Burleigh Brewing Company Rises to the Challenge With Crafted ERP
The Customer
Prior to implementing Crafted ERP in 2018, Gold Coast-based Burleigh Brewing Company was hampered by operational inefficiencies and siloed systems. One of the most significant hindrances was the absence of a centralized data management system, which made it difficult for co-founders Peta and Brennan Fielding to let go of the reins when managing existing products and introducing new ones.
Burleigh Brewing leveraged Crafted ERP to streamline processes and inspire innovation, as well as navigate the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and evolving Australian beer industry. Since going live on Crafted, the brewery’s real-time data and reporting dashboards have enabled informed decision-making in every aspect of its operations. Supply chain management and demand planning have also improved, facilitating sustained growth.
About Burleigh Brewing Co.
Founded in 2007, Burleigh Brewing is known for creating Bighead No Carb Lager — the only beer of its type on the market for nearly a decade. The brewery’s popularity soared amid COVID-19 pandemic disruptions and a shift in consumer behavior toward more health-conscious lifestyle choices. At the heart of it, Burleigh kept up with sky-rocketing demand thanks to Crafted ERP and its newfound capabilities to ship products as they came off the packaging line.
The Challenges
Burleigh Brewing had been using three siloed systems to manage the brewery — one for inventory and manufacturing, one for planning and operations and one for finance. The brewery’s inability to get a global view of the business hindered its growth. “We had a hodgepodge of systems that didn’t talk to each other, and at no point could you see the end-to-end supply chain easily,” shares Burleigh Brewing Chief Operating Officer Scott Lyall.
Lack of visibility meant all decisions had to be approved by the company’s two founders. This bottleneck created delays, disempowered brewery employees and wasted time better spent on customers, innovation and strategy.
It was clear that Burleigh Brewing needed to implement a fully integrated ERP system to foster growth within its operations and in the market—and it needed it fast. Crafted ERP hit the sweet spot, offering a perfect balance of cost-effectiveness, versatility and scalability.
Crafted has fantastic capacity, capability and flexibility in terms of how we want to configure it while maintaining data integrity. We got the best of both worlds when you compare it to some of the smaller products that can’t be customized and, on the flip side, the cost of the larger ones.
Scott Lyall | COO
Burleigh Brewing Co.
The Solutions
Empower with decentralized decisions
Gone are the days of running every decision by the founders. Today, Crafted empowers Burleigh Brewing employees to take ownership of their day-to-day responsibilities and provides the autonomy to keep projects moving forward. This allows Peta and Brennan to focus on business strategy, product development and growth.
“The biggest impact of Crafted ERP has been the delegation functionality. It’s empowered people to do their roles and not just be order-takers. They can genuinely drive their roles without waiting for approval,” says Lyall.
Instant insights, smarter choices
No more silos! Crafted gives Burleigh Brewing a real-time, unified view of the business the way they want to see it, allowing for timely, informed decision-making and planning. “The amount of data and reporting we can get out of it is limited only by us and how we want to go about using it,” mentions Lyall.
Streamline & plan
Having live insight into brewery operations, enhanced supply chain management and demand forecasting in Crafted has also led to heightened efficiency and productivity.
“I primarily use Crafted for production scheduling, so I’m looking end-to-end to see where we are now. Equally, I use it for financial reporting — where sales is sitting, what our margins look like and what our direct costs and overhead are,” shares Lyall.
Crafted provides Burleigh Brewing with 360-degree visibility into its inventory and supply chain, ensuring teams are all operating from the same data — and spending time and effort where it’s needed most.
Liberated leadership = expansion
Despite the challenges and resource constraints faced during its pandemic-fueled growth, the brewery managed to navigate the period successfully. Strategic planning and effective resource management facilitated by Crafted “kept all the balls in the air.” Moreover, it freed up leaders’ time for strategic initiatives to drive market expansion. This period of production and innovation was “probably the biggest growth curve we’ve had outside of the first few years of the brewery,” says Lyall.
“It would have been overwhelming had we got to the size we are today but still had just two primary decision-makers. We probably wouldn’t have made it this far. Crafted is a fantastic tool for powering the continued growth of the business,” shares Lyall. “It enabled Brennan to concentrate on what the CAPEX program looks like, and for both Peta and Brennan to focus on opportunities and progress in new directions,” continues Lyall.
Doozy is kind of reflective of the craft brewing industry. Everyone throughout our journey has been that collaborative, can-do, happy-to-help type reflective of a craft brewer. It’s been great to work with the whole team — that’s not necessarily always the case.
Scott Lyall | COO
Burleigh Brewing Co.
Working With Doozy Solutions
Freeing leadership from operational constraints has propelled the brewery into a new era. With Crafted and Doozy Solutions, Burleigh Brewing is poised to continue its upward trajectory. Looking to the future, Burleigh plans to leverage Doozy’s expertise to use brewing data more effectively and enhance production efficiency and CRM adoption.
