| i-Track is the first complete and state of the art solution intended to manage a complete set of business processes in the beverage industry. |
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| Full-scale asset tracking and process optimisation significantly reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction and therefore loyalty to the selected brand. |
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| Beer is always kept fresh, a drinker's delight and a brewer's pride. |
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| Beer Keg Life Cycle |
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| Tracking beverage dispensing and cooling equipment, as well as the life cycle of beer kegs and casks has always been essential. By using i-Track it becomes full scale and highly efficient. |
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| Modern breweries have tens or hundreds of thousands of beer kegs, casks, and bottle crates in circulation; managing such large investment flows successfully keeps customers satisfied and allows you to have a cutting-edge advantage over your competition. From now on beer kegs, casks, and bottle crates can be traced more precisely and transparently than ever before. |
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Empty Kegs
Transfer of the kegs from warehouse of empty kegs to the filling line.
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Keg Filling Entrance Control
The filling line entrance control of compliance of empty kegs with the production plan. There is no limit of constraints that have to be met. Constraints can be changed in order to meet the production plan demands, most usually used constraints are:
 RFID is readable (obligatory constraint)- Number of production cycles – keg has to be maintained and fittings changed
- Brand of the keg
- Capacity of the keg
- Reclamation claims up to selected keg
- Ownership of selected keg
- Is RFID paired with the keg (where applicable)
- Keg status compliance
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Keg Washing
CIP technology recently used for keg washing implies high temperatures combined with aggressive chemicals. RFID tags attached to the kegs are ready to meet those conditions without any damage for numerous of repeated washing cycles.
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Keg Filling
The Kegs at the entrance to the filling process are rejected if washing of individual keg was not successful. Rejected kegs history is updated and keg is not allowed to enter the filling line again as long it is not maintained in the service department.
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Weighing – is the keg full?
Every keg has its specific empty weight. At When leaving the filling process kegs are weighed with perspective to each specific keg’s empty weight and only kegs that are in compliance with the very precise tolerance of weight (weight of media purred into) are allowed to proceed and enter to the leaking control.
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Leaking Control
If there is any leaking present at specific keg, the keg is rejected and to the history card of it a new constraint is added. That makes sure the keg will not be allowed to enter the production line as long as it is not well manned in the service department – usually the fittings have to be changed.
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End of Filling Process
If all the filling process controls are successfully passed the keg is allowed to enter the final phase palletization. Each keg is identified again in order to avoid any errors when pairing each keg’s RFID identification numbers with rest of the kegs on the same pallet.
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Palletization
Usually six kegs are palletized on one pallet (some breweries practice two stacks of keg per pallet then twelve kegs would be placed on one pallet). Each keg has its own RFID tag, each of them is paired with common mark that links kegs placed on one pallet into one logical unit. It is common practice to use SSCC code to mark a pallet stacked with kegs – so SSCC Bar Code tag is used to logically link the kegs.
Logical units are used in the further logistic steps and make some operations more efficient and accurate (warehousing, loading tracks, load inspections..).
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Warehousing
Pallets are moved to the warehouse of full kegs. Using accurate data and traceability options offered by i-Track it is easy to run warehousing with even greater efficiency as with classical warehousing solutions only.
i-Track integrated with the present ERP warehousing system gives one the opportunity to accelerate management of best before dates, improves the turn over of the kegs, identify bottle necks in the warehousing, trace any missing asset (pallets or individual keg) and much more.
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Dispatching to Distribution Centres
For every contemporary brewery is of upmost importance to deliver its products throw its own distribution channels. i-Track encourages sales through brewery’s own distribution channels and tracing of returnable packages both: kegs and bottle crates.
Using i-Track optimized software solution with specialised sensorics tracing of the goods is time saving and cost efficient. Every transaction of goods is traced and monitored.
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Delivering to Distribution Centres
Arrived delivery of goods is matched with the dispatched one, the data have to match. The delivered goods are unloaded and warehoused to be either delivered to individual buyers or delivered by field sales to specific POS (Point of Sale – Pubs, Restaurants, or any one interested).
An empty packaging and returnable goods (after date, reclamation, reallocation or similar) are loaded to be transferred to scheduled location (back to brewery central warehouse of empty kegs or other).
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Retail Sales
There are two main channels of retail sales:
- one is using field sales and delivering purchased or ordered goods to the customers – POS and
- the other is retail sale at the place of distribution centre.
i-Track is ready to support both retail sales channels. Either it is needed to collect money on field (even integrated Credit/Debit Card module can be delivered), to issue a delivery note, to collect reclamation or to provide cashier functionalities at the distribution centre.
