Why Accurate Inventories Matter for Health and Safety

In the brewing industry, inventory accuracy can help keep workers safe.

• By Rupert Jones
• Nov 23, 2022

Even businesses can tend to let their inventory management fall by the wayside, but that can actually cause more problems than it solves, because keeping an accurate inventory of what is in stock, how long it has been there, and what you might need more of is something that can actually affect the health and safety of those who use your products. 

If you own a brewery, having proper inventory management is something that you need to keep a diligent eye on. Here’s why your brewery needs to put a premier focus on health and safety when it comes to your inventory.

Ingredients Go Bad

If your small brewery uses fresh hops, and local ingredients, and prides itself on doing so, then you need to understand that these things can go bad if not properly stored. Even if you have the proper storage systems to preserve these ingredients for a long time, you might find that without an accurate inventory, your business is simply buying more ingredients instead of using the ones that you have inside of your warehouses and storage facilities. 

Additionally, since many of these raw materials are impacted by environmental factors, you might reach a point where it makes sense to purchase some in bulk and prepare for a time when you won’t have as much access to these items. If you don’t have an accurate inventory, you might buy before you know that you have enough room to store them all.

Ingredients going bad can impact the quality of your beer, but rotting or improperly stored ingredients can also lead to animals getting into the storage area and possibly leaving bacteria and diseases that can affect your team.

Beer Quality Control

Whether you have a brewery that does one or two things really well, or a brewery that focuses on several different types of drinks and combinations of ingredients, adding too much or not enough of an ingredient can also lower trust in your company.

You need to have the precise combination for every single batch of beer, and inventory management software like Ollie can make sure that the proper amount of ingredients manage to get to where they can be brewed into the beer.

Additionally, having quality control in your beer takes some of the load off of your workers. Instead of pushing your workers to measure and keep track of the ingredients going into every batch (which can get exhausting), everything is managed remotely and all they need to do is prepare and brew!

The extra software also allows you to have better consistency in your brew because the same amount of ingredients are used every time and that also reduces waste as well.

It Allows You To Grow Sustainably

A lot of health and safety problems can arise whenever you try to fit a growing brewing business into systems that are not designed to take them on. If you try to make 200 bottles in a brewery that has only ever made 100 bottles, eventually something is going to give and someone is going to get hurt.

However, having an accurate inventory allows you to scale your business and keep a level of control over your business as it starts to grow.

It Helps If You Are Using Kegs

Additionally, if your brewery or your bar is using kegs, many companies tend to weigh kegs in order to get an inventory count throughout the day. However, weighing kegs to see how much is inside of them can be time consuming, challenging, and also extremely dangerous for people who might not be strong enough to lift and maneuver the kegs themselves. 

Plus, if you have dozens of kegs all stacked up in the same room together, it can be downright impossible to move the kegs safely to have them weighed. Incorporating electronics for your brewery helps to prevent injuries and other problems, while also giving you real time information as well. 

Accurate Inventories Can Keep Your Workers Safe

At a brewery or bar, you are going to be moving a lot of heavy boxes and kegs around and that can lead to injuries on the job. While workplace personal injury incidents are rare, they can be a massive problem when they do happen, and the more that you have your employees in the warehouse the greater the risk can be. 

Accurate inventories keep your workers out of the warehouse because they aren’t going to be constantly checking on if you have a certain type of product in stock. They also won’t have to struggle to find room for overstocked products in the storage area, which can also lead to accidents and injuries. 

By making sure that your workers only check on the inventory when they absolutely need to, you can reduce the risk of injury on the job site. Plus, it’s much easier to check the stock of your warehouse on a computer, instead of going inside and moving every single box to get an accurate count.

Accurate Inventories Can Help With A Product Recall

It’s something that no business wants to deal with, and yet so many businesses are unprepared when it happens. But product recalls are tough on breweries, and if you find that your product needs to be brought back because of a label that doesn’t mention an allergen or one of your bottles is contaminated, you need to have an accurate inventory.

An accurate inventory can help you have a better estimate of what needs to be brought in and what needs to be recalled, rather than panicking and having to frantically recall everything at once. While no one ever wants a product recall to happen, your business needs to be prepared for it and an accurate inventory is going to help you with crisis management.

Use Technology To Build Your Inventory

Don’t skimp on software, because the days where you have to individually count and mark down each product are over! Using specialized independent software for breweries to keep your inventories fully managed will make sure that your business is able to have the technical side handled, and then you can get back to the creative side of making the best brews that you’ve ever created.

Photo credit: Pavel L Photo and Video / Shutterstock.com