Kegstar has announced it will launch its first scan-free tracked kegs in Australia in November.
The innovation will start its journey from manual scanning to scan-free technology, enabling a new era of keg tracking and unlocking new efficiencies through the beverage supply chain.
"Technology was at the heart of the Kegstar service proposition when the business launched in Australia late 2012 and remains so," the company said it a statement.
"We’ve evolved and improved our technology as we’ve grown with customers and new markets. Now we’re going to push the technology boundaries to enable an even more efficient, effective and accurate customer experience."
The result is a new custom-made Kegstar tracker which combines several technologies in one compact unit – including Bluetooth and network-based tracking.
Kegstar’s Head of Technology, Kevin Dinn, said: “Kegstar has always been focused on leading the way in technology and helping our customers get their great beverages to happy drinkers. With this next generation of tracking tech, we’re dialling that up! With the new trackers, we’ll have a scan-free, smart keg fleet that will give us all-new capabilities while removing the hassle of scanning and dispatching kegs.”
Dinn added that great progress had already been made.
“Late last year we started to test off-the-shelf Bluetooth tracking with some of our customers and partners around the world and got some good results, but Bluetooth alone was never going to deliver our ultimate goal.
"We now have a new technology in development that will deliver much more robust coverage and supply chain information to make the whole system simpler and faster for everyone.”
This new technology will complement Kegstar’s existing solution of 2D barcodes and RFID - now manually scanned by smartphone or scanner gun.
"While manual scanning remains valuable in many situations, if a scan is missed it creates challenges with keg costs and visibility," the company said.
The fleet will be progressively fitted with the new technology from early 2020.
Kegstar is an Associate Member of the Drinks Association