Our customer set out to strengthen planning across brewing, filtration, and packaging while upholding one of its core commitments to consumers: consistently fresh beer. The planning team needed clearer visibility into true production capacity, faster scenario comparison, and a dependable way to balance freshness requirements with demand.
By adopting ICRON Production Scheduling, Production & Capacity Planning, the organization moved from fragmented planning to a connected, intelligence-driven environment that brings capacity modeling, material visibility, and scenario analysis into one cohesive system. Planners now operate with greater clarity on bottlenecks, increased confidence in freshness decisions, and a structured method to evaluate multiple forecast and stocking strategies.
The outcome is a more predictable, data-driven planning rhythm that supports quality, efficiency, and long-term operational stability.
As our customer continued to grow and maintain its commitment to beer quality, the planning team sought a more reliable way to understand true production capacity and safeguard freshness.
Their objectives centered on building a stronger operational foundation:
Establish accurate capacity planning to maintain freshness criteria across all products and avoid over-aged stock.
Gain clarity across brewing, filtration, packaging, and inventory operations to ensure decisions are grounded in complete, accurate data.
Create and compare multiple demand, freshness, and ICD scenarios to make informed choices for future planning cycles.
Ensure Freshness Consistency
Establish accurate capacity planning to maintain freshness criteria across all products and avoid over-aged stock.
Strengthen End-to-End Visibility
Gain clarity across brewing, filtration, packaging, and inventory operations to ensure decisions are grounded in complete, accurate data.
Support Strategic Scenario Planning
Create and compare multiple demand, freshness, and ICD scenarios to make informed choices for future planning cycles.
Our customer operates a sophisticated beer production network that requires accurate capacity visibility, reliable freshness tracking, and informed decision-making across brewing, filtration, and packaging processes. As the company continued to improve planning precision and quality consistency, several areas emerged where enhanced digital capabilities would create meaningful value.
The team used spreadsheets for capacity planning, which made it challenging to evaluate demand forecast scenarios or compare different freshness and stocking strategies. The format limited the ability to test various operational assumptions or run side-by-side scenario assessments.
Although each production stage was managed effectively, the company lacked a unified view of the total system capacity. This created uncertainty when evaluating bottlenecks, long-term constraints, or the overall impact of production decisions across CCV, filtration, and packaging.
The lack of a unified scheduling system across CCV, filtration and packaging created gaps in coordination. The team could not account for real-time changes, reflect filter setups, or automatically generate plans from forecasts and orders. This made it difficult to understand how adjustments in one stage would affect upstream or downstream operations.
Finding the optimal point between freshness criteria, Inventory Coverage Days (ICD), and demand fulfillment required extensive manual work. Without a scenario-capable system, evaluating the impact of different constraints was time-consuming and made it impossible to identify the optimal balance without an apt optimization model.
The planning team wanted a clearer overview of long-term material needs that aligned with production plans and future demand scenarios. A stronger forward-looking view would support more confident decisions across sourcing, procurement and inventory planning.
Scenario Planning Limitations in Spreadsheets
The team used spreadsheets for capacity planning, which made it challenging to evaluate demand forecast scenarios or compare different freshness and stocking strategies. The format limited the ability to test various operational assumptions or run side-by-side scenario assessments.
Gaps in End-to-End Capacity Clarity
Although each production stage was managed effectively, the company lacked a unified view of the total system capacity. This created uncertainty when evaluating bottlenecks, long-term constraints, or the overall impact of production decisions across CCV, filtration, and packaging.
Scheduling Processes Not Fully Integrated
The lack of a unified scheduling system across CCV, filtration and packaging created gaps in coordination. The team could not account for real-time changes, reflect filter setups, or automatically generate plans from forecasts and orders. This made it difficult to understand how adjustments in one stage would affect upstream or downstream operations.
Balancing Freshness and Demand Fulfillment Was Time-Consuming
Finding the optimal point between freshness criteria, Inventory Coverage Days (ICD), and demand fulfillment required extensive manual work. Without a scenario-capable system, evaluating the impact of different constraints was time-consuming and made it impossible to identify the optimal balance without an apt optimization model.
Limited Long-Term Material Requirement Visibility
The planning team wanted a clearer overview of long-term material needs that aligned with production plans and future demand scenarios. A stronger forward-looking view would support more confident decisions across sourcing, procurement and inventory planning.
Production & Capacity Planning harnesses AI, predictive analytics, and scenario planning to give planners powerful, actionable insights. The organization gained the ability to create, modify, and compare multiple forecast scenarios, ICD strategies, and freshness criteria. This allowed the planning team to evaluate alternatives with clarity and select the plan that best supports demand fulfillment and freshness goals.
Production & Capacity Planning created a cohesive data ecosystem that unifies production, capacity, material requirements, and freshness information into a single accurate source of truth. This directly supports accurate capacity definition, enabling the organization to understand real constraints across CCV, filtration, and packaging, identify bottlenecks, and plan operations with confidence. Integrated visibility also strengthened long-term material requirement planning.
By providing structured, risk-aware scenario evaluation, Production & Capacity Planning helps our customer to anticipate variability and maintain continuity. Planners can test alternative ICD and freshness strategies in a low-risk environment and choose the approach that balances quality, service and capacity.
