A common challenge for breweries is production scheduling. If only the production schedule could group different products that use the same recipe, even though they may be different finished good items, brewers would be able to gain efficiency by creating larger batches.
In brewing, multiple finished products can be made from the same recipe. A scheduler may take brite beer that goes into 100 kegs versus 1,000 bottles. Both products share the same exact recipe but each have much different packaging. The scheduler may have a requirement for bottles this week, kegs at the end of the month, and cans the following week.
How Can Your Brewery Change the Production Scheduling Method to Fix This?
When a scheduler has visibility into finished good demands and can filter these demand views by the common recipe being used, the scheduler is able to create larger batches by combining demand for multiple container sizes. Creating a larger batch size by scheduling production by recipe, or brew, can increase operational efficiency. Your brewery software should be able to support this concept.
Other Advantages of Production Scheduling by Recipe
Scheduling by recipe allows the production team to minimize clean up and downtime. In turn, reducing machine downtime amounts to higher brewery productivity. If your brewery’s team is operating with longer batch runs, instead of a higher quantity of batches, you will reduce the amount of time your brewers spend setting up batches, cleaning up after each different batch, and setting up again.
As a brewer, you have a variety of customers and distributors to supply on a regular basis. One month, you have a nearby account who orders a number of kegs of in your flagship brew, on the first of the month. In addition, you have a distributor who orders a number of cases in bottles and cans of the same brew. By evaluating your production requirements by recipe or style level, you would see an opportunity to brew this recipe in one larger batch. The run will be scheduled before the first of the month, to accommodate both orders of this brew for the month. You have now saved your brewery from set up, clean up, and unnecessary machine downtime from brewing this recipe more times than needed.
Most breweries are doing this today in Excel, but VicinityBrew is able to incorporate this structure directly via MRP while driving our production schedule.
What VicinityBrew Software brings to the table is the ability to see demand out into the future with forecasting and planning tools. VicinityBrew Software gives users the ability to group the production schedule by recipe, allowing the scheduler the ability to view the production schedule over time so that like items may be grouped together. Many items can be produced from the same batch ticket or production run, if they share the same recipe. The result is improved production efficiency, profits and your team can get back to doing what they do best – brewing! Contact Us Today for more information on what VicintyBrew Software can do for your brewery.