Beer- Fresher than ever before

It’s no secret that supermarkets hide the freshest food underneath or behind older food. That is why it is not uncommon to see people reaching around 10 gallons of milk in a supermarket refrigerator to grab the milk in the very back.

Soon people will be doing the same thing with beer. The Beer Institute is now urging breweries to include a “brewed on” date on individual beer labels (7/12, Ott). While drinking old beer is unlikely to make consumers sick, it is well known that the flavor starts to deteriorate after 4-6 months. As a result, consumers will actively check the brewed-on date and buy only the freshest beer.

The new threat of consumers avoiding “old” beer makes producing on-demand critical in breweries aiming to maximize sales. Figuring out how to produce on-demand while keeping costs down is not easy, if it were, all breweries would already be doing it to minimize inventory. Fortunately, PlanetTogether’s automation capabilities allow breweries to optimize production on-demand. 

PlanetTogether’s dynamic forecasting automatically adjusts production based on actual demand. So there is no need to sweat if too little or too much beer was forecasted. PlanetTogether will adapt future plans to ensure all demand is met without creating excess inventory.

Just-in-time scheduling is another key feature that will enable breweries to optimize on-demand production. JIT scheduling delays production to occur close to the delivery date. By utilizing JIT, the brewed-on date will be as close to the purchase date as possible. Some breweries may worry that JIT scheduling is not an option because they must produce in large batches to meet demand given their constraints. However, automated scheduling decreases the complexity of producing/packaging in smaller batch sizes making it a viable option.

While adding a brewed-on date may initially seem daunting, PlanetTogether provides a helping hand on the planning side of your business. Visit www.planettogether.com to learn more.