In the last few years Australia has seen a sharp rise in microbreweries, and according to the Independent Brewers Association (IBA) chairperson Peter Philip, “…the Australian market was becoming very competitive having exploded over the past decade to more than 600 independent brewers.” Many industry insiders believe this number will continue to grow, due to the federal government increasing the excise rebate for brewers and distillers. From 1 July 2021, breweries can now claim a 100% rebate of the excise up to a cap of $350,000. Previously, brewers were only able to claim 60% up to a cap of $100,000.
With a potential increase in the market sector, it is important for breweries to keep ahead of the game to stay at the top of the market. Cloud-based Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are a great tool to keep any beverage manufacturing business on track. Think of an ERP as a nerve centre which can manage every aspect of your brewery – from financials, production, inventory management, and distribution to nurturing client relationships. There are many ways an ERP can help your business grow. Let’s start by focusing on the key production and distribution benefits.
Quality Control
Quality control is one of the most important factors for any beer producer, and an ERP helps monitor this process. An ERP gives you access to up-to-date data across your entire production process, ensuring you’re not wasting supplies, by ordering too much, which could potentially expire or cutting yourself short, by ordering too little, such as bottles and caps. An ERP will increase your production efficiency, with automated data analysis, saving your business time, and money and minimising the risk of manual errors. With an ERP you can be confident in your quality control measures, producing a product to be proud of.
Batch Traceability
Flowing on from quality control is batch traceability, which is an important aspect for any food and beverage manufacturer. Batch traceability ensures you meet all the safe and healthy standards set by the government and industry standards. This is particularly important when producing large batch orders. In the unlikely event that any quality control problems arise, an ERP allows you to trace back, through the stages of the production to find the source of the problem. While no one wants production problems, sometimes it’s inevitable. By using an ERP, it streamlines your processes, which means recalling faulty products faster, and getting your production back on track sooner.
Inventory Management
Inventory management is one of the key aspects for any beer manufacturer, but it can also cause many problems. It’s important to ensure there’s no confusion between beer types, especially when undertaking stock counts or moving batches from your production plant to the warehouse for dispatch. One of the key benefits of using a cloud-based ERP for breweries is having real-time access to all your inventory. This gives you an overview of all your stock on hand and across your distribution channels. In addition, detailed reporting allows you to know what beer has been produced, what is in stock and what is in transit. Using an ERP with tailored reporting options means stock-takes are easier to manage.
How can Acacia help?
By implementing an ERP, the choice of features, customisation and monthly pricing plans make MYOB Advanced the perfect ERP for any brewery. Whether you’re a microbrewery or a large-scale production, a cloud ERP can help you manage the production process, inventory and distribution with an integrated and easy-to-use system that reduces manual processes and increases efficiency.
At Acacia, we are MYOB Advanced Platinum Partners with over 30 years of experience in providing ERP, CRM and integrated solutions to businesses across Australia. We help businesses optimise, automate and improve the traceability. Acacia has the knowledge and experience across a range of businesses to provide the most cost-effective solution for your business.
If you are interested in talking through the advantages of moving to a cloud-based ERP, please contact us to find out more.
