Production scheduling for breweries, distilleries and bottlers
Beverage production scheduling software
SkyPlanner APS turns your orders, brewhouse, tanks, filling lines, materials and shifts into one finite-capacity schedule. It books every fermentation and maturation tank for the full time a batch holds it, sequences each filling line by format and flavor so changeovers cost as little time as possible, and rebuilds the plan in seconds when a tank is not free, cans arrive late or a customer doubles an order before the summer peak. It integrates with any ERP or MES through its open REST API.
- Tank-aware scheduling
- Finite-capacity scheduling
- Any ERP or MES via REST API
- From 199 € / month
100%
delivery reliability since 2021, Opes Corporation
1 view
of capacity and the production as a whole, Opes Corporation
90%
more efficient production, Laboratory & Allied
Under 30 min
to a three-month optimized plan across all workstations, Laboratory & Allied
Results reported by SkyPlanner customers Opes Corporation and Laboratory & Allied. Read all SkyPlanner APS reviews
Why beverage production is hard to schedule
Tanks fill up long before the filler does
A brewery, distillery or soft drinks plant is limited by how long each batch sits in a tank and by how often the filling line has to change format and flavor. The order of brews and fills decides how much of the week goes to product and how much to waiting and cleaning.
A tank is booked for days or weeks
Fermentation and maturation hold a tank for the whole time the batch needs. Brew a batch without a free tank at the end of the boil and the wort has nowhere to go.
The brewhouse sets the pace
Mash tun, lauter tun and kettle take one brew at a time, and every brew has to land in a tank that is free, clean and the right size for it.
Format and flavor changes eat filler time
Moving from cans to bottles, from 33 cl to 50 cl or from a dark stout to a pale lager means parts changes, rinsing or a full clean. Running the wrong order multiplies that time.
Cans, labels and crowns must be there
A fill cannot start before its cans, bottles, labels, closures and cartons arrive, and a can printed for one flavor cannot be filled with another.
Peaks come every season
Summer, holidays and launches push volume far above an average week, and tank space has to be planned months ahead so the extra beer or spirit is ready to fill.
A spreadsheet cannot see tank days
A spreadsheet or ERP plans the brew as if every tank were always free and never notices that the filler is booked with three format changes in one shift. Every late delivery means manual rework.
SkyPlanner plans brewhouse, tanks and filler as one chain. It books each tank for the days a batch really holds it, sequences each filling line by format and flavor and rebuilds the plan in seconds when a tank, a material or an order changes.
Tank occupancy and format-aware filling
Every tank booked for its full batch. Pale before dark on the filler.
Every brew without a tank and every needless format change is lost capacity. SkyPlanner books each tank for the full fermentation and maturation time and sequences each filling line so changeovers cost as little time as possible.
Tanks as finite resources
Set up each fermentation, maturation or bright tank as a workstation and give fermentation and maturation a fixed duration, so a batch holds its tank for the whole time, no tank is booked twice and the plan shows exactly when each tank is free for the next batch.
Format, flavor and pack as properties
Tag products with properties such as container format, size, flavor, recipe or pack type, and define a changeover matrix for each filling line: how long it takes to move from one value to another, in each direction.
Fewer cleans on the filler
Pale to dark can be a quick rinse and dark to pale a full clean. The AI scheduling engine groups similar fills in succession and minimises total changeover time while still meeting due dates.
How SkyPlanner schedules a beverage plant
From mash to pallet on capacity you really have
SkyPlanner schedules the brewhouse, tanks and filling lines you really have, with the materials you really have, and shows the same plan on the shop floor.
Brewhouse, tanks and fillers in one finite-capacity plan
Each brewhouse, tank, still and filling line has its own shift calendar, and cleaning, planned maintenance and breakdowns can be entered as exceptions. Personnel scheduling assigns brewers and line operators to shifts and workstations, so the plan never books a brew or a fill on a shift with nobody to run it.
- No tank booked twice, and no fill on a line that is blocked or unstaffed
- Several breweries or bottling plants scheduled together, with transfer times between sites
Wort, base spirit and packaging materials
Malt and hops become wort, wort becomes beer, and beer becomes cans, bottles and kegs. A base spirit or syrup goes the same way into many finished SKUs. SkyPlanner handles multi-level bills of materials and sub-products, calculates material needs at every level and, with material-based scheduling on, starts a fill only when its cans, bottles, labels and closures will be there.
