Where does all that beer go?

Stale data has about as much value as stale beer. Increasingly, brewers in the U.K. and elsewhere are following Scottish Courage Breweries and Carlsberg U.K. in leveraging new RFID-based mobile asset management technology to help them gain tighter control over their stocks of beer kegs.

Coors Brewers Limited, the U.K. operating subsidiary of Adolph Coors Company, is the latest to sign a 15-year agreement (this past May) to outsource the management of its keg fleet to Denver-based TrenStar Inc., bringing the percentage of kegs in the U.K. owned and managed by TrenStar to more than 60 percent.

"This is a long-term partnership between Coors and TrenStar, during which we will work hard to deliver to Coors the significant benefits that outsourced keg management and tracking can bring: reduced container loss, significantly increased asset utilization, and ultimately improved customer service," says Greg Cronin, TrenStar CEO.

TrenStar has ambitious plans to become the single source for pooled keg management, eliminating the need for each brewer to individually manage its own supply chain of these noncompetitive assets. Each keg is fitted with an RFID tag that tracks movement on a unique "pay-per-use" basis for keg management, from work-in-process to finished goods transport and delivery.

The solution includes RFID tags, handheld and vehicle-mounted readers, and antenna arrays. In addition to improved real-time visibility of product, the solution also nets significant savings in operational costs and capital expense. The "pay-per-use" model also greatly reduces upfront implementation costs.

TrenStar is a subsidiary of Trencor Limited of South Africa. TrenStar also provides supply chain container management in numerous industries, including food & beverage, chemical, air cargo, automotive, and retail. Most recently (this past April) TrenStar formed Agility Healthcare Solutions, a separate business unit, targeting mobile asset management to the health care industry.