New Belgium Brewery
Production and operations management
is the focus of this video featuring
the New Belgium Brewery
(NBB) a very successful and award
winning microbrewery in Colorado.
The modest beginning of NBB contained
the formula for its future success. A
full bottling shift produced only 60 cases; yet the customer
feedback on the quality of the beer was
tremendous. The question was how to ensure the
highest quality of a small batching process and convert
it to a much larger production run. The answer
can be found in effective production and operations
management principles.
NBB is a high-tech, environmentally conscious
brewery that produces a world-class beer. It employs
state-of-the-art cutting edge technology--even that
which has yet to be fully proven. It combines the
winning formula of high quality, low price, and maximum
profit.
The reasons for its operations management success
is NBB's focus on high quality through its transformation
process where it converts its various inputs
(yeast, malt, water, etc) to outputs (beer, waste water,
etc.). The company achieves efficiencies through its
supply chain management processes where it fully
utilizes its facilities by employing machines and technology
and reducing the need for direct labor.
Within the supply chain management process, it
focuses on purchasing, inventory control, servicing
operations, quality assurance, and finished goods. It
accomplishes its goals through a relatively flat organizational
structure and has equal emphasis on the
number of cases it produces and the satisfaction level
of co-workers. New Belgium Brewer is truly a selfmanaged
production operation.
Discussion Questions
What methods are employed by NBB to ensure
high quality?
What are the key components involved in comparing
manufacturing to service organizations?
What are the five main sources of operating
costs affected by Operations Materials Management?