Furthermore i-Track incorporates strong control mechanisms in order to control balance of dispatched and delivered goods, to control the balance of packaging per specific customer or to review and control the load on the delivery truck.
It is very important to note that utilising strong ERP integration all information are disposed and ready to be used for further processing in the present ERP system. Human errors and errors due to wrong interpreting of hand collected data are completely omitted and data exchange is performed in almost real time.
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Field Sales
i-Track incorporates strong field sales and field sales promotions support for both internal employees as for the contractors. Using it is easy to route, navigate, sale, promote, deliver the goods, collect money, balance and collect empty returnable packaging or products being in reclamation procedure.
All transactions are documented; every aspect of business is traceable. Even the balance inspection is easy to be undertaken and can be done using mobile solution in any moment chosen.
The business processes of servicing the customers are improved on terms of quality, information flow, time and traceability.
The market position of the brewery is strengthening through great traceable service and through detailed knowledge of marketing channels and customers expectations.
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i-Track POS Keg Tracker
It has never been possible to secure precise consumption data of a specific POS (Point of Sale) till now. i-Rose has introduced the very efficient device to identify the keg, measure consumption and environmental temperature at the specific pipe at the specific POS.
Benefits of using the POS Keg Tracker device go into both sides, to the side of POS owner – customer and to the side of Brewery:
- Brewery is allowed to plan investments into the POS based on real data, to strengthen the knowledge of market, identify purchase channels of specific POS and to introduce in time delivery as an additional benefit for the customer.
- Through a simple web based application customer is informed on the daily sales, of the needed cleanings, of the consumed stocks of beer and of the in stock beer kegs as well he can authorize the supplier (the brewery) to deliver kegs “just in time”.
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Individual Sale and Public Events
While the tracking and indentifying of each keg is not needed at the point of individual consumption point it might be very helpful when public events are in case. So far it was almost impossible to precisely estimate the number of consumed beer kegs at the specific event.
Deploying i-Track POS Keg Tracker the brewery can very accurately estimate the sales of each event. Based on real data gathered it is much easier to analyze and to decide on further investments or level of involvement into a specific public event.
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Wholesale
Dispatching goods to the wholesalers is the point where the traceability of the kegs usually is lost but not if i-Track system is in use. Collecting the data of dispatched kegs and identifying of the empty kegs returned to the brewery can statistically give a strong insight into the marketing channels and the movements of the beer on the market. Furthermore, deploying Service Network, Field Sales and optionally Keg POS Tracker data gathering possibilities the brewery can obtain almost perfect insight into the market channels.
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i-Track POS Keg Tracker
It has never been possible to secure precise consumption data of a specific POS (Point of Sale) till now. i-Rose has introduced the very efficient device to identify the keg, measure consumption and environmental temperature at the specific pipe at the specific POS.
Benefits of using the POS Keg Tracker device go into both sides, to the side of POS owner – customer and to the side of Brewery:
- Brewery is allowed to plan investments into the POS based on real data, to strengthen the knowledge of market, identify purchase channels of specific POS and to introduce in time delivery as an additional benefit for the customer.
- Through a simple web based application customer is informed on the daily sales, of the needed cleanings, of the consumed stocks of beer and of the in stock beer kegs as well he can authorize the supplier (the brewery) to deliver kegs “just in time”.
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Management of Rejected Kegs Repository
Due to not complying with the implied constraints of the filling (production) plan the rejected kegs are gathered into the repository of rejected (unsuited) kegs. To identify specific reason why the specific keg was rejected i-Track provides efficient mobile identification service.
Identifying the rejected keg operator is instructed on further processing steps. Either the keg is headed to maintenance department to be serviced and checked either it is transferred to the warehouse of appropriate brand. It is also possible that keg is not in the ownership of the brewery or the RFID tag is not readable – all the necessary steps – what ever the cause is are provided in order to ensure traceable business processes and ensure the quality of the kegs repository.
