Martin House Brewing Co, The Largest Self-Distributing Brewery in Texas, Leverages Production Cloud to Spur Growth

INDUSTRY: Producer & Self-Distributor   PRIMARY BEVERAGE: Beer   

SIZE: 25,000+ BBL/Year (2022)

Brewing is the perfect intersection of engineering and art.

Cody Martin

Owner, Martin House Brewing Co.

Over the course of 10 years, Martin House has grown from 3 employees to 100, constantly brewing new, creative beers. Their creativity sparked the idea for Pickle Beer, a beverage that’s now well-known throughout Texas and the Southwest. Martin House also self-distributes across Texas, with 18-20 trucks reaching all corners of the state. As the largest self-distributed brewery in Texas and an innovative leader in the craft beer space, Martin House Brewing Co is setting the tone for what brewers can accomplish when they leverage the right technology to support their business.

Martin House has leveraged their inventive mindset, cloud-based production technology, and integrated Self-Distribution Software to set their business up for tremendous growth.

Business Situation

Martin House couldn’t scale with their disconnected systems

With our old software and processes, it was one of those things where if you made a change to something, you had to open several spreadsheets and then go into the ERP and do all these things and change them all. If you forgot to do one, it messed everything up.

Cody Martin

Owner, Martin House Brewing Co.

Martin House previously relied on spreadsheets and a home-built ERP, cobbled together to manage all aspects of the business. Using multiple systems of record required a significant amount of manual data entry and re-entry, often resulting in lost time or faulty production runs due to errors in data translation between systems.

Reporting got to be painfully slow as we became more reliant on it.

Cody Martin

Owner, Martin House Brewing Co.

Relying on spreadsheets and a home-built ERP made it difficult for their system to communicate across production, inventory, scheduling, and distribution. The core issue was a lack of integration across all aspects of their business. Martin House was consistently noticing issues like: 

• Missing raw materials

• Late packaging of products

• Inefficient use of tank space

• Inaccurate inventory

Time spent on manual data entry and custom system maintenance had become a source of frustration and error for their entire team.

All these things resulted from having our data in a bunch of different places and being able to put that all into one place was very important when I was looking for a software solution.

Cody Martin

Owner, Martin House Brewing Co.

Martin House needed an integrated system that would help them maximize tank space, ensure accurate raw material and finished product inventory, schedule production in a timely manner, and reallocate effort previously spent on data entry to revenue-driving activities.

Solution

Encompass Production Cloud and Self-Distribution Software integrated all aspects of Martin House’s business into a single system of record

As the largest self-distributed brewery in Texas, Martin House runs a unique operation. Naturally, they had reservations about switching. Their primary concern was the adaptability of a new system to their complex operation, which is what led them to use home-built software in the first place. 

Martin House discovered Encompass and recognized they had a real opportunity to unite their entire operation on one system using Production Cloud and Self-Distribution Software, built for the industry and customizable to fit unique business needs like those of Martin House. 

We launch a new beer every week that gets distributed by us statewide. I mean, that's a big logistical dance that we've taken a long time to perfect. Encompass has kept up with it. It's been impressive to see just how modular and adaptable the system is to accomplishing our unique goals.

Cody Martin

Owner, Martin House Brewing Co.

After transitioning to Production Cloud and Self-Distribution Software, Martin House gained efficiency, productivity, and accuracy, redefining what their team could accomplish throughout the day. The new integrated system united all aspects of the business to:

• Save time and effort previously allocated to data management with one-time data entry.

• Improve forecasting and scheduling accuracy with in-depth raw material and finished product inventory data access.

• Maximize operational efficiency with adaptable tools like batch tracing, the production scheduler, sales management, and inventory management that all live within the same system.

Seamless functionality between Production Cloud and Self-Distribution Software enabled Martin House to more effectively manage distribution and optimize production operations. Their complex distribution arm often required multi-day trips to Austin, Fort Worth, and beyond. Martin House discovered their new system could easily adapt to their unique needs, helping them run the most efficient routes. 

I knew that in the future we would need something integrated. The big decision-maker for me was having everything in one spot with software that was experienced in distribution and sales management. The margins on self-distribution are what's made us so successful. Having that control over that part of the business has been huge for us.

Cody Martin

Owner, Martin House Brewing Co.

Business Impact

Martin House’s fully integrated system maximized efficiency and restored confidence in forecasting

Before Production Cloud and Self-Distribution Software from Encompass, Martin House struggled to track quantitative metrics for the business like inventory turns, product waste, and downtime. Now they have that data at their fingertips and can use it to drive the business forward.

Operations had previously suffered from constant data re-entry. Without an integrated system, Martin House didn’t have insight into raw materials and finished products because their data wasn’t connected.

Having an integrated system really changed the game pretty quick for us.

Cody Martin

Owner, Martin House Brewing Co.

Improved inventory control enabled Martin House to account for all raw materials so their production team knew exactly what they could produce. It also provided accurate insight into finished-product inventory so their salespeople better understood what to sell. 

Full inventory visibility has restored Martin House's confidence in their forecasting and demand planning. By removing the guesswork from the process, production teams had more time to tighten up operations. Detailed sales and inventory data helped planners analyze and forecast demand more accurately. Production Cloud gave Martin House a clear understanding of their inventory, helping them to maximize their tank space and substantially reduce brewing downtime. This allowed operations to: . 

• Properly schedule production runs

• Improve overall efficiency

• Deliver new products faster.

Encompass Production Cloud empowered Martin House to scale production and distribution

We've been constrained by production for almost ten years now. We would buy two tanks or buy one piece of equipment here and there. Now, for the first time in our history, we have the ability to think about going out of state.

Cody Martin

Owner, Martin House Brewing Co.

By leveraging Production Cloud and Self-Distribution Software, Martin House has achieved new levels of creative and logistical expansion including: 

Future

Martin House Brewing Co. looks toward further expansion, leveraging additional Encompass solutions to help them reach their goals

Martin House is evaluating additional Encompass solutions to integrate into their system. They will hold true to their adventurous approach to production (new beer every week), expand distribution efforts, and add some brew-pub-type locations to their operation. Through their experience with Production Cloud and Self-Distribution Software, they know the right technology can help them accomplish these goals and more. Current considerations include: 

• An online ordering platform for their retailers with DSDLink

• A real-time data stream connecting them to their distributors as they expand with Distributor Reporting

• Data that enables consumers to find where Martin House products are sold with the Product Finder tool

• EDI across partner’s sites that creates and updates invoices and purchases with the Transfer Portal 

Martin House’s use of technology continues to evolve alongside their unique operation. A growing, integrated suite of solutions opens Martin House to do more of what they’re best at: combining art and science to bring innovative ideas to the beverage industry.

Want to learn more about Encompass Production Cloud? Schedule a discovery call with an Encompass team member or read more about the solution here.