Beerfarm Sees Data-Driven Growth With Crafted ERP
The Customer
Doozy Solutions partnered with Beerfarm, a rising star in the Australian craft beer scene, to implement the industry-leading solution Crafted ERP across its sales, accounting, inventory and supply chain management, beer production, compliance and quality control functions.
The team at Beerfarm is dedicated to producing a unique range of craft beers and ciders with a focus on sustainability, accountability and respect for the land upon which they live.
After scaling quickly to reach a pivotal production volume of more than 1 million litres in the 2020 financial year, Beerfarm planned on improving its core business management processes to support leadership goals of rapid growth, distribution-area expansion, increasing DTC sales and streamlining an increasingly complex production process.
Beerfarm relied on siloed point solutions to manage its day-to-day operations, financial management and production planning. Once leadership began to see the strain this approach was putting on its team, it sought to find a more comprehensive solution to provide a platform for growth, and reduce the intricacies of administration, data aggregation and reporting.
About Beerfarm
Founded on a farm in the picturesque Margaret River region, Beerfarm was established with a clear vision — brew exceptional beer while respecting and preserving the land and animals around it. The five founders — George Scott, Ian Atkins, Craig Thommo, Ben Joseph and Josh Thomas — transformed old shearing sheds into brewing facilities, establishing the foundation for what would grow into one of Australia’s most respected craft breweries.
This resourceful beginning reflects the company’s ongoing commitment to environmental responsibility and quality production, which propelled Beerfarm to its current status as a standout in the Australian craft beer landscape. The brewery’s thoughtful repurposing of agricultural infrastructure symbolizes its broader philosophy of balancing innovation with respect for the land — principles that continue to guide its approach to brewing and business operations today.
The Challenges
Like many growing breweries, the Beerfarm team faced a situation in which, despite their best efforts, confidence in their data and reporting — as well as the time it took to aggregate data from different systems — led to delayed and inaccurate reports.
In addition, the disparate nature of its quality control processes somewhat stunted the company’s desire to maintain tight control over its product quality.
As production ramped, Beerfarm’s ability to quickly and easily manage demand and supply planning was strained. Its inventory management team struggled to keep up with the growing complexity of warehouse operations.
Production costing accuracy was another pain point. Details and efficiencies were “lost by people having to go from system to system,” which Beerfarm’s head of technology, Daniel Bales, told us was “very manual and spread out.” Clearly, it was time for change.
Crafted is easy to use and has good accessibility. All team members here at Beerfarm are able to get into Crafted and do their part, which then helps the processes behind the system run smoothly.
Daniel Bales | Head of Technology
Beerfarm
The Solutions
Improved data entry and Quality Control
With Crafted, “Information is entered directly into a single system, which means we are able to track product and have real-time visibility to the exact cost of every batch,” says Daniel. Beerfarm now has the ability to access detailed reporting across batches and SKUs, allowing a level of traceability and product quality control not previously possible.
Identifying trends is also simplified, which empowers the team to make decisions more easily now that staff has confidence in the accuracy of the data.
Access to Live Information and Flexible Reporting
Crafted ERP’s extensive report library, which has been created specifically for the bev-alc industry, has given Beerfarm the access to real-time dashboards and advanced reporting capabilities necessary to be more efficient and effective.
Daniel explained, “The customizable nature of Crafted ERP allows us to add or remove a field without needing to hire a consultant — plus, it’s very intuitive.” In addition, by personalizing the native brew log forms in Crafted ERP, the team has gained detailed analytics about its production performance.
Efficiencies Across the Business
Beerfarm has reported that the time spent trying to aggregate information from different systems has all but been eliminated. In addition, planning and scheduling production is markedly faster, meaning the brewery can increase its production volumes as the market shifts.
The demand and supply planning process has also been streamlined and automated, making it infinitely more transparent.
As for sales, the team reports that updating only one system saves them hours of administration time a week. The accounting team is also pleased that invoicing and reconciling payments are now much easier.
Everyone on the Doozy team has a really good level of knowledge — from very in-depth technical specifics to ERP best practices and how we should do things, even from a financial perspective.
Daniel Bales | Head of Technology
Beerfarm
Working With Doozy Solutions
At the outset of the project, Beerfarm and Doozy Solutions set a lofty goal to have the system live in less than three months. In order to achieve this, the teams at Beerfarm and Doozy created a streamlined project plan designed to offer the best chance of success by prioritizing mission-critical functionality with a view to continually improve post go-live.
Bales said, “Everyone on the Doozy team has a really good level of knowledge — from very in-depth technical specifics to ERP best practices and how we should do things, even from a financial perspective.” In addition, “the process works smoothly when putting in support tickets. We get responses really quickly.”
Simplifying its software ecosystem to a single brewery management platform has given Beerfarm the ability to ramp up production without having to add headcount. With Crafted ERP, Beerfarm can maintain its focus on manufacturing high quality beer through improved production processes, quality control procedures and environmentally-conscious best practices.
