What is Warehousing?
Abstract
Space is an incredibly valuable resource. Space on a plate, space in a bar, space between tables, space in a warehouse… Some of these may seem easy to understand, but many times craft beer entrepreneurs can’t build from scratch and they have to fit their operations into a building that was never meant to house a brewery. How do you divide your total space between revenue generating square footage (restaurant, tasting room) and cost centers of space like offices, bathrooms, warehouses, parking spaces, etc. In this white paper we focus on warehousing, the types of storage space you will need to ensure your brewery operations are efficient and safe.
Warehousing can be broken up into five critical areas for a craft brewery: cold storage, dry storage, raw materials, packaging materials, and crop rotation. Yes, you need empty space between everything else so you can move inventory around safely and efficiently. You need space for a forklift driver to make the turn, you need vertical space in addition to surface space. How big does the garage door need to be for a 20 bbl fermenter or an 80 bbl fermenter? What about cutting a hole in the roof? Can you outsource cold storage, can you partner with other breweries in a coop fashion? All of these considerations fuel your warehousing strategy.
|
Cold Storage |
Dry Storage |
Raw Materials |
Packaging Materials |
|
|
Storage Items |
Finished Product Awaiting Distributor, full kegs, beer engines, keg lines, food (if kitchen) |
Kegs, pallets, tools, compressors, sanitation, chemicals, merchandise, food (if kitchen) |
Malt, hops, yeast, water filtration, packaging waste |
Glass, cans, can ends, labels, bottling line, canning line, label machine, boxes six-pack holders |
|
Equipment |
Forklift, pallet jack, keg washer, racking system, barrel aging system, HVAC, ductwork, trench drains, humidifier, dehumidifier |
Bottling line, canning line, labeling machine, conveyor systems, de- palletizing, shrink wrapping |
||
|
Special Considerations |
Forklift clearance and turn radius, work flow, trucking, empty space for crop rotation |
Humidity levels, chemical toxicity and hazmat plans empty space for crop rotation |
Humidity, safety, empty space for crop rotation |
Minimum order size for glass and cans, distributor pick up dates and coordination of production and sales cycle |
Workflow – How does warehousing interact with production? Is there an ideal work flow or warehouse layout to allow for efficiency and safety optimization? The truth is, it depends. New facility, purpose built facility? Sloped floors? How wide should the trucking dock be?
Initial design considerations
· How will deliveries access your facility?
o Can trucks pull through?
o Good street access? Freeway Access?
o Can you separate deliveries from where consumers and pedestrians interact?
· Internal warehouse design –Where do the trucks bring materials in and where do they take finished product away?
o Ideally these are not the same location, rather they are at opposite ends of the workflow
· How big a cooler do you need to service on-premise consumption?
o How tall is it in addition to its surface footprint?
o How far vertically does the beer have to travel from keg to taproom?
· Do you need an additional cooler to house finished product in between distributor pick ups?
o Can you outsource this cold storage offsite to a specialty warehouse with more space?
· What is the minimum order size for your key ingredients? How much surface and vertical space do these minimum orders require?
o Cans waiting to be filled
o Glass waiting to be filled
o Malt
§ 50 lb. bags that require dry storage or do you have a silo outside that frees up space and allows for larger orders? Can the silo double as a sign to alert consumers where to find you?
o Hops
o Specialty Items
o Barrels for aging beer
- Kegs
o Own or lease your kegs?
o If lease, how often does the keg service make deliveries?
o How high can you stack them safely?
- Sanitation
o Back of the house
§ Cleaning agents and dangerous chemicals
§ Food storage
o Front of the house sanitation
§ Bathrooms, glassware, offices, parking spaces
§ Food Disposal