Allow specifying a "Non-returnable container brand" when racking NRs and filter on this in the Kegstar/Microstar integration

Hi team,

With the new Kegstar no-scan system being rolled out, we are concerned that our current system (using a single container type and product for house and non-returnable containers) is going to become unworkable. As well as Kegstars, we also occasionally use Polykegs and Keykegs, as well as using the non-returnable functionality to resolve racking errors (where a tracked container cannot be filled for whatever reason, and so a one-off non-returnable is created instead.) Obviously Breww won’t be able to determine which non-returnables are Kegstars, and which are other types.

We really want to avoid having to set up separate container types, and consequently separate products, for each different type of non-returnable, as it creates unnecessary clutter and opportunity for mistakes across all departments using Breww. The only way I can see to avoid this and still be able to use Kegstar’s no-scan system would be if there were various sub-types of non-returnable offered for racking within a container type/product. In that way we could have a single 30L keg product for example, choose to rack either a tracked/numbered container or a non-returnable, and if the latter is selected be given a choice of various options, one of which being “Kegstar”.

I appreciate this is not the way Breww has been designed, and it is likely that this suggestion would require a rather fundamental overhaul to how the system works, but I would be interested to hear your thoughts.

Thanks,
Greg

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You’re right there, Greg! :joy:

We’ll have a think about this and let you know what we come up with.

Thanks Luke, much appreciated!

Just thought I would add our experience in on this also - we have found that we have ended up with a deluge of products to get around this same issue - particularly a while ago when non-returnables were difficult to source. When you consider that alongside steels, non-returnables can also be bagged/non-bagged, have different spear types (D,S,A.etc), then multiply this by the different sizes (10L, 12L, 20L…) this becomes a lot - as it stands we have 21 different container types available in breww currently.

However, we do need these to be separate as breww currently works due to sales/customers/export needing to know type, spear & bag/non-bag availability due to their individual dispense setups.
Alongside this we also link these container types with our PO’s & Inventory management, and further this has an impact on the dispatch side as steel weighs more than one-way, so we need this information for couriers & van loadouts.

That said, I do like the idea of sub-items for clearing some of the clutter - but we would still need it to provide the same flexibility it does now.

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Hi Luke, just checking in to see whether you’ve had a chance to look into this? We will soon need to completely overhaul how our products and container types are set up, simply because of how the Kegstar no-scan reporting system works, and would like to avoid this if at all possible.

Sorry for not getting back to you before. This wasn’t forgotten (it’s been on the todo list for a long time), but we really should have replied to you and Steve to keep you in the loop - I’m sorry about this!

We did have a conversation about this internally, and to be honest, we didn’t finish the conversation with an answer that we were happy with. We’ve been meaning to have another conversation on this for a long time, but haven’t made the time for it yet. I’ll make sure we do it soon and can get back to you with an answer. The problem is that there is no obvious right answer!

Thanks for your patience with this, Greg. We’ve come up with a plan for a way that we can implement your idea of picking the “Non-returnable container brand” each time you rack NR containers. You would also be able to manage your own list of Non-returnable container brands (e.g. Kegstar, Polykeg, EkegPlus, etc). On the Kegstar integration, you’ll be able to pick the Non-returnable container brands that you would like in the submission (probably just Kegstar, but it’s future-proofing).

This should work well, and I think will cover everything needed, but with the one difficulty of the transition period as you migrate from the existing way to the new way. If you were to switch today, you’ll have lots of NR kegs already in stock, which may be a mix of Kegstar and other brands, and you would need a way to let Breww know which are Kegstar and which are not. If you were able to produce a spreadsheet with all the NR codes and send it to us, as a one-off we could bulk update all of these to be your Kegstar NR container brand.

How does this sound?

Hi Luke, this is excellent news, thank you so much! We are actually in a rare and temporary period of having no Kegstars in stock, so any NR containers on our system are other types. This should be the case for the next few weeks at least. Hopefully this makes it much more simple!

What is the next step? Presumably there will be a feature announcement once the implementation has been completed?

That’s great to hear, and no Kegstars in stock certainly makes this much easier :tada: We’ll have a push to try and get this done in the next couple of weeks to take advantage of this for the migration.

When it’s ready, there will be an announcement on updates.breww.com and I’ll make sure to also follow up with you here. I’ve split this conversation from the original thread to a feature request so we can keep track of this :+1:

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Good news - We’ve managed to get this across the line!

This works pretty much as per my previous post, and should be fairly intuitive, but we’ve also updated the Selling the same beer in both my own casks/kegs and rented/non-returnable containers help guide. In essence, you need to create an “NR container brand” of “Kegstar”, then choose this whenever you’re racking into Kegstar containers. You’ll also need to update the settings in the Kegstar integration to point to the “NR container brand” that you created.

Any questions, please let us know!

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This is brilliant Luke, thanks for getting it implemented so quickly! All looks to work exactly as envisioned, but I will let you know if we come up against any issues .

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Hi Luke, quick question: might it be possible to show different brands within the “Returnable v non-returnable container deliveries” report? So that it’s possible to see not just how many non-returnables have been sent out overall, but exactly which brands they were?

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Thanks, Greg, that report has been updated now :smile:

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That’s perfect, thanks for sorting so quickly!

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