Case Study: RFID Keg Tracking

New Belgium Brewing was conceived during a bike ride through Belgium in 1989 and now produces world-class beer from their Colorado brewery. Like any large, mobile pool of assets, New Belgium's fleet of nearly 150,000 kegs is diffi cult to track, but the brewer must also contend with an industry standard keg loss rate of 4-6%, as well as craft beer volume growth of nearly 10% a year. Because of these factors, and assuming a rate of 3.5 turns per year, New Belgium may purchase nearly 20,000 new kegs in 2009.

These numbers are based on industry estimates and New Belgium's own assumptions, however, and at more than $100 per keg, New Belgium's team knew there was room for optimization if they could monitor actual keg float data. With this in mind, New Belgium realized that an automated keg tracking system would lead to significant savings by providing the following benefits:

• Reduced keg loss
• Improved turn rates
• More accurate inventory numbers
• Better decisions about target markets