I’d like to see a feature added to Breww that would implement demand forecasting, which would then be fed back into the Production Scheduling front-end of Breww to “close the loop.” There are multiple models that could implement this, mostly based around analyzing some trailing number of weeks’ sales data, and then factoring in a desired customer fill rate. The second part of this feature would then look at inventory on hand at the time a beer was ready to be racked, and offer guidance on how it should be split (kegs, bottles and cans) to maintain a uniform inventory availability for future sales.
Thanks for the suggestion, Keith. We already have a number of features around this area. Have you seen the report at Reporting → Pre-built Production & inventory reports → Stock availability forecast?
There is also an existing feature request for manually setting the expected sales rate, as the existing feature already uses your suggestion of looking back at recent weeks of sales data.
Can you let me know if the other thread that I’ve linked to, combined with the existing report, covers what you’re looking for here?
Thanks for the reply Luke. Sorry, but this is not what I’m looking for. Your prebuilt report takes a look at current inventory, averages a weekly sales rate, adds in whatever production has already been scheduled, and makes a projection about inventory. I’m looking for something more sophisticated:
What I’d like the system to do is TELL ME when I need to schedule a production batch of a product in order to keep enough inventory to keep customers happy. This is a statistical exercise - you characterize previous sales, then specify a customer fulfillment / satisfaction rate (I want to be able to meet any order for this product 95% of the time). Then based on the production lead time you can determine a quantity on hand number you must have, and when you dip below that you need to schedule a production run.
The existing report puts the onus on the brewer to set the production cycle - too early and you carry too much inventory, and you have the potential of losing beer to spoilage. Too late and you don’t have inventory when customers need it. We are currently modeling this forecasting method by exporting data from Breww, and then running the model in a separate spreadsheet. As all the data is in Breww this should be an easy integration.
The second part of the feature would assist the brewer in determining how to rack a production run such that the resulting inventory of bottles, cans, kegs, etc would all sell through the approximate same time. We have also been able to model this and are seeing immediate benefits in that we are carrying less inventory, have a higher fill rate with our customers, and reduced rework (for example, having to transfer a half-barrel we have on hand into three sixtels we need instead for customers).
Kind Regards,
Keith
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Thanks, Keith; that all makes sense, and it is something we’ve discussed internally before. I’ve renamed the thread to better reflect what you’re asking for, which will hopefully help this attract more votes.
I love the optimism, but this is far from a quick or easy build 
Let’s get the votes coming in on this and we’ll see what can be done.
If anyone else also has any comments/suggestions/ideas on how this should work, please do comment below.
Luke,
Just wanted to update you that we are now several months into doing a manual integration of this capability via data export from Breww:
- We are over a 95% fill rate
- We have balanced our inventory every time we rack a product, such that for the past three or for batches of products we have exhausted the supply of cans, sixtels and half-barrels of the same beer within a week.
- We have not lost a single case or bottle to spoilage from sitting on the shelf too long.
- We have increased our external sales by 4% per month for the past seven consecutive months (a total increase of 30% from the start of the year)
When we see your team in Indianapolis next spring at CBC we’ll be happy to share the longer-term results. But it is apparent to us that implementing this demand forecasting methodology has more than covered the expense of our subscription to Breww.
Kind Regards,
Keith
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Thanks for the comments, Keith. It’s amazing to hear how, with what Breww has at the moment, you have been able to more than cover the cost of your Breww subscription with this benefit alone! And this will only improve further when we’ve implemented further features in this area of the platform. We really appreciate your update 
We will be at CBC, Indianapolis next year, so I look forward to catching up then!
Keith, this is really impressive. I shared a similar request in a different thread. Would be great to hear more about how you accomplished this. I sent an email through your brewery’s website to see if you would be open to a quick conversation about this,
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Barry - I’m happy to discuss. You can reach me at [email protected]
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