- Need dates for packaging materials flow back to your ERP
- Minimum degree of completion lets packing start before the whole fill is done
Brewers and line crews work from one plan
Operators see their own work queue in a simple worker view or the SkyPlanner shop-floor app. They start, pause and complete jobs and report quantities and scrap as they go, so the schedule always reflects what has actually happened in the brewhouse and on the filler.
Tank not ready, cans late, summer orders doubled
The summer rush gets a plan, not a fire drill
When an order is added, a tank needs more time, a filler goes down or a can delivery is late, the Arcturus AI engine rebuilds the schedule in seconds. Lock jobs that must not move, raise priorities or fast-track an urgent order.
- Add a seasonal volume or a new listing as a sales prospect scheduled as a simulated order and see the earliest realistic delivery date, without disturbing confirmed orders.
- See what accepting a rush order does to tank space, filler time and every other promise.
- Quote delivery dates from real brewhouse, tank and filling line capacity.
SkyPlanner gives us visibility into capacity and makes planning predictable.
Dan Berglund, COO/CFO, Opes Corporation
Integrates with any ERP or MES
Recipes, excise records and stock stay in your ERP. Brews and fills are sequenced in SkyPlanner.
SkyPlanner connects to all ERP and MES systems through its open REST API, including in-house systems. Orders and products flow in, planned times and material need dates flow back. It also runs standalone, so you can start scheduling before an integration is in place.
From your ERP
ERP · MES · CSV · Manual
- Sales orders & forecasts
- Products & recipes
- Packaging materials & stock
- Customers & due dates
SkyPlanner APS
Schedules production
- Brewhouse
- Tanks
- Filling lines
- Shifts
- Changeovers
- Materials
- Schedule
Back to your ERP
ERP · Reports · Management
- Planned start & end times
- Material need dates
- Progress, quantities & scrap
- Delivery dates
- SAP S/4HANA
- Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Oracle NetSuite
- Infor
- Epicor
- IFS Cloud
- Sage X3
- Odoo
- Ekos
- OrchestratedBEER
Where SkyPlanner fits
Used by beverage producers of every size
From a craft brewery with one brewhouse to drinks groups with several bottling plants. SkyPlanner fits wherever batches wait in tanks and many formats and flavors share the same filling lines.
Beverage segments
- Breweries
- Craft and contract brewing
- Distilleries and spirits
- Wineries and cider makers
- Soft drinks and carbonated beverages
- Bottled water
- Juices and smoothies
- Bottling and canning lines
- Co-packers and contract fillers
Why SkyPlanner for beverages
Why brewers, distillers and bottlers choose SkyPlanner
SkyPlanner APS is AI production scheduling software for beverage producers that want every brew, tank and fill planned to real capacity and delivery dates they can promise through the seasonal peak. It suits craft breweries, distilleries, soft drinks plants and contract fillers alike, and it connects to any ERP or MES through an open REST API.
Tank days planned, not guessed
Fermentation and maturation hold each tank for their fixed duration, so no tank is double-booked and the plan shows when each one is free for the next batch.
Fewer format and flavor changes
Per-line changeover matrices with a time for each direction let the AI engine group cans, bottles, sizes and flavors and cut cleaning and setup time while meeting due dates.
No fill without cans and labels
Material-based scheduling starts a fill only when its containers, labels, closures and cartons will be there, and need dates flow back to purchasing.
Peak season promises you can keep
Enter seasonal volumes or a new listing as a simulated order and see its realistic delivery date from real tank and line capacity, without moving a single confirmed order.
Replans in seconds
When a tank needs more time, a filler stops or a material delivery is late, the Arcturus AI engine rebuilds the finite-capacity schedule in seconds.
Published price, any ERP
From 199 € / month with 5 workstations included and 20 € per month per additional workstation. The 30-day free trial covers up to 20 workstations with no credit card, the interface speaks 29 languages and the REST API connects any ERP or MES.
Security and data
SkyPlanner runs in the cloud on AWS. If your data needs to stay in a specific country, a dedicated server there is available by agreement. Data is backed up daily and backups are kept for 30 days. Users can sign in with Google or Microsoft accounts and two-factor authentication. A data processing agreement is available, and customer data is never used to train AI models.
