The pallet that was not there
Packaging is on Thursday. On Wednesday afternoon someone goes to pull the printed sleeves for the pale and finds half a box. The blank cans are fine, but the ends are low, the four-pack carriers ran out last week and nobody reordered, and the new seasonal's labels are still at the printer waiting for artwork sign-off. Thursday becomes a kegging day and the can order for the bottle shops slips.
Everybody in the brewery has seen this. It usually happens in the busiest month, when every packaging run is full and there is no slack to borrow from.
Why dry goods catch you out
Dry goods are cheap per unit and expensive to run out of. They sit on pallets at the back of the warehouse where nobody counts them until they are needed. Each type has its own supplier, lead time and minimum order, and printed items tie up cash if you over-order. Packaging runs take them in amounts nobody writes down, so the count is always a guess.
- Cans, ends, labels, sleeves, carriers, shrink film and boxes each come from a different supplier.
- Printed cans and labels need artwork approval and have long lead times.
- Packaging runs use dry goods without recording how many, including waste on the line.
- Minimum order quantities push you to order in big, infrequent batches.
- The packaging plan is not compared with what is on the shelf.
What running short costs
A changed packaging day, beer sitting in a brite longer than planned, a trade order short or late. Emergency deliveries at a premium, or plain cans with stickers on when you wanted printed ones. On the other side, over-ordering because nobody trusts the count, and printed stock for a beer you have stopped brewing sitting in the corner for a year.
It also costs attention. The head brewer or production manager keeps a running worry list of what might be low, and that worry list is the real stock system.
A dry goods register that looks ahead
- Every dry goods item is listed with its supplier, lead time, minimum order and the beers or packs it is used for.
- Each pack format has a bill of materials: a four-pack of 440s uses four cans, four ends, four labels or a printed can, one carrier, and a share of a box and shrink.
- When a packaging run is logged, the register draws down the materials used, with a quick field for line waste.
- The register reads your packaging plan for the coming weeks and works out what each run will need.
- When projected stock for an item falls below what upcoming runs need, allowing for the supplier's lead time, the person who orders gets an alert with a suggested quantity.
- A monthly quick count on a phone corrects the register, so it stays honest.
- Artwork status for printed items is tracked, so a seasonal label waiting for sign-off shows up as a risk, not a surprise.
| Item | What drives the warning | Who acts |
|---|---|---|
| Printed cans | Upcoming runs and long lead time | Production manager |
| Blank cans and ends | Runs in the plan | Production manager |
| Labels and sleeves | Runs plus artwork status | Marketing and production |
| Carriers and boxes | Pack formats planned | Warehouse |
| Shrink film | Pallets planned | Warehouse |
If your brewery system already holds packaging runs, we read them from it rather than asking anyone to log runs twice.
Packaging day without the hunt
You know a week or more ahead whether a run is covered. Orders are placed when the lead time says so, not when the pallet is empty. Printed stock for a retiring beer is visible so you can stop ordering it. The Wednesday afternoon search through the warehouse stops.
The monthly count also gets quicker, because you are checking a figure you already believe rather than counting from nothing.
Is this your warehouse?
- You have changed a packaging day because of missing dry goods.
- Dry goods are counted by eye, if at all.
- Nobody records how many cans or labels a run used.
- Printed stock for old beers is sitting unused.
- Ordering happens when someone notices a low pallet.