Case study · Production planning
One brewery.One integrated plan.
From brewhouse to warehouse: a clearer basis for complex production decisions.
At Swiss brewery Feldschlösschen, a decision support system connects mathematical optimization with practical scenario analysis for tactical and strategic planning.
01 / The challenge
See beyond individual production stages.
An expanding product range made planning increasingly complex. Brewing, fermentation, maturation, filtration, and filling compete for limited resources and depend on one another. Planning these stages separately left capacity conflicts and material shortages to be corrected manually.
02 / The development
Turn operational knowledge into a usable model.
Working with planning and operational teams, the project team developed an optimization model covering the complete production system. It coordinates production quantities and inventories while respecting capacities, batch sizes, process lead times, and shelf life.
The model became a practical software tool: ERP and spreadsheet data are validated, plans are calculated in the cloud, and dashboards make costs, resource use, and bottlenecks visible. Iterative workshops helped refine assumptions and build confidence in the results.
03 / The value
Compare options before committing resources.
Planners can assess new products, equipment investments, storage capacity, and seasonal staffing within the same model. Scenario comparisons reveal where bottlenecks move and whether additional capacity benefits the whole system, supporting better-informed investment and capacity decisions.
Published results
Better plans. Less manual rework.
lower modeled operating costs
fewer manual plan adjustments
Reported in the case study relative to the previous planning system. The cost figure refers to theoretical operating costs calculated by the model.
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