From raw materialthrough to export.
Beverage producers fill one product into many container formats, handle deposits and empties, and in a recall have to say within minutes which batch went to which customers. If lab values, filling data and empties accounts sit in separate systems, that turns into hours of searching. fabular connects production, quality, logistics and sales through to export.
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fabAI flagged batch L-2481: three days from best-before – FEFO suggestion created.
- Batch trail in seconds
- Lab analysis integrated
- EDI for major customers
- 100 %
- batch traceability
- 25+
- years of experience
- EDI
- connection to retail chains
- 1
- system for production and sales
Where things get stuck in a beverage business
Traceability takes hours
In a recall, batch information has to be collected from several systems. That is exactly the time you do not have when it matters.
A complete batch trail from raw material to the customer, in seconds.
Lab values sit alongside
Analyses are recorded separately and have to be transferred into release processes by hand. The release status is therefore never quite current.
Lab results flow automatically into release and batch documentation.
Major customers expect EDI
Retail chains require standardised interfaces. Without EDI, order entry stays manual – with effort and errors on every order.
EDI and API for automated exchange with all major customers.
This page is for beverage producers who fill into several container formats, handle deposits and empties, pick by best-before date and supply retail chains or export markets.
What is genuinely difficult in beverage production
What you produce is a drink, what you sell is containers. Between blending, filling, the retail shelf and the return of empties, what started as one article multiplies.
- One product exists in many container formats: glass, PET, can, keg, returnable and one-way – each with its own article number, its own price and its own stock.
- Empties run backwards through the same chain. Crates and bottles are stock, the deposit is a receivable, and both have to be correct per delivery and per customer.
- The best-before date is created during filling and governs every picking decision after that. Retailers only accept goods with sufficient remaining shelf life.
- Filling lines need changeover times and cleaning cycles. Every product changeover costs capacity, and that capacity belongs in the production plan, not in the head of the shift supervisor.
- Between blending, filtration and filling, the yield varies. Target quantity and finished quantity rarely match exactly, but the costing works with a single figure.
- Retail chains order by EDI and expect despatch advice, labelling and invoice data in their format, not in yours.
- A special report on yield per line and product does not need programming: described to fabAI, it draws on the same batch and production data.
Empties have to be kept on two sides
Once as stock of crates and bottles, once as a deposit receivable on the customer account. If only one side is maintained, neither of them is correct by the time of the stocktake at the latest.
Best-before rules belong in the warehouse, not on a note
Whether the earliest expiry date is picked first is decided during order picking. Without a rule on the device, warehouse staff reach for whatever is closest.
The line reports, or somebody types
Fill weights, downtimes and yield per batch are either connected or estimated at the end of the shift. In the second case, every evaluation built on them is an approximation.
How fabular handles it
Production & filling
- 1.Recipes with versioning and a batch reference.
- 2.Filling lines connected, fill weights recorded automatically.
- 3.Cleaning cycles documented and verifiable.
- 4.Downtimes and yield visible per batch.
Quality & laboratory
- 1.Inspection plans from raw material goods receipt to the finished product.
- 2.Lab values per batch, linked to release and invoice.
- 3.Deviations spotted early and followed up.
- 4.Test reports archived in an audit-proof way.
Blocking and releasing are part of the process, not a phone call to the laboratory.
Sales & export
- 1.EDI and API for retail chains and major customers.
- 2.Customs processing and preference documents in the system.
- 3.Foreign currency and country-specific requirements.
- 4.Deposits and returnable containers fully represented.
From raw material to the return of empties
The route does not end at delivery. A supply cycle is only complete once the empties come back – and it is exactly this return leg that is missing in many systems.
- Step 01
Raw material goods receipt and release
Goods receipt and laboratory
Raw materials, concentrates and packaging material are booked in with a batch reference and assessed according to the inspection plan. Only the release makes the lot available for production.
- Step 02
Blending and the recipe run
Production
Blending follows the released recipe version. Material consumption is booked per component and source batch, and deviations between target and actual quantity stay visible per batch.
- Step 03
Filling and batch marking
Filling line
The filling line supplies fill weights, unit counts and downtimes. Batch and best-before date are created here and accompany the container through every further booking from then on.
- Step 04
Release and order picking
Quality and warehouse
After release, the batch moves into sales stock. Picking runs by FEFO, so the remaining shelf life required by retailers is met without anyone comparing lists.
- Step 05
Delivery, deposits and the return of empties
Despatch and delivery
Delivery note, deposit lines and despatch advice come out of the same transaction. Returned empties are credited to the customer and go back into circulation as stock.
What beverage producers ask us
How are deposits and empties represented?
Deposits and returnable containers are fully represented in fabular, and on both sides: as stock of crates and bottles in circulation and as a deposit receivable on the customer account. Issue and return arise in the same transaction as delivery and collection. As a result, the empties account and stock management agree without the reconciliation that otherwise comes up regularly before the stocktake.
How does fabular make sure that picking follows the best-before date?
Picking is controlled by FEFO, that is by the earliest expiry date. The instruction appears on the mobile device and is confirmed when scanning, instead of hanging on the wall as a rule. This means the remaining shelf life required by retailers is met by the system, and it stays traceable which batch was delivered to which customer.
How do fill weights and downtimes get from the filling line into the system?
The filling lines are connected, so that fill weights, unit counts and downtimes are recorded automatically. Yield and downtimes can therefore be evaluated per batch and per line, instead of being estimated at the end of the shift. Which control systems and protocols you have in use is clarified before the project – the effort of the connection depends on that.
How quickly is a traceability report available in a recall?
The batch trail is created while you produce and deliver, not only when the enquiry comes in. That is why the evaluation is a query and not an investigation: forwards from the raw material batch to the customers supplied, and backwards from the container on the shelf to the upstream delivery. Exactly the time that is otherwise lost here is missing elsewhere in an emergency.
How does the connection to retail chains by EDI work?
Orders, despatch advice and invoice data are exchanged with the retail partners by EDI or API, so that manual order entry is no longer needed. Every chain has its own format requirements; which of them have to be covered is clarified against your existing partners. The benefit shows above all in the volume: these are exactly the orders that come in every day in the same form.
What has to be considered when exporting to non-EU countries?
Customs processing and preference documents are part of the system, as are foreign currencies and country-specific requirements for invoicing and labelling. Because batch, recipe version and test report are attached to the transaction, the usual queries about composition and origin can be answered without a separate investigation. Which target markets require which documents is something we go through for each project.
Companies working with fab4minds
A selection from our customer base – businesses with comparable requirements for traceability, batch management and reporting obligations.
- Rabenhorst
- Resch&Frisch
- Multikraft
- SONNENTOR
Before you plan the next line or product
A consulting engagement clarifies in advance where effort arises between blending, filling, warehouse and empties that does not appear in the costing. The result is a document you can work with internally – even without fab4minds.
Digitalisation consulting for beverage producers
For businesses whose container, deposit and batch data are spread across several systems. We record the chain from raw material to the return of empties and show where it breaks.
- Go through the container and article structure across returnable, one-way and keg
- Reconcile deposit and empties management against stock and the customer account
- Set best-before control and picking logic against the requirements of the retailers
- Check the data returning from filling and the laboratory for completeness and delay
Let us test a traceability report
Name a batch from your business. We use it to show how quickly the complete route stands, forwards and backwards. For our consulting engagements the same applies: if the result does not help you, we refund the fee.