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| i-Track and Beer Keg Life Cycle Management |
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| i-Track improves draft beer quality, error frequency drops to a minimum, and stocks of beer kegs are optimized. |
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| i-Track can be integrated into every modern business environment and production facility. |
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| The i-Track solution enables you to monitor the entire process effectively and efficiently, from production, maintenance, and sales, to distribution and draft beer consumption. With RFID tags data about the assets' movement are stored in a central i-Track data warehouse. Their true value even improves when using i-Track application software integrated into the existing ERP system. |
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| Proven implementation methodologies provide control over deployment in order to reduce risks and ensure reliable results. The best practices integrated into i-Track anticipate your business needs, reduce costs, and give you fast ROI (return on investment). |
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| i-Track quality is ensured by ISO 9001 standard regulations; the required traceability can be ensured almost automatically. |
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Tracking equipment |
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| If the software represents the nerve system of the i-Track system, then the tracking sensors are its antennae. The system employs: |
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- Basic RFID and BARCODE sensors
- Mobile sensors, potentially combined with RFID sensors
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| The first type of sensors cover tracking within individual buildings of the provider's business' system – the solution involves warehouse operations and the tracking of assets throughout the production processes of refilling. |
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| Mobile sensors provide information of the status in field. They can be used for mobilesales maintenance tracking. Special versions of mobile sensors are intended for tracking beverage consumption. A special upgrade of dispenser tracking even enables measuring the liquid poured out, both with respect to the type and amount of liquid. Such sensors are also able to identify the type and kind of beer cask connected to the individual dispensing point. |
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RFID |
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| The operability of the whole i-Track system and its uparalleled efficiencyis enabled by tiny, barely perceptible, passive elements. These are RFID tags, which are able to identify the assets to which they are attached, by means of radio waves. |
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GPS |
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| The i-Track MSP introduces standard GPS tracking feature. The feature can be utilized as a complete movement and event tracking solution or solely as a business event place of delivery proof, identifier and very accurate timestamp. |
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| The feature can be switched on or off by upon the business needs of the specific type of mobile operations and specific demands of the business holder. |
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Modular software solution |
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| The set of software modules included in i-Track offer full scale support for business processes in the beverage industry. |
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Using the i-Track solution in production phases and warehousing offers the following advantages:
Quality
- Enhancement of production capacities due to automated beer keg, cask, and crate elimination and supervision
- Complete traceability
- Reduction of unsuitable products delivered to the consumer
- Identifying unsuitable suppliers or critical spots in production phases
Production data
- Total amount of filled kegs and casks according to different criteria
Racking line statistics
- Line productivity
- Errors on the line
- Precautionary identification of weak spots on the line
- Media consumption
Warehousing
- Checking best before dates
- Optimizing the pallet stack
- Keeping permanent records about stock availability and its location
Maintenance
- Kegs and casks maintenance cycle
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| Production and Warehousing |
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| Connecting software with special hardware solutions for beer keg identification on a racking line makes the process traceable in real-time. All entered events are saved in appropriate records. This ensures complete traceability of the product. |
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i-Track and Beer Keg Racking Line
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| Kegs are controlled from the point of entering the racking line onwards. A keg or cask that does not meet the determined criteria is automatically eliminated. There are up to four control points on the racking line: |
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- Entrance
- Air-tightness control
- Weighing
- Palletization
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| i-Track Production Line Supervisor Monitor with the keg history control view |
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| Thus high quality filling is ensured; no keg or cask can skip any of the production phases unsupervised. The system also eliminates all kegs and casks which have been recognized as unsuitable. |
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| Schematic presentation of the beer keg identification system on the racking line and the integration into the central i-Track system |
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| Dedicated solution based on HMI (Human Machine Interface) and intuitive GUI (Graphic User Interface) deploys multi layer software architecture and is available everywhere and at any time over the https connection. |
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| Authorised users are allowed to monitor production line processes, supported to perform keg maintenance operations and track kegs in stock or on the production line. |
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| Presentation of the hardware implemented in the production line keg tracking and management. |
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| Implementing i-Track into the production process the present hardware equipment is utilized. The need for additional hardware is minimized on to the RFID sensors and tags and to the handheld equipment. |
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| The system also tracks every product throughout warehousing. The provided tracking optimizes warehousing and keeps track of all best before dates. |
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| For this purpose, all pallets with products are labelled with a suitable barcode, and all fork lift trucks with automatic reading devices. |
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| Although i-Track offers a specialized solution for warehouse management, integration with existing ERP warehousing software is an optimal solution. |
| Distribution and Sales |
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| Traceability is ensured throughout distribution, both wholesale and retail channels, all the way to the final customer. The system gives us an accurate picture of the market route of the traced kegs, casks, and crates. |
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| Statistical tracking of the entire distribution flow gives a clear picture of product movement and sales channels. Valuable and accurate information about market routes are more transparent and readily available for producers. Sales become manageable, and the producer's dependence on retailers and distributors is reduced considerably. |
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| The system offers the following information at any moment: |
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- The current location of each and every specified asset,
- The last known location of any missing asset,
- Inversion of assets, especially beer kegs and casks,
- Grey market analysis.
