Beer Supply Chain

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Beer’s Supply Chain By Raphaele Dumont Samson 3518760 For Joshua Fan Supply Chain Management TBS 908 Sydney Business School 12 May, 2009 Table of Content 1. Introduction 2. Journey of the Product 2.1 Raw Material Supplier 2.2 Factory 2.3 Distributor 2.4 Wholesaler 2.5 Retailer 2.6 Customer 3. Recent Changes 3.1 Price of Raw Materials 3.2 Decrease of Beer Consumption 3.3 Breakthrough RFID 4. Conclusion 1. Introduction Beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage in the world (European Beer Guide, 2009). At the same time, beer is one of the most regulated products. The government control on the beverage is complicating its supply chain. It is challenging the managers of the supply chain of getting “the right beer in the right place, in the right amount, at the right time, and at the right cost” (Dershem, 2007). This paper will focus on the journey of beer from the acquisition of raw materials, factory, distributor, wholesaler, retailer, and on identifying the end consumer. It will also assess the reaction of the beer industry facing the recent increase of the price for raw material, the decrease of beer consumption per-capita, and the breakthrough usage of RFID (radio-frequency identification) to manage kegs. 2. Journey of the Product The beer supply chain is powered by a pull demand (Dai, 2008). Every beer company has a very similar supply chain. The main difference is that some large companies do not use the wholesaler in order to cut cost, but they are privatized from an excellent service. In this section, every step of the supply chain will be examined. 2.1 Raw Material Supplier Beer is brewed out of four basic ingredients. Barley is the cereal that release sugar for fermentation. Hops are the plants that give flavour to the beverage. Water is required to produce beer and it is one of its main

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