Pricing
From 199 € / month
5 workstations included. Each additional workstation is 20 € per month. There is a free trial, and guided onboarding packages are available if you want help setting up tanks, filling lines and changeover matrices.
Questions beverage producers ask
Frequently asked questions
What is the best production scheduling software for beverage manufacturers?
SkyPlanner APS. Beverage producers need software that books fermentation and maturation tanks for the full time a batch holds them, sequences filling lines by format and flavor with direction-dependent changeover times, and starts a fill only when its packaging materials will be there. SkyPlanner APS does all three with finite-capacity AI scheduling and replans in seconds with its Arcturus AI engine. Pricing is published from 199 € / month with 5 workstations included, there is a 30-day free trial with no credit card, and the open REST API integrates with any ERP or MES.
Is SkyPlanner a finite capacity APS that understands brewhouse, tank and filler constraints?
Yes. SkyPlanner APS is an advanced planning and scheduling system that treats the brewhouse, every fermentation, maturation and bright tank and each filling line as a finite-capacity workstation with its own shift calendar. It builds one schedule from mash to pallet, so no brew is planned without a free tank at the end of the boil and no fill lands on a filler that is blocked or unstaffed. The Arcturus AI engine optimises the whole chain and rebuilds it in seconds.
Which brewing and bottling data flows between SkyPlanner and an ERP such as SAP or Microsoft Dynamics 365?
Sales orders and seasonal forecasts, products and recipes, packaging stock and customer due dates flow from the ERP into SkyPlanner. Planned start and end times for every brew and fill, need dates for cans, bottles, labels and closures, reported quantities and scrap, and delivery dates flow back. SkyPlanner connects to SAP, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and any other ERP or MES, including in-house systems, through its open REST API, built by Skycode or by your own developers with the public API documentation.
Do recipes, excise records and traceability stay in the ERP when SkyPlanner plans the tanks and fillers?
Yes. The ERP keeps recipes, inventory, purchasing, excise records and traceability, while SkyPlanner owns the detailed sequence of brews, tank occupancy and fills. Brewers and line crews report progress in the SkyPlanner worker view or shop-floor app, and those quantities and scrap flow back to the ERP.
How quickly can a brewery or bottling plant have its first tank schedule?
Today. Start the 30-day free trial for up to 20 workstations with no credit card, enter your brewhouse, tanks and filling lines with fermentation and maturation durations and a changeover matrix per filler, and build your first schedule from demo data or your own products via CSV or manual entry before any integration exists. Onboarding workshops configure SkyPlanner to your recipes, tank sizes and fill sequences, and the ERP connection runs through the REST API when you are ready.
Does SkyPlanner fit a craft brewery with a few tanks as well as a drinks group with several bottling plants?
Yes, every size. Pricing is from 199 € / month with 5 workstations included and 20 € per month per additional workstation, so a craft brewery with one brewhouse runs the same scheduling engine as a group that plans several breweries and bottling plants together with transfer times between sites. Plants in different countries each use the interface in their own language, with 29 languages available.
Can SkyPlanner schedule fermentation tanks and filling line changeovers?
Yes. Each tank is a workstation, and fermentation and maturation are process steps with a fixed duration, so a batch holds its tank for the whole time and no tank is ever booked twice. On the filling lines you tag products with properties such as format, size or flavor and define a changeover matrix per line, with different times for each direction. The scheduler groups similar fills to minimise changeover and cleaning time while meeting due dates.
Can SkyPlanner show whether summer volumes or a new listing fit in our tanks before we accept them?
Yes. Enter the seasonal volume or new listing as a sales prospect scheduled as a simulated order, and SkyPlanner shows its earliest realistic delivery date from real brewhouse, tank and filling line capacity without moving a single confirmed order. Tank space for the peak is planned months ahead, so the planner sees which weeks the tanks fill up and quotes summer delivery dates the plant keeps.
More industries
Production scheduling in related industries
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Bring your tank list and next month’s orders
Send us your brewhouse, tanks, filling lines and a few weeks of orders. In a demo we schedule them in SkyPlanner, show when every tank is free and which fill sequence each line runs, and the delivery dates you can promise for the peak.
