Addressing Beverage Challenges with Strategic Consulting and Advanced Automation Solutions

In the face of SKU proliferation, constrained warehouse spaces, and the intricacies of mixed-SKU palletization, coupled with relentless cost pressures, the Beverage Industry demands decisive leadership and strategic innovation. Executives are at the helm, steering their operations through the challenges of expanding product assortments and ever-evolving consumer expectations, to achieve peak operational efficiency and delivery excellence.

The call for innovative solutions, including the integration of advanced technologies for superior inventory management and agility, is paramount. Mastery over SKU diversity and palletization efficiency becomes not just operational necessities but strategic imperatives for sustaining competitive advantage and ensuring service superiority in a market defined by its relentless pace and complexity.

KPI Solutions specializes in addressing these issues, providing targeted solutions that streamline beverage logistics and supply chain operations. Our focus is on improving operational efficiency, enhancing inventory management, and supporting growth, helping beverage companies adapt to market demands and achieve their strategic goals with less complexity and more efficiency.

Current Challenges in Beverage Operations

With expanding portfolios, warehouse space constraints, labor challenges, client order behavior, and growing cost pressures, devising the optimal beverage warehousing and delivery strategy is more daunting than ever. Overcoming industry-wide and local geographic demands requires beverage companies to expand their thinking beyond traditional methods and strategies to allow continued growth, sustain or improve customer service levels, and achieve EBITDA goals.

(Images courtesy of NūMove Robotics & Vision)

  • 3PL Selection Independent Analysis SKU Proliferation: Consumers are demanding more variety, leading to an increase in the number of Stock Keeping Units (SKUs). This trend complicates inventory management and order fulfillment. Warehouses must accommodate a wider variety of products and mixed-SKU pallets, necessary to fulfill diverse orders, require more sophisticated picking strategies to ensure accuracy and efficiency.
  • s-icon1 Labor Retention & Scarcity: The beverage industry confronts critical issues with retaining skilled workers and navigating labor scarcity. This pressure necessitates strategic investments in automation and targeted training programs to maintain operational efficiency and high service standards, despite a constrained labor pool.
  • seamless-icon3 Demand Forecasting and Inventory Accuracy: Navigating fluctuating consumer demands and market trends makes accurate demand forecasting and inventory management a critical challenge. Misjudgments can lead to stockouts or excess inventory, impacting customer satisfaction and resource allocation. Leveraging advanced analytics for improved accuracy is essential.
  • s-icon2 Navigating Case Handling Complexity: Handling diverse case types amid SKU proliferation presents a significant challenge. Balancing the need for mixed-SKU pallets with precision and efficiency demands innovative strategies, as beverage companies strive to meet varied client orders while optimizing warehouse space and navigating labor constraints.
Automated Beverage Case Handling
Partner with KPI Solutions to

Build a Tailored & Robust Strategy for Your Business

At KPI Solutions, our goal is to provide clients with the analytical, engineering, and operations expertise necessary to achieve business objectives.

Partnering with KPI Solutions equates to aligning with a team dedicated to your business’s ever-changing business demands. Our unbiased guidance, exhaustive analysis, and industry experience empower you to make informed decisions.

Beverage Consulting Services

Precision Distribution Consulting (PDC)

Precision Distribution Consulting (PDC), now part of KPI Solutions, offers independent, unbiased consulting for leading companies in North America’s beverage distribution networks. Our engineered solutions are based on in-depth analysis, operational excellence, and an unmatched level of detail, tailored to enhance your distribution strategy and operational efficiency.

Precision Distribution Consulting (PDC) Team

“We’ve significantly increased our productivity and it’s been a great experience.”

– Warehouse Manager, Beverage Distributor


Consulting Services

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Warehouse facility design rendering
Warehouse Advising and Consulting
Simulation of warehouse automation workstation
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Delivery Strategy

Beyond mere re-routing for mileage reduction, KPI assesses a multitude of factors like fleet costs, truck capacities, client time windows, and delivery frequency to optimize your delivery strategy for cost efficiency and service excellence.

Warehouse facility design rendering

Warehouse Design

Adapting to the evolving behavior of beverage portfolios, our warehouse design strategies move past traditional methods, focusing on detailed throughput and inventory analytics and modeling for a scalable, efficient warehouse design.

