Since 2019, KC Bier Co., has relied on TrackAbout’s asset tracking software to monitor and manage its fleet of kegs filled with locally brewed German-style beers. Now, the business is also using TrackAbout to improve its service and maintenance schedules.
KC Bier’s Kansas City, Missouri-based brewery and Bavarian-style Bierhalle and Biergarten offers its patrons a unique opportunity to savor authentic German beers and snacks. Founded in 2014, the business uses traditional brewing techniques to produce its range of popular beers and distributes them to customers throughout the region, shipping most of them in its own returnable kegs.
Gaining Oversight of Assets
By scanning, tagging, and tracking these valuable containers through TrackAbout, KC Bier has complete oversight of its assets and is able to utilize them as efficiently and effectively as possible, says Josiah Helber, KC Bier’s Operations Manager.
Solving the Keg Deposit Problem
“We had been buying kegs every time we needed more, filling them and sending them out into the world,” he says. “We were keeping a log of how many kegs, but not which kegs were with which wholesaler. When I took this job, I realized we had more outstanding keg deposits with wholesalers than we had purchase receipts for new kegs. At some point we had completely lost control of the system – and that's what we brought in TrackAbout for.”
“Over the course of time, almost 10,000 of the kegs we bought are assets under TrackAbout's management,” he continues. “It took a number of years to get to the point where we’d finally gotten them all back from all the dark places a keg can go hide. The new challenge now is maintenance."
Tackling the Next Challenge: Maintenance
Beer kegs are robust and durable by nature, but they do contain a number of key components such as springs and washers that wear and perish over time. Typically, these essential parts have a 10-year lifespan – and with KC Bier having been in business for just over a decade, Helber figured TrackAbout would be the ideal tool to stay on top of when its older assets needed to be serviced.
Since implementing the software in 2019, TrackAbout has been used to collect important data about the brewer’s assets with a simple scan of an attached barcode. Key information about the kegs, their contents, and customer deliveries – including fill status, item numbers for the different kinds of beer and kegs, and lot numbers – is captured by the system, providing an accurate picture of exactly how they’re being used.
By extending the use of the software to also monitor the overall age and health of its fleet, KC Bier is now able to ensure assets are properly maintained and fit for purpose, he says.
“All the effort we put in at the front end, logging these assets, is now paying off, helping us flag assets that are old enough to need maintenance,” says Helber. “We're still using TrackAbout for all the same stuff we always have – to scan kegs out to a wholesaler, back in to return, and scan them to fill – but now there's a whole second purpose for it, which is working through this maintenance.”
Previously, employees had to physically inspect individual kegs and sort them into piles based on which replacement parts were required. Today, whenever an item is scanned for refilling, the system automatically flags whether action is needed – saving an inordinate amount of time and effort.
“With TrackAbout, we have the ability to understand each keg individually – the manufacture date and the manufacturer, which determines what kind of replacement parts we need,” he continues.
Now, TrackAbout not only highlights when servicing is due, but it records the specific parts that have been replaced and logs the date when the work was carried out.
“Next time we won't have to refer back to manufacturer date; we'll be able to refer back to the last maintenance date,” he says. “We're logging a whole new set of data for a whole different purpose – a sort of a next generation use for us.”
This, says Helber, is a perfect example of how the software can adapt and evolve with the ever-changing needs of the business.
“In the future, once we've got all the kegs that are truly old serviced, we'll be in a place where we'll also be able to flag based on a number of turns or the amount of time that it's sat idle that are more detail-oriented reasons for maintenance.”
Ongoing Support and Results
Helber admits to always being able to rely on TrackAbout’s team for guidance and support.
“I'm a relatively low maintenance customer. We haven't been buying a bunch of new assets and we haven't changed the way we're using them radically, so I haven't needed a ton of handholding. But TrackAbout’s team has always been responsive.”
“Over the years I've had a number of questions and concerns. Ownership will ask me a question that the way I've been recording data doesn't give me an obvious way to answer the question. There have been several times where I've had custom queries built for me to be able to provide answers that I wasn't planning on providing when I started recording the data.”
Would he recommend TrackAbout to others?
“Absolutely,” he says. “For the price, it's absolutely worth it. If you're going to invest in this kind of service, it's because you have money tied up in returnable assets that you need to be a good steward of. You could try to do this in Excel or by getting a bunch of people to count manually over and over again, but you're going to struggle without some kind of a service that bundles together all these features for you – especially if you're a small company like we are. That's why TrackAbout is indispensable for us.”
