scheduling

[Damase]

I have a question for the kind folks out here in Probrewer. I am currently scheduling tanks and equipment at the brewery for the rest of the year, and I was wondering if anyone had a scheduling software program that they use. I am currently playing with MS Project, but that is far more powerful than I really need, My goal is to make sure we do not have (in the schedule) 2 or more beers entering the bright tank at the same time.
Any thoughts, suggestions, or ideas?

Thanks

[GoldenArm]

I'd also be interested to see what people are using for long-range scheduling, if anyone's willing to share.
I'm currently projecting around 4 weeks at a time, but typically crunch the numbers again every Monday morning and shuffle things around as needed. We're in the ~3Kbbl/yr range but growing, average 3-4 brewdays/week, and have 8 FVs in play.

[cpelz]

Hi Damase-

I don't know how extensible my approach is but it works nicely for us. We're a brewpub with about a dozen brands, ~6000 bbl./yr., turning our 30 bbl brewhouse about 4 times/wk. For each brand I know the sales rates in kegs/day throughout the year averaged over ~2wk intervals, the average yield per batch and the average turn time.

In a spreadsheet I enter the date to start the projection (usually the date of our next delivery) and the in-house inventory at that time (kegged beer + average yield per batch in system.) Using the previous year's sales rates (adjusted by a growth factor) and in-house inventory it calculates how many day's inventory we have of each brand. It subtracts from this the turn time and an arbitrary buffer (~7days) to figure when the brand next needs to be brewed. This is projected out for several months. I schedule the tanks 1-3 wks in advance and run the projections weekly. The predictions are most accurate on the 1-3 wk scale but since it links inventory with sales rates I can anticipate the busy season and assign the brewery resources accordingly.

Upon re-reading your post Damase I see I'm a little off base. My spreadsheet doesn't know anything about our tanks so I do the assigning on a large white board matrix with tanks vertically on the left and days of the month across the top.

[MatthewS]

Hey Damase

Shoot me a call or email, as I may have something in the files that can help. Also, I am wondering what your up to...

Matthew

[BeerMe24]

Hey, also interested in what people are using to help with brew scheduling. Thanks.

[CaptainEBC]

We use OpenProject. Its basically a free version of MsProject thats compatible with it.

We have fermentation time and conditioning time mapped out for all of our beers and list the fermentation tanks under resources. That way, you can see which fermenter will be available at any specific day.

[Fennellys]

I used a program called the Gantt Project, specificaly the parah beta edition, and it worked great. I just checked and they have included all of the beta additions in the full version. It allows you to list the number of items you have like FV's, Kettles, MT or LT and then set them as being used for certain times so you can schedule brews to maximize your equipment usage.

http://www.ganttproject.biz/download