Warehouse Advising and Consulting

Advanced Warehouse Technology Evaluation

KPI guides you through evaluating and implementing advanced warehouse technologies, ensuring financial justification and long-term benefits for your operations.

Simulation of warehouse automation workstation

Simulation

Our simulation services offer risk mitigation and efficiency optimization for facility design, capacity analysis, process re-engineering, and more, ensuring validated decisions before full-scale implementation.

KPI assists clients with facility/process design evaluation, facility visualization, capacity analysis, optimization, controls/system emulation, troubleshooting, capital project evaluation, and process re-engineering.
  • Mitigate risk by validating a new design prior to full-scale implementation
  • Unlock higher levels of efficiency
  • Troubleshoot key factors contributing to underperformance in the distribution center
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Case Study: EVALUATION OF FACILITY RE-DESIGN
Increasing Storage Capacity & Pick Locations
  • Detailed warehouse design approach focused on re-purposing existing space.
  • Achieved a 17.5% IRR via avoidance of overflow storage or warehouse relocation.
Beverage Warehouse Redesign

Why Choose KPI Solutions to Optimize Your Beverage Distribution?

Our end-to-end capabilities, services, and knowledge of beverage operations can help you determine the right decision for your business.
  • 3PL Market Awareness Independent Analysis: We conduct an independent analysis to determine the most suitable solution.
  • More options and benefits icon Expert Guidance: Our team of experienced consultants offers objective advice.
  • seamless-icon A Commitment to Your Growth: Partnering with KPI Solutions equates to aligning with a team dedicated to your business’s expansion.
Conceptual Development
Transform your Beverage Operation

Automated Material Handling & Storage Systems for the Beverage Industry

Facing challenges such as labor shortages, SKU proliferation, and the need for faster operations, the beverage industry seeks efficiency and accuracy. KPI Solutions delivers conveying, palletizing, and storage systems, enabling swift adaptation to market demands through consulting, automation, robotics, and LifeTime Services.

Automated Case Handling

Rising operational costs, high employee turnover, and frequent errors in case handling significantly hinder your market delivery speeds. These inefficiencies not only diminish your bottom line but also place undue stress on your supply chain. In response, we provide customized automated case handling solutions designed to streamline both the breakdown and pallet building processes essential for efficient order fulfillment and distribution.

By introducing automation, we aim to notably reduce manual labor demands—addressing a key factor in employee turnover—while simultaneously boosting operational efficiency and accuracy. This approach not only enhances speed and consistency across operations but also contributes to substantial cost savings and a more stable workforce.

(Images courtesy of NūMove Robotics & Vision)

robotic mixed palletizer automatically stacking beverage cases

Inter-Building Transport

We employ advanced Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) and sophisticated conveyance systems designed for efficient, reliable pallet and case transport within the warehouse. These systems optimize material flow, minimize handling time, and reduce the risk of product damage, ensuring a smooth, continuous operation.

  • Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs)
  • Case Conveyor
  • Pallet Conveyor
Movu Brand Lineup 2023
Automated Storage & Retrieval Systems

AS/RS

Our AS/RS solutions are designed to drastically improve storage density and retrieval efficiency in beverage warehouses. By automating storage and retrieval processes, these systems minimize the need for manual intervention, optimize space utilization, and enhance inventory accuracy. Suitable for a variety of beverage products, AS/RS technology adapts to changing inventory levels and demands, providing a scalable, flexible storage solution that grows with your business.

Movu - 4-Way Pallet Shuttle AS/RS
Twinlode Pallet Racking

High-Density Storage

Distinguished by its dual-pallet storage capabilities, Twinlode storage systems are particularly suited for high-volume products that require quick rotation.

  • Efficient Space Utilization:  Increased storage without a larger footprint.
  • Quick Loading and Unloading: Creates labor and time efficiency.
  • Optimal Product Accessibility: Enables efficient product rotation.
Spacious beverage co-packer and distributor warehouse showcasing multiple levels of Twinlode Dual-Wide Pallet Racking. Stacked pallets, organized in neat rows, hold boxes of beverages.
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Harness a Powerful Engine

Drive Your Company Forward in Business Growth

 

At KPI Solutions, we are committed to equipping the Beverage Industry with the tools and strategies needed for today’s challenges and tomorrow’s opportunities, driving efficiency, reducing costs, and enhancing service levels across the board.