If one of your New Year’s resolutions was to cut back on alcohol, it appears you’re not alone.
Sales of non-alcoholic drinks skyrocketed by more than 83 per cent in Australia last year, and 71 per cent of Australian consumers intend to increase or maintain no-or-low-alcohol consumption this year, with most interested to discover new brands.
This presents a major opportunity for the non-alcoholic beverage industry to capitalise on demand. But manufacturing performance software company OFS’ Alcoholic Beverage Industry Report has revealed some gaps in the production line. For instance, the average non-alcoholic filling line spends 36 minutes per hour (60 per cent of time) not filling beverages, including 20 minutes per hour lost to unplanned downtime. This amounts to 4,270 units of lost opportunity every hour the filling line is running, equivalent to tens of millions of dollars each year.
OFS CEO James Magee said the report findings reflect a huge opportunity waiting for producers of non-alcoholic beverages.
“Imagine shutting off your laptop, turning the pan off in a restaurant kitchen, or downing tools on a construction site for 20 minutes every single hour you’re operating,” said Magee.
“Unfortunately, that is what the average non-alcoholic beverage producer is doing at a time when there’s a gold rush in this industry.
“One of the key issues is a lack of data and visibility over what’s happening on the line, where issues come from, and how to prevent them. Currently, this is largely done by tedious manual processes or even gut instinct. There’s a myth we want to demystify that data systems and the level of efficiency are only suitable for major manufacturers – that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
The report is filled with recommendations on how the industry can fill these gaps. This includes better use of data analytics and digitisation on the packing line, which can both highlight stoppages and the opportunity cost they cause, allowing producers to prioritise what will make them most efficient.
To access the full report, including a comparison tool for non-alcoholic as well as other producers to see how they fare, click here.