In a ‘test and learn’ innovation project Asahi Europe & International has launched a trial of BinaryBeer’s smart keg solution, monitoring a selection of its kegs’ journey across Europe.

In a media release announcing the trial, BinaryBeer said the trial would provide real-time insights into logistics, consumption and sustainability.

BinaryBeer’s CEO Michael Burton said that while the test involved a small proportion of the Asahi’s total keg fleet, it was a ‘meaningful’ number of sensors for the trial.

“We’re sending them internationally to test what’s happening throughout the supply chain over routes where sensors take a long time to come back,” Burton explained.

He said Asahi Europe & International, which manages one of the world’s largest international distribution networks of draught beer containers, had sought out BinaryBeer for the trial as they had a need to monitor their kegs and see what data they could obtain under the ‘test and learn’ trial.

“But it’s basically a logistics-based solution that delivers value across the entire business,” Burton said.

“So we’re talking about the beer quality and doing cloud calculations on how the beer stales with different temperatures and times in trade.”

He said the technology monitored sales and consumption as well.

“We have this tap detection technology that can tell the moment that it goes on tap, we can figure out how fresh it was when it went on tap, how long was it on tap for, and the moment that it came off tap and it’s ready for collection as well.

“That allows us to break down that supply chain and understand every step of the beer’s journey through the supply chain and understanding what happened while it was full when it was served and everything after about what happened on its way back when it was empty.”

Burton said BinaryBeer started in 2016 in the early days of the development of low-power wide area network (LPWAN) technologies.

“We worked with the University of Wollongong with a student team that carried out their capstone project, testing wireless connectivity and geolocation methods inside the supply chain of beer.

“So they were in car parks and cool rooms with laptops and circuit boards just figuring out how can we figure out where things are in the supply chain because GPS just doesn’t work where kegs go so we had to figure out our own methods of doing that.”

More information:

In a ‘test and learn’ innovation project Asahi Europe & International has launched a trial of BinaryBeer’s smart keg solution, monitoring a selection of its kegs’ journey across Europe.

In a landmark “Internet of Things” use-case, Asahi Europe & International (AEI) has successfully deployed BinaryBeer’s smart keg solution as an Innovation project (test & learn) on Asahi-owned kegs, monitoring their journey across Europe in real-time to provide unprecedented insights into logistics, consumption, beer quality and sustainability.

BinaryBeer, in partnership with Asahi Europe & International, is proud to announce the launch of a first-of-its-kind international smart keg deployment to monitor beer quality, keg locations, and sustainability metrics across international borders, providing real-time actionable data from the field.

Asahi Europe & International manages one of the world’s largest international distribution networks of draught beer containers. The deployment, which involves the attachment of BinaryBeer’s KegLink IoT sensors onto Asahi’s stainless steel kegs, will deliver unprecedented, live insights from outside the brewery.

The data is anticipated to bring organisation-wide benefits, helping advance Asahi Europe & International’s path to carbon neutrality.

This technology, enabled by AEI’s digital team, represents a landmark accomplishment for Massive IoT adoption, overcoming international roaming challenges while paving the way for smart kegs in one of the world’s largest markets.

“We’ve together taken a huge step in providing unique beer insights, meanwhile beer drinkers across Europe will appreciate a fresher and more sustainable beer” – Michael Burton (CEO BinaryBeer).

The smart kegs, equipped with 5G wireless connectivity and bespoke IoT sensors will monitor key data points including location, temperature, and freshness, while identifying the exact moment when the beer is put on tap.

While the project is anticipated to continue throughout 2023 at a minimum, the new IoT sensors incorporate modern LPWAN technology that can see the smart keg’s battery life extend well beyond 10 years, overseeing potentially hundreds of turns through Asahi Europe & International’s international distribution network.

The smart kegs are being filled with beer and deployed from the Asahi-owned breweries to warehouses and customers across Europe.

“We’ve only just launched this project and we’re already seeing our beers moving throughout our European markets. I am glad to see this data coming back to us in real-time, providing us with tremendous insights to improve our overall operations” David Bidau, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Asahi Europe & International.

The smart keg deployment will uncover live, actionable insights from the field that have historically been unavailable to brewers. Spanning freshness, sales and logistics, the insights may be used to optimise multiple business units to drive beer quality, revenue and sustainability.

“It’s revolutionary for the entire brewing organisation” says Michael Burton, CEO BinaryBeer, “We don’t just track kegs, our focus is delivering enterprise-wide value, even if the solution is deployed solely within logistics”.

BinaryBeer’s KegLink sensors contain a wide array of sensors used for monitoring location, beer quality and consumption activity which is reported back to the brewery through the 5G NB-IoT network.

“Now into our third generation of hardware, our KegLink beer-orientated design includes AI-based geolocation along with infrared lasers detecting when the keg is coupled at the venue, we’re really pushing the boundaries of what is possible with Massive IoT technology, using new data to derive valuable, actionable insights” – James Rule Head of Technology at BinaryBeer.

About BinaryBeer: Based in Wollongong, Australia, BinaryBeer is the global leader in smart keg technology, boasting numerous patents and a long list of “world first” accomplishments throughout their mission to connect the world’s kegs to the cloud. BinaryBeer has been deploying smart kegs since 2018 to improve the quality, profitability and sustainability of draught beer.

About Massive IoT: Massive IoT is a growing field within the Internet of Things that involves the large-scale deployment of mobile sensors into industries that support immense scale. Massive IoT has become feasible through the recent proliferation of Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) connectivity (such as 5G), and the increasing availability of low-cost, efficient sensing technologies. The Massive IoT industry is forecast to grow at 22.5% CAGR reaching $521.2B in 2031. Source: Allied Market Research

To learn more about KegLink, please contact BinaryBeer at contact@binarybeer.io or visit www.binarybeer.io