From Inventory Chaos to Peace of Mind: How Miller Lights Took Control
A decade-long Craftybase user shares how automated inventory tracking transformed their handcrafted lighting business from late orders and missing parts to smooth operations.
Meet Miller Lights.
Miller Lights creates premium handcrafted industrial-style light fixtures for homes and offices. Founded by Jonathan Miller in 2012, the business was born from his background in electrical auditing for retail environments and his deep appreciation for how lighting shapes the atmosphere of a space.
"I don't just design lights, I create atmospheres," says Jonathan. Each fixture is hand-built with meticulous attention to detail, combining industrial strength with artistic design. Today, Miller Lights is a team of five, selling across multiple channels including Shopify, Etsy, and Amazon.
Martin, the operations manager and co-owner, wears many hats in this small but ambitious business. And for years, one of his biggest headaches was inventory.
Our inventory was a mess. We had trouble keeping materials for the various recipes in stock and we found we'd always be out of one piece."
Before Craftybase, the team was relying on what Martin calls "rudimentary" methods: pen and paper, Excel spreadsheets, and their own memories. The time it took to manually maintain everything was overwhelming for a growing business.
"Something was always mistaken or lost or forgotten," Martin recalls. "It wasn't efficient."
The turning point came when late orders started piling up. They'd receive an order, go to build the fixture, and discover they were missing a critical part. The order would sit on the shelf for three more days while they scrambled to restock.
We'd be late on orders because we couldn't make them and didn't have the parts. We knew we needed to do something about our inventory."
Always running out of parts at the wrong moment? Get your inventory under control like Miller Lights did.
Try Craftybase free for 14 days →Miller Lights discovered Craftybase back in 2012 through Etsy, and they've been using it ever since - making them one of Craftybase's longest-standing customers. What sold them? It was easy to use, integrated with all their sales channels (Shopify, Etsy, Amazon), and came with excellent support and onboarding resources.
"I just started studying it like the handbook on how to use it," Martin says. "I watched the videos, read the courses, and printed out the step-by-steps. I followed it step by step and set it all up over the course of a month."
But the setup process did more than just get them organized - it helped them understand their business better.
The walkthrough helped us get a handle on our business and we noticed gaps that we could tighten. We realized how many materials we needed and used. We trimmed the fat, per se. It made the world of a difference."
Today, Martin uses Craftybase every single day. He inputs purchase orders for materials, manages recipes for each product, and relies heavily on the automanufacture feature to automatically deduct materials when orders come in. He checks the overview dashboard regularly to see what's in the yellow (low stock) versus red (out of stock) zones.
"I love the automanufactures," Martin says. "I love the low stock and out of stock material overview on that first page. It lets me know what I need to take care of as far as ordering materials."
The biggest transformation? Peace of mind.
It's the bird's eye view of all the bins and materials and what we have on deck. It's awesome to be able to look and make upcoming orders. I can sit back peacefully and know I have the materials on the shelf."
When asked how he'd describe Craftybase to another maker, Martin doesn't hesitate:
A must-have if you find you don't have an inventory system in place that works. Craftybase works really well."
If you're a maker struggling with inventory chaos - missing parts, late orders, and the constant stress of not knowing what's on your shelves - Craftybase can help you regain control, just like it did for Miller Lights over a decade ago.
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Join Miller Lights and thousands of makers who've conquered inventory chaos.
Know what's on your shelves. Never miss a part again.