Production & Capacity Planning strengthened data reliability by enabling seamless, real-time integration with our customer’s SAP environment. With up-to-date operational data flowing directly into the system, planners are no longer limited to a monthly refresh. They can run the Production & Capacity Planning module whenever needed, using the latest information to monitor forecast–order deviations and adjust forecasts with greater accuracy. This continuous data alignment supports more responsive planning and ensures decisions reflect the most current demand and production signals.
Production Scheduling delivered an end-to-end scheduling framework spanning CCV, filtration and packaging. By integrating with the PDP system, planners gained a dynamic schedule that adapts automatically to operational changes and minimizes losses through optimized setup alignment. The unified scheduling environment served all stakeholders, ensuring each team worked from a shared, accurate and continuously updated plan.
Decision Intelligence
Production & Capacity Planning harnesses AI, predictive analytics, and scenario planning to give planners powerful, actionable insights. The organization gained the ability to create, modify, and compare multiple forecast scenarios, ICD strategies, and freshness criteria. This allowed the planning team to evaluate alternatives with clarity and select the plan that best supports demand fulfillment and freshness goals.
Unified Planning Ecosystem
Production & Capacity Planning created a cohesive data ecosystem that unifies production, capacity, material requirements, and freshness information into a single accurate source of truth. This directly supports accurate capacity definition, enabling the organization to understand real constraints across CCV, filtration, and packaging, identify bottlenecks, and plan operations with confidence. Integrated visibility also strengthened long-term material requirement planning.
Disruption Management
By providing structured, risk-aware scenario evaluation, Production & Capacity Planning helps our customer to anticipate variability and maintain continuity. Planners can test alternative ICD and freshness strategies in a low-risk environment and choose the approach that balances quality, service and capacity.
ERP/SAP Integration
Production & Capacity Planning strengthened data reliability by enabling seamless, real-time integration with our customer’s SAP environment. With up-to-date operational data flowing directly into the system, planners are no longer limited to a monthly refresh. They can run the Production & Capacity Planning module whenever needed, using the latest information to monitor forecast–order deviations and adjust forecasts with greater accuracy. This continuous data alignment supports more responsive planning and ensures decisions reflect the most current demand and production signals.
Intelligent Production Scheduling
Production Scheduling delivered an end-to-end scheduling framework spanning CCV, filtration and packaging. By integrating with the PDP system, planners gained a dynamic schedule that adapts automatically to operational changes and minimizes losses through optimized setup alignment. The unified scheduling environment served all stakeholders, ensuring each team worked from a shared, accurate and continuously updated plan.
Accurate capacity modeling and reliable bottleneck visibility support planning efficiency, reduce wastage of resources, and help maintain freshness standards throughout the production cycle.
Fast, optimization-driven scenario evaluation gives the team the agility to make informed decisions even as conditions shift.
Structured scenario management improves our customer’s ability to anticipate and respond to fluctuations in demand, timing, or capacity constraints.
Through ICRON Dashboards, planners and leaders can access material reports, bottleneck insights, freshness tracking, and ICD vs. production. This strengthens proactive planning and enables more consistent, data-backed decision-making at every level.
With clearer visibility into capacity and long-term forecast, our customer can support quality, planning capacity, and consistent planning as the business scales.
Accurate capacity modeling and reliable bottleneck visibility support planning efficiency, reduce wastage of resources, and help maintain freshness standards throughout the production cycle.
Fast, optimization-driven scenario evaluation gives the team the agility to make informed decisions even as conditions shift.
Structured scenario management improves our customer’s ability to anticipate and respond to fluctuations in demand, timing, or capacity constraints.
Through ICRON Dashboards, planners and leaders can access material reports, bottleneck insights, freshness tracking, and ICD vs. production. This strengthens proactive planning and enables more consistent, data-backed decision-making at every level.
With clearer visibility into capacity and long-term forecast, our customer can support quality, planning capacity, and consistent planning as the business scales.
With ICRON’s Production Scheduling and Production & Capacity Planning in place, the organization now operates with clearer visibility, stronger scenario evaluation capabilities, and a more reliable approach to safeguarding freshness and meeting demand.
Our customer gained a dependable view of end-to-end capacity, eliminating previous uncertainties and helping planners align decisions with real operational capability. With optimized planning, the organization also achieved a noticeable increase in capacity utilization (reported up to 5%), enabling them to produce more with the same installed assets.
The system’s integrated freshness tracking, together with scenario-based evaluation of ICD and freshness values, enables planners to consistently meet freshness criteria across products and production cycles. These capabilities also help them make informed decisions that better align service performance with quality goals.
Through scenario-based evaluation of ICD and freshness values, planners now make informed decisions that better align service performance with quality goals.
The combination of AI-driven analysis, integrated data, and structured scenario comparison gives the team a more stable, predictable planning environment. This reduces manual workarounds and supports long-term strategy.
The ICRON Production Scheduling and Production & Capacity Planning solutions have helped our customer build a more predictable and intelligence-driven planning environment that supports freshness, service performance, and long-term operational stability. By unifying capacity visibility, strengthening scenario capabilities, and ensuring continuous data alignment, the planning team now works with greater confidence and clarity. The result is a more resilient operation where every planning decision is grounded in accurate information and contributes directly to consistent product quality and sustainable growth.
ICRON Demand empowers businesses to navigate uncertainty through accurate forecasting using AI-driven methods that take into consideration historical data, reaTime updates, and fast adaptation to changing market conditions and disruptions.
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