The canner arrives at eight
The mobile canning line is booked for Tuesday, six weeks in advance. On Monday the brewer finds the beer in the brite is not quite where it should be on carbonation. The printed cans are there, but the ends are for a different can size. Nobody decided how many should be four-packs and how many singles for the webshop. The canner's crew arrive, and the first hour is spent sorting out what should have been settled the week before.
Sometimes it is worse. The beer is not ready and the slot is lost, and the next free date is weeks away.
Why canning days slip
Canning pulls together things owned by different people. The brewer owns the beer, the warehouse owns the dry goods, sales owns the pack split, and the canning company owns the date. Each assumes the others are sorted. There is no single place where all of it is checked against the booking.
- The booking is in an email, not tied to a tank or batch.
- Carbonation and clarity are checked late.
- Dry goods are checked on the day before.
- The split between pack formats is decided on the morning.
- Label and date coding details are sent to the canner at the last minute.
What a wasted slot costs
You pay for the slot and do not get the cans. Beer waits in the brite and ties up a vessel, which pushes the next brew back. Trade and web orders that relied on the cans are late. And the crew's time on the day is part of what you pay for, so an hour of sorting is an hour of lost output.
There is a less visible cost: rushed decisions on the day. Pack splits and best before dates decided in a hurry are the ones you regret a month later.
A canning day plan with a countdown
- Each mobile canning booking is entered with its date, the canner, the can size and the beers planned.
- The booking is linked to the brite or tank and batch, so the plan shows the beer's latest readings.
- A countdown of checks runs from a set point before the date: beer readings, dry goods confirmed, pack split agreed, coding details sent, labels on site.
- Each check has an owner. Overdue checks are sent to that person and the production manager.
- The dry goods needed are calculated from the pack split and compared with stock.
- On the day, the crew get a one-page run sheet: beers in order, pack counts, coding, where everything is.
- Afterwards, the canner's run report is attached and the actual counts update stock and the batch record.
| Check | Owner | When it is due |
|---|---|---|
| Beer readings in range | Brewer | Days before, then the day before |
| Dry goods on site | Warehouse | About a week before |
| Pack split agreed | Sales | About a week before |
| Coding and dates sent | Production | A few days before |
| Run sheet printed | Production | Day before |
You set the actual lead times; the ones above are only an illustration of how the countdown is laid out.
A canning day that starts on time
Problems show up while there is still time to fix them or move the slot. The crew start canning when they arrive. Counts go straight into stock and the batch record, so web and trade can sell the cans that afternoon. After a few bookings you also have a record of which checks tend to slip, which is useful when you talk to your team.
Does this happen on your canning days?
- The first hour of a canning day is spent sorting things out.
- You have lost or moved a slot because the beer was not ready.
- Pack splits are decided on the morning.
- Dry goods problems surface the day before.
- Canner run reports are not linked to batches.