for Procter & Gamble, including Tide, Downy, Dreft, and Febreze. From its inception, Nehemiah has practiced “second chance” hiring of hard-to-hire and formerly incarcerated individuals and has provided a social support team to help employees succeed. Today, Nehemiah employs 180 to 220 individuals, of which 80 to 85 percent are second-chance hires.

“Nehemiah is a special place. It’s a company that was founded to do three things: building brands, creating jobs, and changing lives. When Nehemiah was founded, the goal was to bring light-duty manufacturing to the inner city of Cincinnati,” said Eric Wellinghoff, Chief Marketing Officer. “The mission of our company is providing job opportunities for those who need a second chance. One in six people in the United States currently has a felony on their record and we found that by giving them a second chance, we could change their lives and in turn, they would change our lives and we could change the lives of consumers.”

“I am a two-time felon who was struggling to find a job until I came across Nehemiah,” said Michael Taylor, a Cincinnati native. “As I started moving up in the company, I started to believe in myself. Fast forward nine years, I am the director of operations here in charge of about one hundred people … who report to me. I needed the helping hand when I needed it, but now that I got to this point, I got to start being the helping hand for somebody else.”

Voodoo Robotics devices in the Nehemiah Manufacturing picking area.

Wellinghoff said “We are focused on how we continue to organically grow the impact that we have in our community. We really want to encourage business leaders because we think business is the way to change the fabric of society. We feel called now, after 13 years of success, to create a national movement for second-chance hiring.”

Last year Nehemiah turned to Voodoo Robotics to improve warehouse picking accuracy and efficiency in its direct-to-consumer facility in Cincinnati, Ohio. It purchased 80 Voodoo Robotics Cloud Display Devices and three Turbos (routers).

“We are a small but growing pick and pack facility and we needed to move from 1980s technology to the 21st century. Voodoo Robotics let us add a strong but flexible pick to light system quickly,” said Ian Huskey, Director of eCommerce Fulfillment. 

“The real key to success is flexibility compared to regular pick to light devices, which are much more rigid. The Voodoo Robotics devices are adaptable and reconfigurable as our needs change. Today we have 115 SKUs that we use with Pick-to-Light devices. It has been a giant leap forward. We currently use the devices for pick faces, but have future plans for pick-to-cart, and put-to-wall.”

Nehemiah Manufacturing contracted with Scott Jessup of Whitfield Consulting LLC to enable their SkuVault IMS and ShipWorks software to work together with Voodoo Robotics, ensuring quick and accurate order picking.

“We have seen a marked increase in our accuracy and our efficiency, as the devices have helped us optimize our workflows. We have also experienced improvements in accountability, traceability, and total operational throughput,” said Huskey.

Bridget Johnson, a warehouse picker, said “I had no experience with any pick to light system before this job.” She said she found the Voodoo Robotics “devices easy to interact with and a great way to increase my accuracy. I appreciate the instant feedback I get if I make a mistake, and knowing how to fix it without involving a supervisor.”

Nehemiah looks forward to evolving and expanding its Voodoo Robotics implementation after it moves into their new, larger warehouse facility later this year.

Learn more about Nehemiah Manufacturing at nehemiahmfg.com.

About Voodoo Robotics

Voodoo Robotics is a leading innovator in warehouse picking automation, based in Frisco, Texas. We offer a unique wireless Pick-to-Light system designed and made in the United States, that modernizes warehouse operations by leveraging the latest Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology. Our picking hardware integrates easily with existing Warehouse Management Systems (WMS), or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems allowing distribution centers, warehouses, and third-party logistics (3PLs) to manage operations with little to no integration effort. The website for Voodoo Robotics is voodoorobotics.com.