U.K. brewer installs TrenStar's container management software, outfits containers with RFID tags for better management of its product
Denver — June 28, 2005 — TrenStar Inc. will buy, track and manage the additional keg fleets acquired in 2003 by Scottish & Newcastle's U.K. division from the country's leading cider producer, HP Bulmers, and in 2004 from the Federation Northern Clubs operation.
The deal adds more than 600,000 kegs to the original 1.9 million that TrenStar's U.K. operating division bought in 2002 from S&N UK and is managing for the brewer over the 15-year term of the contract. TrenStar will begin installing TrenStarCM, its container management software, and begin outfitting the additional containers with radio frequency identification (RFID) tags.
In line with S&N UK's quality culture, TrenStar has worked closely with the brewer to identify areas that could be positively impacted by the new technology, including the area of preventive maintenance where the technology will help to further reduce keg failures.
S&N UK was the first brewer in the world to experiment with RFID on a large scale and TrenStar's first U.K. client for an outsourcing service that now encompasses a majority of kegs in the U.K. TrenStar intends to begin a test program this summer for pooling and sourcing common, non-competitive assets and activities of multiple brewers designed to enable a lower average cost. S&N UK is a founding pool member.
TrenStar plays a fundamental role in our operations strategy, so much so that we are in negotiations to expand our mobile asset management solution to other Scottish & Newcastle holdings, said Stephen Glancey, Scottish & Newcastle plc's group operations director.
We've joined with TrenStar in a series of firsts, said Jon Gillespie, group distribution director, Scottish & Newcastle plc, the latest being that we are the first client to expand our original landmark agreement. We anticipate another first when pooling becomes a reality, but in the meantime we will continue to give TrenStar our asset management business as we add to our fleet because of the savings and other benefits we're enjoying as an individual client and because of the significant benefits that pooling across our industry can bring us.
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