Love them or hate them, spreadsheets can be useful for recording many different types of data tracked by a distillery or warehouse. Financial planning, inventory management, recipe records, barrel locations, duty calculations, chances are you’ll find a spreadsheet at the heart of many of these important tasks in spirits operations.

As producers and warehouses scale, the amount of data captured grows, so too the number of people using a shared spreadsheet and the demands put on it. The need for greater efficiency in production, coupled with the drive to introduce sustainability measures that stand up to close scrutiny, all further add to the vital importance of data that is held. As a result, many turn to technology to find a more streamlined and user-friendly solution to support the running of their day-to-day production, storage and operational tasks. The main drivers being the need for transparency and traceability across the entire supply chain, especially as a business grows and the number of assets produced increases. The need for a scalable solution becomes a priority, as does one that provides ultimate assurance that the data collected, and used to base important decisions on, is accurate and up-to-date. Data loss, or error, with something as simple as a mistakenly deleted row in Excel can mean game over. Or at best, a headache for a day or two whilst you wait to see if it can be recovered. A technology solution retains a full history and ensures all data is fully backed up and readily accessible.

Here, we look at data challenges facing many distilleries and warehouses today and the tipping points that push organisations to seek solutions beyond spreadsheets.

When it comes to distillery and warehouse data, the room for error is zero

Running a successful distillery or warehouse takes nothing short of precise operational and financial planning and meticulous attention to detail. And when spreadsheets are often found to be incorrect – one recent 

 found 94% of spreadsheets used in business decision-making contained errors – it’s important for businesses to recognise when the Excel cracks are irreparable and the time to lay solid digital foundations to support future growth has arrived.

The importance of data goes beyond the numbers. It’s the ability for data to be readily accessible and deliver previously unearthed insight that takes the notion of data from important to crucial. These insights can inform business-critical decisions and can enhance operational performance and outputs. Not only that, having a simple and easy way to collect, track and access data, by scanning a QR code on an asset with a mobile device for example, can free up valuable resources. Time can be spent elsewhere focusing on the craft, product and other areas of operations.

As William Stafford, Master Distiller at Hinch Distillery says, “Our hatred for Excel was really the catalyst for change and why we introduced the Proofworks platform. Managing cask inventory manually just wasn’t cutting it as we scaled up.

Everything had to be manually punched into Excel. For a short period of time that’s fine. But as the distillery grew, managing our own casks from start to finish with a small team wasn't a good use of our time. We just wanted to enable distillers to do distiller stuff, as opposed to admin.”

It’s this determination to focus on craftsmanship and skill, underpinned with a simple to use technology solution that mirrors familiar workflows and delivers genuine value, that improves efficiencies and accelerates growth.

 like the Proofworks platform transforms how they manage and optimise their entire supply chain with the use of blockchain technology. Proofworks connects every stage of the ecosystem starting with digitalising production, storage and maturation, through to providing new ways for consumers to own, trade and engage with spirits. All data is stored securely and immutably on the blockchain from raw ingredients, to wood origins, to stock inventory as well as ownership records. With this new level of visibility across operations, and faster and more intelligent analysis of data, brought to life on smart dashboards that reveal previously unseen patterns and insight, new levels of efficiency are now possible: improved planning and forecasting, streamlined data processing and greater support in creating the very best products.

The limitations of Excel - when is enough, enough?

Whilst there are many advantages of spreadsheets – they’re cost-effective, fairly customisable and familiar – they quickly become a challenge when we start to ask too much of them.

Knowing when that point arrives, and preparing in advance for it, will save headaches in the future. Here are four areas to watch for which may spell the end to your time with Excel or other legacy systems.

1. A solution that scales: How to lay digital foundations that support your business’ growth

Over time, as operations expand, the simple spreadsheet that you start with, isn’t the one you need in the end. The spreadsheet struggles to provide the transparency and accuracy of data needed across your entire supply chain to help you run as efficiently, and profitably, as possible.

As new demands are asked of the data you record and track, simply adding in lines, columns or tabs doesn’t cut it. Older data becomes hidden, new users move data to suit their own needs and existing data is rarely updated according to new requirements.

Scaling operations with the same spreadsheet you started with spells problems ahead. This is where a 

distillery and warehouse management solution

 like Proofworks comes in to lay the foundations to take advantage of every opportunity, and set your business up to be competitive from the start.

A solution like Proofworks addresses the operational challenges often found when running a growing distillery or warehouse. We connect each stage of the ecosystem to enable producers to accurately manage and track every aspect of their supply chain from production through to the final liquid, recording every step of a product’s journey. Moreover, if, for example, a producer and 3rd party warehouse both use our technology, the handover of casks is as quick and simple as scanning the QR code. The assets are checked in and associated data transferred.

There’s no room for error here either, and spreadsheets and out-dated systems simply don’t cut it as the number of assets expand. Full traceability of your liquid becomes arguably more important as production increases. Having a technology partner in place that delivers genuine value can make the difference. For example, we have added sensor technology into warehouses and maturation facilities to monitor the environment around stored assets which has proved invaluable.

