For breweries, digital transformation is not just about adopting new technologies; it’s about leveraging these technologies to enhance processes, improve product quality, streamline operations, and foster innovation.
It will probably come as no surprise that the brewing industry, steeped in tradition, faces unique challenges and opportunities with digital transformation. Traditionally, brewing has been something of “an artisanal process”, relying heavily on the brewer’s expertise and experience.
However, the incorporation of digital tools and technologies offers a wealth of benefits that can elevate the craft to new heights.
One of the most significant advantages is the enhancement of production efficiency. Advanced analytics and Internet of Things (IoT), as Christian Barden of Konvoy explains in this comment here, devices enable real-time monitoring and control of the brewing process.
Moreover, digital transformation can significantly improve supply chain management. By utilising data analytics, breweries can gain insights into demand patterns, allowing for better forecasting and inventory management.
This ensures that breweries can meet customer demand without overproducing, which not only reduces waste but also optimises the use of resources.
Blockchain technology can be employed to enhance transparency and traceability in the supply chain, ensuring that every ingredient used in the brewing process is sourced sustainably and ethically.
This transparency can be a powerful marketing tool, appealing to increasingly conscientious consumers who value sustainability and ethical practices.
Customer engagement is another area where digital transformation can have a profound impact. Breweries can leverage social media, mobile apps, and customer relationship management (CRM) systems to build stronger relationships with their customers.
These tools allow breweries to gather valuable feedback, tailor marketing strategies to individual preferences, and offer personalised experiences. For example, breweries can create loyalty programs that reward repeat customers with exclusive offers and experiences.
Additionally, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies can be used to provide immersive experiences, such as virtual tours of the brewery or interactive tastings, enhancing customer engagement and brand loyalty.
Innovation is at the heart of the brewing industry, and digital transformation can fuel this innovation by providing brewers with the tools to experiment and iterate more efficiently. With the help of advanced data analytics, brewers can analyse the outcomes of different brewing techniques and ingredient combinations more accurately.
This allows for a more scientific approach to brewing, where data-driven insights guide the experimentation process, leading to the creation of new and unique beer varieties. Additionally, collaboration platforms enable brewers to share knowledge and collaborate with peers across the globe, fostering a culture of innovation and continuous improvement.
From a marketing perspective, digital transformation enables breweries to reach a wider audience through various online channels.
Digital marketing strategies, such as search engine optimisation (SEO), pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, and social media marketing, allow breweries to target specific demographics and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns in real-time.
This level of precision and agility was not possible with traditional marketing methods. Furthermore, e-commerce platforms provide breweries with the opportunity to sell their products directly to consumers, bypassing traditional distribution channels.
This direct-to-consumer approach not only increases profit margins but also provides valuable data on consumer preferences and purchasing behaviour.
Digital transformation also plays a crucial role in regulatory compliance. The brewing industry is subject to stringent regulations regarding production, labelling, and distribution.
Digital tools can help breweries stay compliant by automating record-keeping and reporting processes. For instance, software solutions can track and document every stage of the brewing process, ensuring that all regulatory requirements are met.
This reduces the risk of non-compliance, which can result in costly fines and damage to the brewery’s reputation.
Workforce management is another area where digital transformation can provide significant benefits.
Automated scheduling, time tracking, and performance management systems can streamline administrative tasks, allowing staff to focus on more value-added activities.
Additionally, digital training programs and resources can help employees stay up-to-date with the latest industry trends and best practices, fostering a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
In conclusion, digital transformation offers a multitude of benefits to the brewing industry. By embracing digital technologies, breweries can enhance production efficiency, improve supply chain management, engage more effectively with customers, foster innovation, and ensure regulatory compliance.
Moreover, digital tools can provide breweries with valuable insights into consumer behaviour and preferences, enabling them to tailor their products and marketing strategies accordingly.
As the industry continues to evolve, those breweries that leverage the power of digital transformation will be better positioned to thrive in an increasingly competitive and dynamic market.
The future of brewing is not just in the hands of skilled brewers but also in the capabilities of advanced technologies that can help realise their creative visions. Here are some ways forward-thinking businesses in the world of beer are doing just that.
Heineken teams up with Blue Yonder
Heineken has recently partnered with Blue Yonder to further transform its supply chain planning capability.
