Capstone Blog Post #4 – Site Visit

Recently, I went to my site visit at one of Yogibo’s warehouses. Although this wasn’t their main warehouse, I still learned a lot! The warehouse I went to was in Brookfield, CT since this was the most convenient location for me. Ed, who runs the warehouse greeted me and gave an informative tour. Ed and his staff taught me how to fill and cover a Yogibo. I learned all about their different products and how they are transported to Yogibo stores and to buyers. One of the most interesting things I learned was how they have developed a safety feature to protect customers (especially children) from suffocating inside a beanbag. The safety feature is a zipper that can only be opened with a specially designed paper clip. This was invented as a response to a child suffocating in another type of beanbag (not a Yogibo). The child was able to unzip the beanbag and crawl inside. Yogibos now have this special clip that only they employees know how to use. After a Yogibo is filled with beads, the clip is removed locking the zipper.  It can only be unlocked when the clip is inserted.

Safety feature on the inside cover of a Yogibo.
Safety feature on the inside cover of a Yogibo.

While we were touring the warehouse, Ed showed me a few Yogibo products that have been discontinued. This was interesting because I got to hear the reasons why some products succeed and others fail. Sometimes they know the reasons, sometimes they just don’t. A lot of the products that have been discontinued have been improved upon, and then end up doing well! It might be a major change or just a slight difference to make it work better for the customer. The Yogibo Tot is one of their discontinued products. They found that when a young child sat in it they sometimes tipped over since it wasn’t very stable. It was redesigned as the Yogibo Pyramid and it is a big hit for younger children because it is really supportive and safe.

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