2. Fostering collaboration: Equip your entire team with a tool that’s simple and intuitive to use

As a distillery grows, more people come into the business and are required to access the data you hold. Even if a spreadsheet is cloud-based, when larger teams are involved, it can quickly fail to be kept up-to-date in real-time. With multiple people accessing, analysing and recording data, a spreadsheet can quickly become altered and confusion and errors arise. One data input mistake can be costly as information is disseminated quickly around an organisation and suddenly the damage is done.

Take stock-taking in a warehouse, for example. The typical way of doing this can take weeks, painfully finding and recording the location of every barrel manually. One false entry here can mean losing a valuable cask and the cost being written off. With Proofworks, all assets are ‘born-digital’ in a distillery and come with their own unique digital identity (ID) which stays with it for its lifetime. This means that every movement and process affecting that asset is recorded immediately on the 

 when its ID (in this case connected by a QR code) is scanned by a mobile device and the data recorded permanently.

Introducing technology shouldn’t be painful. In fact, it should foster greater collaboration. This comes when a technology solution mimics everyday workflows making adoption and day-to-day use easy. We know that our Proofworks platform is used by everyone in the business from the finance teams, to the distillers and blenders, to inventory managers on the warehouse floor. This makes user experience the top priority. Updates and new features are regularly introduced quickly and without downtime to make their jobs even easier. And unlike other solutions, Proofworks can be deployed in a matter of days, not weeks or months.

Master Distiller, William Stafford at Hinch Distillery says of the Proofworks distillery and warehouse management platform, "The main benefit is the ease of it. It's very user-friendly. Everyone in the warehouse can use it, everyone in accounts can look at all of our inventory. At the click of a button we can see everything. We don't have to continually proof data like we would have had to in Excel."

3. Prioritising your data’s security: Ensure the integrity of data with a blockchain-powered framework

Protecting sensitive or critical operational data is a concern for many distilleries and warehouses. Whilst individual files can be password protected, spreadsheets are hard to fully secure. With multiple users, it can be hard to control who has access, and to what information.

Backing up data is also a concern with spreadsheets. Having version control and auto-saves to a cloud server goes some way to protecting your latest update but is not a fail-safe approach to data security. This is particularly important when it comes to recording barrel locations, inventory updates and bulk spirit movements in real-time.

Recording assets, updates and transactions using blockchain technology means data is stored immutably and securely. This unlocks new levels of traceability and transparency as it becomes even easier for every party involved to track a product’s entire journey. Crucially, this secure record of a product’s entire history on the blockchain details provenance and ownership.

For producers, this means a record of everything that goes into crafting their wonderful liquid - from the origins of its raw ingredients and materials, to the meticulous attention to detail that goes into the production of every single cask.

For warehousing, the Proofworks platform allows for warehouse space to be optimised, stock to be accurately tracked in real time, reporting to be automated and duty submissions and ownership records, updates, transfers and requests to be fully maintained, digitally.

4. Meeting compliance standards: Advanced analysis and reporting that delivers valuable insights

Spreadsheets like Excel can perform sophisticated data analysis functions which are useful for distillery and warehouse record management. The formulae often allows businesses to produce reports which analyse data sufficiently enough to garner a basic level of insight. Often, more advanced IT skills are needed to get the most out of spreadsheet formulae for reporting such as forecasting and inventory management.

This makes tasks like forecasting long-term production targets, allocating inventory across multiple warehouses and analysing empty wood stock beyond the day-to-day basic function that Excel can offer.

A technology solution that connects your entire supply chain can surface data that provides answers and crucially, actionable insight. How has temperature fluctuations affected this liquid? Which warehouse will have capacity in the next six months?

With access to tools that allow for faster and more intelligent analysis of data, distilleries and warehouses can act on real-time insight that improves processes and efficiency.

The Proofworks platform ensures the care and attention that producers put into every single ounce of producing their spirit remains top priority and that the administrative burden of data analysis, compliance and regulation reporting is taken care of. Easy-to-access audit trails on the history of all products are available at any given moment to make compliance reporting as quick and simple as possible.

Laying the groundwork for a Connected Distillery

There are lots of exciting benefits and opportunities that technology is opening up in the spirits sector and many distilleries and warehouses are embracing them early on in their journey to shore up their digital foundations for the future. For those transitioning from analogue, or outdated legacy systems, to becoming ‘Connected Distilleries’, the benefit of the rich data that comes with digitalisation is transformative.

As Master Distiller, William Stafford at Hinch Distillery says, “Warehousing and purchasing whiskey can be a very blind investment but Proofworks enables this incredible insight into the movement of casks and how we've treated their whiskey ultimately. From a collector’s point of view, if they purchase a cask, they now have full traceability and are able to see what we've done with it, when we've filled it, if we've moved it in the warehouse.”

Ready to move away from Excel and become connected? 

 for a demo and to hear more about how we’re transforming the spirits sector with our technology.



“Managing cask inventory manually just wasn’t cutting it as we scaled up. Everything had to be manually punched into Excel. For a short period of time that’s fine. But as the distillery grew, managing our own casks from start to finish with a small team wasn't a good use of our time.”

 William Stafford, Master Distiller at Hinch Distillery

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Excel: friend or foe in distillery & warehouse management?

Excel: friend or foe in distillery & warehouse management?

More from Proofworks

Platform

Marketplace

Connected Products Coming soon

About

Team

Contact

Careers

Excel: friend or foe in distillery & warehouse management?

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