Finally, we can track beer kegs

The Laško Brewery strongly supports i-Roses technology in tracking beer kegs. The Laško Brewery, with a production of more than one million hectoliters per year, is the largest brewery in Slovenia. About 30% of beer is exported to the countries of former Yugoslavia. 40% of the Zlatorog Laško branded beer is bottled (of which 80% is returnable), 53% in cans and about 7% in kegs. The fact that there is no location and that the beverage trade makes up the bulk of the product sold is due to the fact that the brewery loses more than 5% of its kegs each year. This has changed with i-Roses new i-Track detection and traceability technology. It is based on RFID technology (radio frequency identification), which uses electromagnetic waves for identification.

A city with a wellness and a brewery
Slovenia joined the EU with a population of 2 million in 2004. The country has a well-skilled workforce and a highly developed economy. Its neighboring countries are Austria, Italy, Hungary and Croatia. The country is also connected to the Adriatic sea. In the east of the country, in the valley of the Savinja River on the former Austrian railway connection between Vienna and Trieste, lies the town of Laško with 13,000 inhabitants. The city is especially known for its traditional wellness, which has existed since 1852 (then called the Kaiser Franz-Jožef Health Resort), and has been used since 1953 for the medical rehabilitation of guests from all over Europe. Another representative of the city is the brewery and its beers, which are among the most popular in Slovenia.

Golden horn
Today, the Laško Brewery is the largest beverage company in Slovenia. It includes Laško and Union breweries and producers of soft drinks Radenska and Vital. In total, they produce more than 4 million hectoliters of beer and soft drinks. Beer has an 85 percent market share and soft drinks 70 percent. The brewery’s logo adorns the ibex with its golden horns. As such, Laškos Zlatorog beer is the main brand of the brewery, which has been an international recipient of numerous awards. “In Slovenia, kegs that the brewery does not usually deliver directly to gastronomic companies are not charged for deposit, as is the case in Germany, for example. Most gastronomy owners buy kegs of beer from wholesalers. Therefore, we usually do not check where the kegs are or when they return to the brewery. We lose about 5% of our kegs every year because of this. This represents a loss, as the average price per keg is 80€. So we looked for a solution to this problem and found it at a neighbor’s i-Rose.“ Explains the responsible person of the Laško brewery for automation and electrical maintenance, Boštjan Teršek.

Where are our kegs? What was in them? How old are they?
i-Rose was responsible for developing and implementing the keg tracking system. Founded in 1992, the company began to specialize in process management solutions and the creation of business information systems with an emphasis on business process optimization. They have many years of experience in the telecommunications industry and professional IT consulting. All solutions are compatible with ERP systems, tablets, Android and iOS devices. Today, the company has two branches – one in Laško and the other in the capital of Slovenia, Ljubljana. i-Rose works for several different companies across Europe. The “i-Track” solution includes a comprehensive, state-of-the-art solution for managing the entire range of activities in the beverage industry.

It provides a wide range of services:

• production (Pivovarna Laško case study),
• defines routes and return kegs,
• optimizes management and maintenance cycles,
• monitors product line productivity,
• sales and sales promotion,
• service network,
• ERP integration.

The goal of a comprehensive tracking process and optimization system is to significantly reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. By using i-Track outside the brewery, traceability is ensured throughout the entire distribution. The system gives us an accurate picture of the market path of the tracked kegs. Statistical tracking of the entire distribution flow gives a clear picture of the movement of beer kegs and sales channels formed by consumers.

We get information about current keg locations, the last known location of the missing asset, and refilled beer kegs. Systematically stored data is an excellent source for preparing various types of analysis, such as analyzing customer habits, effectively promoting customers, identifying the grey market and correctly defining marketing channels. «Adds Mirt.

RFID tags
“We want to know the following about each keg – When it was filled? What exactly was in it? How long was it away from the brewery? When was the last time it was serviced? What was the quality of the returned kegs? What is the total amount of filled kegs?“ explains technician Boštjan Teršek. Originally, i-Rose designed a software solution for the brewery that replaced kegs with those with already built-in RFID tags. RFID tags can be read with tablets or RFID. “Tablets are used to inventory, maintain and control all kegs, while RFID ports provide complete monitoring or traceability on the rack line.” comments Miha Mirt from i-Rose.

Three control stations
When a pallet with 6 empty kegs is returned to the brewery, each is placed on a roller conveyor. “Before washing, RFID is read on each keg at each station. Thus, the keg is back in the brewery and is clearly recognizable,” continues Miha Mirt. After cleaning and filling, it is time for the second reading. Here, the weight and thus the correct filling of the kegs are recorded on the scales. In the past, there have always been cases of improperly filled and leaky containers. They can now be identified and removed immediately. “Next is the third phase in which we prepare the SSCC barcode with clearly printed contents, expiration date, filling and batch number and attach it to the pallet – each SSCC barcode is of course linked to the RFID keg identifiers on the pallet. With the combination of i-Track and ERP, we know exactly which kegs are on which pallet.“ says Miha Mirt.

Perfect tracking of kegs in the brewery
Thanks to the “i-Track” system, the Laško brewery can clearly identify all kegs in the brewery, record fillings and maintenance works, and thus record the routes of its kegs. This allows the kegs that have reached a maximum number of fillings to be removed from the production cycle before refilling them. This way, the brewery knows exactly which beer is bottled in the keg and where the kegs are located. “We have taken the first step in the internal recording of information and data processing of all our kegs. The second step could be followed by monitoring our kegs in trade and gastronomy. This would allow us to know exactly where each keg is currently located, if it is properly stored and refrigerated, or how long it has been in stock.” reports Boštjan Teršek. “Nevertheless, we are more than satisfied with the cooperation, flexibility and commitment of i-Rose. We have gathered a lot of data about our kegs, which we will now process and use!” comments Teršek.