It’s American Craft Beer Week and that means summer seasonals; blueberry ales, hard ciders and countless other newly-released offerings will be hitting the market. Craft brewers put a lot of effort, creativity and passion into selecting interesting and efficient ingredients to brew the perfect batch of beer, creating unique and memorable experiences for their customers. No two varieties are exactly alike.

Click to view state fun facts on craft beer

The same goes for Abel Womack. We focus on doing what we do best; providing the most innovative material handling solutions by mixing up the best brew of sophisticated products and technologies combined with rock solid execution and superior long term service support. Our complete, integrated solutions are never the same, nor should they be.

Just as a master brewer carefully selects the precise amount and variety of hops, specialty malt, yeast, carbonation level and flavor to give complexity to the ultimate beer, we too, carefully craft and customize the perfect solution based on our expertise and understanding of each beverage customer’s complex challenges. Some of the challenges facing distributors may include:

• managing and accommodating SKU proliferation
• maintaining proper temperature requirements
• picking multiple package configurations
• increasing production and throughput
• improving safety

Traditional beer distributors taking stock of their own operation might want to take a hint from more than 3,400 inspired and inventive U.S. craft brewers keeping pace with today’s rapidly changing market. And I’m not talking about advances in yeast science. I’m talking about implementing cost-effective, scalable solutions that improve operational efficiencies and provide a competitive edge for organizations, both big and small. Craft brewers rely on their distributors and retailers to bring their beer to market. In turn, distributors rely on Abel Womack to deliver customized solutions to the beverage industry, including:

• insulated walls to create temperature-controlled areas
• adjustable or mobile racking to optimize storage density
• warehouse management system (WMS) to improve accuracy
• robotic palletizing to reduce labor costs
• automated storage & retrieval systems to increase speed and efficiency
• lift trucks designed to your specific application

These two customer-centric industries—craft beer and material handling—seem like the perfect pairing. It’s an exciting time for craft brewers, distributors, and especially craft beer enthusiasts. And that’s something all beer lovers can drink to. Cheers!