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| i-Track supports field sales as well as classic sales. Integration into the ERP system ensures transparent transfer of all data. |
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| i-Track field sales is a modern on/offline system, creating equal opportunities for field work in comparison with other sale venues. It provides your customers the convenience of paying with credit cards and using bonus cards. The immediate results of using this solution are time savings and the complete satisfaction of your customer's needs. |
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| Selling with the i-Track system also enables you to monitor your customer's behaviour, and offers CRM support, project management, and analytical instruments, which constantly improves your sales results. |
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| Field Sales Promotions |
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| Using i-Track mobile solution to support the sales promotion activities adds transparency to the process performed in order to: |
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- Perform planned activities,
- Gather reliable market data,
- Perform traceable investments into the market,
- Dependency of the individual sales promotion agent is minimized.
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| Vendors and producers are using sales promotions to: |
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- Introduce new product,
- Clear out inventories,
- Attract new customers,
- Lift sales.
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| As every vendor or producer has its very own approach how to achieve sales promotion’s goals the usage of i-Track is almost a “must be”. i-Track solution allows any organization to independently build its genuine sales promotion business support applications without involving programmers or any other personal but its own business professionals. |
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| Even more, the created business process support routines are very easy to modify, upgrade, delete or to create a new one. All the data gathered in the processes are securely transferred back to the central database and on the disposal to further investigation, analyzing and to the internal ERP system of the user. |
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| Should one deliver merchandising products, collect orders, do the inventory lists of goods in stock at the customers, checking out facings of your products and of competitions, interview the customers or whatever is very genuine to one’s own business i-Track mobile support can handle it. |
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| Furthermore Sales Promotions functionalities can be combined with the data collected using POS KEG Tracker to achieve unbeatable impact and understanding of the customer’s needs and expectations. |
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| By implementing the i-Track solution you gain: |
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- Remarkable traceability of distribution and sales channels,
- The ability to identify most final customers,
- Lowering dependence on big retailers and distributors,
- Valuable feedback on market behaviour,
- Just in time delivery possibilities.
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| Service Network |
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| When handled properly from brewery to bar, draught beer delivers what many consider to be the freshest, most flavorful beer available to the customer. But the job does not end once the keg is tapped and the beer begins to flow. Good beer quality depends on proper alignment of the dispense variables and consistent housekeeping practices. (The Draught Beer Quality Manual, Technical Committee of the Brewers Association, April 2009) |
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| Covering complete beer keg life cycle from the production up to the point of consumption the i-Track MSP solution gives flexible and coherent draught beer equipment servicing process support mobile solution and even more than that. |
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| At any moment the following information is at hand (Draught Beer Dispense Equipment): |
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- The current location of each and every specified asset,
- The last known location of any missing asset,
- The ownership and the possession of specific assets,
- Geographic location and micro-location,
- Utilization of the Assets,
- Maintenance and servicing history and costs per specific asset.
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| The service and material delivered are consistently and accurately transferred into the ERP solution to be on disposal for consequent back office operations. |
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| Loosely coupled integration with the present ERP system ensures transparent and in realtime data flow. It allows fast and exact field force management, planning and analyzing. |
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| Service Network mobile support typically consists of functionalities as follows: |
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- Work and travel order,
- Routing and scheduling,
- Redirecting due to an instant schedule updating,
- Planned periodical servicing and unplanned interventions,
- Parts and Assets stock management and control,
- Asset mounting and dismounting,
- Consumption evaluation,
- KEG recognition method (RFID or BarCode),
- End customer signature capturing and delivery note or invoice printing,
- Field printing upon to the user defined forms,
- Call Centre Support.
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| Given that the service network professionals are one of the rare allowed to enter the “back stage” of the bar (point of sale) and being in the constant and direct contact with the personnel i-Track MSP adds additional mobile support features in order to introduce advanced customer retention policies: |
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- Competition assessments and consumption estimation,
- Customer satisfaction surveys,
- Order collection,
- Collect customer’s demands and remarks,
- Selected promotions.
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| With the support of advanced field force management tool such as i-Track MSP is, the business rule of the service network professionals is becoming even more crucial as it represents the new channel of communication with the end customers. |
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| If some telemetric equipment is in use, (such as i-Track POS Keg Tracker) additional telemetric support is available: |
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- USB, RS-232 or Wi-Fi data gathering
- Basic control and analytic functionalities on data transferred on to the mobile device
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| i-Track MSP allows improved communication flow between the stuff of the vendor company using it. The data of the field or asked to be delivered services is promptly distributed to the everyone of business interest. Complete mobile network with all the different business roles included becomes more flexible and responsive. |
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| Consumption |
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An exceptional innovation in the i-Track system is the ability to track consumption for every sales microlocation (POS - Point of Sale). Adequately equipped beverage dispensers with i-Track POS Keg Tracker installed sensor device can monitor a multitude of data, depending on your needs and wishes. A beer keg, cask, or crate disposed on a beverage dispenser equiped with POS Keg Tracker device is identified (RFID) as well the amount of drinks poured, time and environmental temperatures are monitored.
