August Schell Brewing Co. Eliminates Manual Inventory Across 5 Locations with Crafted ERP
The Customer
August Schell Brewing Co., the second-oldest family-owned brewery in the United States, had a critical need for a new brewery management system. Obeer, the software they had used for years, was unable to keep pace with the company’s complexity and growth, and it couldn’t be relied on to perform even the most basic operational functions. It was time for a change.
About August Schell Brewing Co.
German brewer August Schell founded his namesake brewery in New Ulm, Minnesota, in 1860. As Minnesota’s first craft beer producer, August Schell Brewing Co. has triumphed over much diversity through the decades. The brewery survived Prohibition by pivoting to near beer, soft drinks and candy, emerging as one of the Midwest’s most successful regional breweries.
Schell’s remains family-owned and operated after 160+ years. Today, Schell Brewing manages 5 campuses and 3 craft beer brands, including Grain Belt Beer, which it acquired in 2022.
The Challenges
With 5 campuses, 3 brands and 75+ vessels, Schell Brewing’s current ERP system — Orchestrated Software (Obeer) could no longer keep up. There was no consolidated view of inventory or stock, making it impossible for Schell Brewing to manage the supply chain effectively.
Much of the order tracking and inventory management was performed in multiple Excel workbooks, resulting in various static sources of truth. Logistics between the main campus brewery and the warehouse were also managed extensively through shared workbooks within SharePoint.
Other limitations included the inability to print invoices on the fly, limited mobile device capabilities, and the absence of an inventory barcoding system, which required employees to enter data manually. All of these constraints slowed operations.
In addition, with zero integration across software systems, sales, production and leadership teams lacked visibility into the data they needed to make informed, strategic decisions.
We needed software that had a barcoded inventory system. That was the biggest catalyst to implement Crafted ERP. We didn’t even have barcodes on our inventory.
Liza Kukla | Controller
August Schell Brewing Co.
The Solutions
Operational Integration
Crafted ERP delivered immediate ROI for Schell Brewing by bringing orders, forecasting and raw materials management into one system. With a multi-brand, multi-location brewery, integration creates much greater efficiencies — from inventory levels and production operations to the retail tap environment and the gift shop.
“We needed a brewery management system that integrated well with multiple facets of our business…something that offered a robust mobile option and helped facilitate sales,” explained Liza Kukla, controller for August Schell Brewing Co.
Supply Chain Visibility & Production Planning
Crafted ERP replaced Excel-based forecasting with real-time supply chain visibility. The system automatically tracks raw material needs, available tank space, and incoming orders, eliminating manual spreadsheet updates and providing the production team with accurate scheduling data.
“If a system can do it so that I don’t have to build those large database tables and do all of the analysis that way, that gives me more time to do more strategic planning,” says Liza.
Data-driven Decision-Making
Creating a single invoice instead of 15, and being able to print on the fly (or not print at all), is a huge time saver. Having real-time, immediately-accessible data enables faster decision-making. Not to mention, up-to-the-minute information frees the team to focus on more strategic aspects of business.
“I’m a nerd myself. I love my Excel spreadsheets, but if a system can do it so that I don’t have to build those large database tables and do all of the analysis that way, that gives me more time to do more strategic planning,” says Liza.
Streamlined Inventory
Barcodes make it faster and easier to ring up items at the store and track inventory in a warehouse. It also promotes accuracy, inventory control and cost savings. Ahhh, refreshing!
What really drove the decision home for our team was the couple hour demo that the Crafted team did for us. They walked us through each step in how we would use the system, and then dove down into exactly what tools we would want. This really opened our eyes to everything Crafted offered.
Kyle Blair | Vice President of Operations
August Schell Brewing Co.
Working with Doozy Solutions
The Doozy team works with craft beer producers worldwide to simplify and streamline brewing processes, while priding itself on its availability and willingness to solve problems. “They were very, very quick to respond to emails to talk with anyone at Schell’s who had interest in knowing a little bit more about their side of the software — whether it be logistics, quality manager projection or general financial reporting,” emphasized Liza.
Cracking open Crafted ERP’s capabilities can enable new pathways for growth. From operational integration to streamlined inventory, the brewery management platform can help businesses better forecast and make data-driven, strategic decisions. Cheers to growth!
