Supply chain planning for breweries & beverages – precise forecasts, optimised inventories, reduced costs

With FuturMaster, you can optimise sales and production planning:

for higher service levels, less waste and up to 25% lower supply chain costs.

Developed for breweries and beverage producers who want to better plan for volatile demand and reduce costs at the same time.

Covid-19 and the structural change in the beer market have highlighted the limits of traditional planning processes:

Lockdowns & catering closures → Demand collapses, sales shift to retail.
Container size changes & promotions → Production planning reaches its limits when demand shifts at short notice.
Falling beer sales → At the same time, pressure increases due to promotions and special offers.
The result: inaccurate sales forecasts, excess stock, production downtime and unnecessary costs.

With the Gartner “Magic Quadrant” award-winning supply chain planning software FuturMaster, breweries and beverage producers achieve

+10-15% more accurate sales forecasts → less stock-outs & overproduction
Optimised inventories → up to 7% less finished goods inventory and lower storage costs
Shorter response times → flexible adaptation to market trends, promotions and external shocks

More than 600 companies worldwide rely on FuturMaster

Both established global players and fast-growing newcomers are strengthening their market position:

+10–15% Forecast Accuracy = –25% Cost-to-Serve

The Solution: Demand Planning With FuturMaster

AI-supported demand planning: FuturMaster combines statistical methods with machine learning and external factors (e.g. weather data such as barbecue season, events, promotions) for highly accurate forecasts.
More accuracy, less risk: A 10-15% increase in forecast accuracy reduces the cost-to-serve by up to 25%.
Promotion optimisation: With a separate module for Promotion Planning & Management, breweries can immediately see which promotions really increase sales – and avoid expensive bad investments.
Example KPI: A report on demand planning can be created in minutes instead of days, freeing up planners for value-adding analyses.

The Solution: Supply Planning With FuturMaster

Optimisation instead of gut feeling: traditional tools reach their limits in today’s complex world. FuturMaster uses mathematical optimisation to efficiently manage production, procurement and warehousing.
Cost reduction through optimisation: Companies achieve a 7% reduction in stock levels and a 2% reduction in transport costs through global optimisation.
React quickly, remain flexible: scenarios can be calculated in seconds – instead of rigid planning logic, there is dynamic control in real time.
From cost block to competitive advantage: With FuturMaster, breweries transform complexity into transparent, controllable processes that directly strengthen competitiveness.

Christoph Hansal

Partner, Senior Expert Supply Chain

An integrated supply chain planning solution in just a few months: Thanks to our standardised approach for breweries and beverages, we integrate FuturMaster into your system landscape as part of the project.

“State-of-the-Art” Demand Planning Based on the Following Principles

The demand plan is drawn up on the basis of historical sales data, taking into account suitable statistical forecasting methods, seasonality and trends

Scenario planning including assessment of the actual probability of occurrence supports the determination of a realistic rolling sales plan

Forecasts for different sales channels/markets can be created and consolidated accordingly

Appropriate KPIs are measured regularly and, if necessary, improvement measures are introduced to drive the continuous improvement process forward

Additional market knowledge (e.g. promotions) can be integrated into the sales plan

Optimised Supply Chain Planning With FuturMaster

The creation of the production and distribution plan takes into account all restrictions such as minimum batch sizes, batch sizes and maximum capacities.

Scenario planning with one click enables the comparison of different variants and can identify the most favourable plan based on costs.

Mathematically optimised plans generate feasible solutions that optimally take all business considerations into account.

Appropriate KPIs are measured regularly and, if necessary, improvement measures are introduced to drive forward the continuous improvement process.

Transport restrictions, best-before dates, automatic suggestions for capacity profiles and storage restrictions are all included in the planning process.

Standardised Solution for Breweries and Beverages

MCP has developed a standardised solution for supply chain planning in the beverage industry with FuturMaster in order to get started as quickly as possible and take advantage of the benefits of FuturMaster. This consists of 4 components and can be put into operation within a few weeks:

Interfaces and system embedding

Integration of the FuturMaster solution into the existing IT landscape
Interfaces for automated data exchange with existing systems
Integration of the data flow based on the defined processes

Demand Planning: Statistical forecasting & machine learning

Statistical calculation and forecasting for the next 12 to 18 months
Selection of “best fit” models
Outliers, trends and recording of unusual events in the statistical model
Manual and automatic processing of historical data based on the standard solution

Supply planning: mathematical optimisation & graphical analysis

Modelling of the supply chain based on typical production and filling processes
Use of standard screens to analyse and evaluate the plan
Supply Network Visualisation: Graphical processing and problem analysis of the supply chain material flow

Demand Planning: Demand Enrichment & Promotion Planning

Manual editing of the statistical forecast (“Forecast-Value-Add”)
Intelligent analyser functions for rapid processing
Recording of promotional measures

Supply planning: step-by-step optimisation of the plan

Consideration of all restrictions and constraints
Fully automated optimisation and decision-making
Visualisation of all relevant material flow

Reporting & KPIs

Management cockpit
Process control cockpit
Alerting and evaluation option
Attractive analyses – expandable at any time

Success Story: Supply Chain Planning at Heineken

Watch the video to find out how Heineken successfully manages its supply chain with FuturMaster.

Heineken, the second largest brewery in the world, has been using FuturMaster for years to optimise its entire supply chain. Today, the solution is used by almost 40 subsidiaries worldwide – with measurable success:

Logistics costs sustainably reduced
Inventories optimised → less capital tied up
BBD losses reduced → less waste
Sales growth thanks to more precise sales planning

Thanks to FuturMaster, we were able to significantly increase our forecasting accuracy and at the same time make the supply chain more efficient and sustainable.

Register for a free potential check with just one click:

Our experts will be happy to give you a closer look at the supply chain planning solution for breweries and beverages using a demo.