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| Remarkable traceability is ensured by special sensor equipment installed on beverage dispensers. It enables complete traceability of sales channels and beer kegs. Sales channels of beverage are efficiently monitored and grey market spots identified up to the last detail. The producer strengthens its position on the market and significantly enhances its competitive advantage due to a thorough understanding of market mechanisms. |
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| By being acquainted with exact data about sales at certain microlocations, the producer can effectively stimulate those sale outlets which need more attention according to the producer's sales policy. |
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| Monitoring consumption at various events and parties is now easier than ever, even if there are hundreds of thousands of guests in a short period of time. Individual sales outlets can now also be rewarded and stimulated accordingly. |
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| i-Track POS Keg Tracker enabled services and process flow |
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| The schema above demonstrates various business services enabled to both business partners to the brewery and to the customer – POS keeper. |
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| Brewery: |
POS: |
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- Exact micro location consumption report
- RFID keg recognition
- Marketing channels recognition
- Optimized planning of deliveries and routes
- Investments based on the reliable data
- Automated communication
- Highly improved and traceable services
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- WEB business portal
- Consumption control report
- Keg purchase plan
- Consumption and purchase history
- Automated “In Time Delivery”
- Manual or Automated cleaning service delivery
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| Using of RFID tabs is not mandatory many of the features are available without it. However keg recognition gives an additional insight into marketing channels and market flow of the beverage products. |
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| Bringing Keg POS Tracking into the business makes beverage deliveries and customer relations even smoother and saves time and money on any necessary human based operations. The brewery’s employees and representatives are allowed to focus on crucial business problems and to more advanced techniques of customer retention and gaining. |
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i-Track POS Keg Tracker solution incorporates Wi-Fi communication or USB data transfer to the mobile devices and consequently to the central i-Track system.
When using USB data transfer many essential control screen functionalities are available focusing on the quality and reliability of the service. |
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| i-Track POS Keg Tracker |
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| i-Track POS Keg Tracker is intended to manage beer kegs on the site, where beer is being dispensed (recording of the kegs connection and disconnection time, beer temperature measurement, flow measurement). It provides full traceability of tasks connected to beer dispensing and enables quality monitoring of the dispensed beer. |
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| Main system functionalities: |
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- Reading of the POS tags, mounted on the kegs
- Temperature measurement on the reading head
- Temperature measurement on any other optional position ( on the dispensing machine….)
- Flow measurement
- Data storing on SD card (POS tag, mounted on the keg; date and time of the dispensing
- Data reading with android device through USB port
- Synchronizing date and time with android device
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| Data transmission to i-Track is automatic. The obtained data is of crucial importance for: |
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- Analyzing customers habits,
- Effectively stimulating customers,
- Identifying the grey market, and
- Correctly defining market channels.
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| i-Track Keg tracker consists of the following components: |
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- Microcontroller
- POS reader
- POS antenna (reading head)
- Temperature sensors and flow meter
- Foam and bubbles drain
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| Analytics |
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| At any moment large amounts of particularly accurate data are entered into the i-Track system, with regard to: |
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- Production
- Warehousing
- Sales
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- Distribution
- Asset management
- Maintenance
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| Data only becomes truly valuable after processing it with the analytical tools integrated into the i-Track system. i-Track reports and analyses are easily adaptable to the needs of individual users. Virtually all reports can be prepared in text and graphic form. The main analysis areas are the following: |
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- Employees and contractors
- Market channels
- Sales and consumption
- Warehousing
- Beverage dispensing and cooling equipment
management and inventory
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| i-Track automatically builds a data warehouse from the gathered information. Reports are instant and are supplied from transaction data bases as well as from the data warehouse, with consideration of the features of the analysis in question. |
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| All the data gathered using i-Track process support is also available to the analytics tools running in the present ERP system or in the other specialized IT environments. Utilizing ESB communication channels the data are available to all existing analytics tools to answer even the most demanding business needs. |
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| Notifying and Messaging |
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| The system automatically sends out notifications regarding important events and escalations by e-mail, SMS, or automatic voice messages. i-Track offers remote diagnosis and remote error correction. |
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| Integration |
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| Standard and prepared standard ESB interfaces encourage effective loosely-coupled integration with existing ERP systems in the user's environment. Data flow between i-Track and ERP systems enables analysis with combined data from both sources, the results of which are highly efficient business analysis and reports. |