It will implement cognitive demand planning, a next generation cloud-native, microservices-based saas solution, that utilises artificial intelligence (ai) and machine learning (ml) to improve forecast accuracy and reduce bias by considering dynamic external and internal variables.
Heineken has been implementing Blue Yonder solutions for multiple years unlocking value for its business, especially with the potential to improve forecast accuracy through ML demand forecasting solution.
It has selected Blue Yonder, as one of the current major supply chain solution providers, to future proof its demand planning process and leverage AI/ML, autonomous scenario planning, planning process orchestration and solution extensibility.
Corneel Hindriks, manager, digital & technology – global planning at Heineken said: “We want to continuously improve our supply chain processes and adopting Blue Yonder Cognitive Demand Planning is an important step in that ambition.
“Working together with Blue Yonder will support us in our ambition to become the best-connected brewer and foster functional excellence in demand planning, leading to improved customer experience.
“And with the right supply response it could generate a positive impact on our sustainability targets as well, for example by reduced write-offs and less goods movements.”
Once the Blue Yonder Cognitive Demand Planning solution is implemented, Heineken expects to achieve benefits such as making more informed, data-driven decisions, manage complexity and boost accuracy, and being able to create and deploy customised and extended solutions.
Advancing with brewery management software
Beak Brewery is an independent brewery and taproom in the historic brewing town of Lewes. They are known for making everything from hop-forward IPAs and best bitters to saisons and imperial stouts. Here, they explain how they are utilising modern brewery management software to greatly improve their business.
“We needed to improve our efficiency and allow all of the data, information and orders to flow through our complete business, to all of our teams and from our other sales platforms,” they said. “Our daily tasks are made so simple and it was soon apparent just how much time we had lost to now unnecessary admin using the previous setup.
They add: “One of the main reasons for us not changing sooner was the fear of changing to a new platform, learning the processes and migrating the data.
The company supported us so well throughout the whole migration process it was far from daunting – in fact, the whole process was very simple, and it has proved hugely beneficial to our business.
“Advanced deliveries. This small add-on has saved hours of time. Our most efficient delivery routes are solved in seconds at the click of a button in Breww. We can easily allocate the order to our own vehicle or courier network, streamlining our whole delivery operation saving me alone 2-3 hours each week where I can focus on growing the sales and making our business more profitable.
“It has such a detailed, vast customisable reporting suite, allowing me to drill down and evaluate month-on-month our sales performance.
“And even break the figures down further to view our sales trends and make confident strategic decisions for our sales push and, as a result, influence our production drive, highlighting the key products to focus our efforts and when.
“Its platform is so visual, you can see the sale highlights and know accurately where you are in seconds, the customer map detailing demand and recent sales history gives a great overview of the sales performance or purchase history per customer or customer type.”
BrewMan and Stewart Brewing co-host technology in brewing day
Last month Stewart Brewing hosted BrewMan’s inaugural ‘Technology in Brewing’ day, welcoming representatives from Theakstons, Wicklow Wolf, Black Sheep Brewery, Inveralmond, CC Breweries, Deya Brewing, Edinburgh Beer Factory, Thistly Cross Cider, Ossett Brewing, Secret Garden Distillery and Tayport Distillery.
Attendees were all users of BrewMan’s brewery management system and travelled across the UK to discuss how software is being utilised in their different businesses, and to learn what they could bring back to their own systems and ways of working.
The focus of the day was a recently launched, significant update to the ‘Production Management’ area of the BrewMan system. Their team had worked closely with Stewart Brewing to develop the new features and test the changes before release.
The update allows users to create ‘Batch Templates’, a pre-planned structure for their batches where they can specify ahead of time the various processes, recipes, blends and packagings that a single batch will undergo.
These improvements allow enhanced streamlining of operations and ensure even more consistency to records and tracking.
The team at Stewart took our attendees through a live demonstration of recording a batch in their system so everyone was able to see how they were maximising their use of the software.
This sparked discussion around different approaches to using BrewMan and how the new user flow would work for the wide variety of recipes and processes utilised at the attendees’ companies.
Sam Williams, commercial director at BrewMan, said “We were delighted to host this event and get the opportunity to see so many of our users in person and in one place.
“We are really thankful to the Stewart Brewing team who were wonderful hosts and so enthusiastic about sharing best practice with other brewers so that collective feedback can help improve and drive forward systems even further in the future.”
