Running a brewery efficiently requires more than just brewing great beer. Effective inventory management is essential to prevent production disruptions, maintain quality, and ensure profitability. Beer30's brewery inventory software takes inventory management to the next level by incorporating Material Resource Planning (MRP) to automate forecasting and optimize brewery operations.
MRP, or Material Resource Planning, is a powerful tool for automating inventory forecasting. Beer30's MRP module calculates future inventory based on current stock levels, purchase orders, and planned production schedules. It automatically suggests purchase orders for raw materials and packaging items, factoring in lead times and ensuring breweries are always well-stocked.
Utilizing MRP in brewery inventory software offers several significant advantages:
Poor inventory management can have a range of negative effects on your brewery’s bottom line. Let’s explore some common problems that arise from not using a brewery inventory software solution like Beer30.
Each day you're out of a high-demand product, you lose sales. Even worse, losing shelf space or tap handle placements can mean distributors or retailers replace your product with a competitor's, further reducing your revenue. In today's competitive market, it's essential to avoid stockouts by maintaining a well-managed inventory.
Without proper inventory forecasting, you may need to expedite shipping for ingredients or packaging materials. Faster shipping often comes with higher costs, adding unnecessary expenses to your operation. Additionally, ordering partial pallets or containers of raw materials further inflates costs.
Substituting ingredients due to shortages can lead to inconsistencies in your beer. Quality loss harms your brand’s reputation and may cause long-term damage to relationships with distributors and customers. With Beer30's brewery inventory software, you can maintain consistency by ensuring you always have the right materials on hand.
Dave Short is a Customer Experience Specialist with The 5th Ingredient. Formerly Dave was Brewmaster and Production Manager with 49th State Brewing Company in Anchorage, AK. Here is Dave’s experience with material resource planning:
“As the production manager it was really all about keeping us on schedule and just maximizing the amount of beer we could put out. I had two brew pubs and we were building out a third production facility. We actually had, not only the busiest brewpub in the state, but the busiest restaurant in the state of Alaska. So we went through a massive amount of draft beer just at one of our locations and quite a bit at our second location as well.”
“And by mistakes I mean like running out of ingredients or raw materials. Not only did this include items like grains, hops, or adjuncts, but also bottles, bottle caps, brand specific labels for our brands. If we had one minor slip up in the summer it would cause us to be out of a beer on the shelves. And that was a major, major problem because it was an income loss for us.”
“Having an MRP tool like what Beer30 offers is such a massive time-saver. For starters, fewer mistakes are made. But it also makes all the information available in one place versus having to collect hand counts and trying to map them up with my purchase orders, then looking separately in the brew schedule, and trying to create Gantt charts. I did all of that manually and was learning to be successful at it, but it was a challenge.”
Zach Volkman is the Head of Revenue Operations for The 5th Ingredient. Formerly Zach was Chief Operating Officer of O'Connor Brewing Company in Norfolk, VA, and prior to that, was a Process Engineer at Ballast Point Brewing, in San Diego, CA.
“At my previous job, I ran our purchasing of packaging materials for about six months, using nothing other than spreadsheets and a Google calendar. At the time, we were bottling, canning and kegging five days a week. I would say, at times, I was spending at least 10 hours a week manually calculating and trying to forecast out exactly what my consumption rate was going to be on every single item. Then I was trying to stay ahead of four to eight week lead times, especially for printed boxes and items like that. Not to mention, we're trying to buy it in bulk to hit price points.”
“And then all of a sudden you're tying up a bright tank. You can't even necessarily filter the next beer or switch to something else. From there, it’s just a cascading effect that could be a total headache. I couldn't agree more that MRP was a huge motivation to go for craft brewery software. One thing I like most about Beer30 is that it has a lead time feature with suggested purchase orders.”
Beer30's brewery inventory software is packed with features designed specifically for breweries. The MRP module integrates seamlessly into daily operations, offering several unique advantages:
To fully benefit from Beer30's MRP tool, here are some key practices:
If your brewery has been struggling with material resource planning, Beer30 could be your knight in shining armor! Schedule a demo today to learn how our craft brewery software could help you brew more and brew better.