From bottlenecks to breakthroughs: unlocking manufacturing potential
Labour shortages and high staff turnover are plaguing manufacturers across the food and beverage industry. A perfect storm of profit loss weakened operational flows and increasing energy costs are hindering manufacturers from reaching peak production capacity. There are several ways for drinks companies such as breweries to tap into their potential and increase efficiencies across its production lines. Here Steve Adams, CEO of LineView Solutions, explains how.
Data has become a critical tool in this process, enabling manufacturing teams to streamline processes and navigate these challenges and uncertainties.
However, merely having data is not enough. Just as ingredients require a recipe and skilful hands to craft a delicious meal or perfect bake, data in manufacturing requires interpretation and analysis to unlock its true potential.
This is where our consultancy steps in, educating and empowering manufacturing teams by providing the right information, effective focus and appropriate action to deliver results to drive both immediate and long-term improvements across manufacturing lines.
Each business has its own set of unique challenges, and nobody understands these challenges better than the teams that operate the manufacturing lines.
The sector is struggling to attract and retain skilled talent with manufacturing being one of the industries most impacted by labour shortages.
Despite projections that 3.5 million new manufacturing jobs will be created by 2025, over two million of these are expected to go unfilled due to a lack of skilled workers.
With younger employees increasingly prioritising their values and job satisfaction, attracting, engaging, and retaining top talent, whilst using team time efficiently becomes not only a necessity but a strategic imperative for manufacturing companies to succeed.
This is where Leading Excellence programs become important. These programs provide a strategic solution to address talent shortages and create a more sustainable workforce.
By empowering strong leadership and supportive working environments whilst fostering a sense of value and boosting career progression, these programs can significantly improve team performance, elevate operational efficiency, and deliver exceptional customer service.
In a sector facing fierce competition for talent and historically lower wages, investing in Leadership Excellence programs becomes a strategic differentiator.
Leveraging Data
Actionable data also serves as a valuable resource for manufacturers, offering critical insights into line performance, production, and operational efficiency.
However, the real challenge lies in interpreting and effectively utilising this wealth of data to drive meaningful improvements in manufacturing operations.
An estimated 64% of manufacturers are still in the early stages of their digital transformation journey, unable to extend their digital activities due to a lack of the required skills and resources to mine their data for commercial value.
Tailored Line Balancing Optimisation (LBO) training is another tool that can support manufacturing teams. It is designed to equip manufacturing teams with the tools to balance operator and machine time effectively.
With unplanned downtime costing typical businesses close to $125,000 per hour, these disruptions result in extensive profit losses but also hinder production capacity, preventing manufacturers from meeting fluctuating market demands.
Through LBO training, manufacturers can streamline operations, minimise downtime, and unlock hidden efficiencies by focusing on improving control, accumulation, speed, start-up, and run-out times across lines.
By ensuring that team members are equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to identify and implement LBO opportunities across the business, firms are then well-positioned to unlock additional capacity across multiple lines.
For example, following two weeks of LineView’s LBO training Britvic PLC unlocked an immediate capacity increase of £2.9M, directly impacting their profitability, whilst also revealing a further 2.5M in capacity gains through enhanced control optimisation.
Empowering manufacturers for long term success
Not only does upskilling the team empower them to identify inefficiencies and implement solutions across entire organisations, but it also fosters job satisfaction which encourages sustained production efficiency through a commitment to continuous improvement.
Through their work with Britvic, we observed a noticeable difference in team motivation. Witnessing middle managers and senior team members actively involved in measuring progress across lines served as a powerful motivator for the teams, fostering a culture of support and growth throughout the organisation with a bottom-up approach.
Engaging and energising teams to succeed is crucial, especially in the face of current labour shortages, as this not only increases employees’ satisfaction in their roles and productivity ensuring teams are maximising their time.
With downtime and labour shortages casting a shadow on manufacturing productivity and profitability, the need for streamlined processes and empowered teams has never been more pressing.
Data holds immense potential to help manufacturers overcome these industry challenges by unlocking new possibilities and driving continuous improvement, but it requires skilful interpretation and analysis – which can only come from training and increased understanding.
Our consultancy offerings could be the solution, enabling manufacturers to understand how to transform raw data – which they already have at their fingertips – into actionable insights uncovering the true potential of their operations.
Many companies find themselves sitting on a goldmine of data but struggle with the transition from raw information to refined commercial insight. A quick but comprehensive training programme is often all that’s needed to tap into significant capacity gains.
