If your brewery operation continues to face staffing shortages, you are far from alone. Labor shortages in many industries have become common over the past few years, and it appears businesses such as breweries and brewpubs have been affected negatively in particular. In one month alone, Forbes highlights that 4 million workers left their jobs, with a whopping 5.6% of total restaurant workers calling it quits. Why does this matter to your brewery? With most craft breweries projecting sales growth in 2022, on-site sales continue to be the most profitable channel. Continued growth without proper staffing throughout your entire brewery operation will prove challenging. To meet the challenge, your brewery must look to innovative technology to alleviate staffing shortages. Investing in Magliner technology will allow your brewery operation to attract new talent and retain current employees as their jobs become safer, more enjoyable, and less labor-intensive.
Worker Safety is #1
An unsafe work environment is unattractive to job seekers and can be a real deal-breaker for existing employees. According to Aaron Brown, Properties Manager of Goose Island Beer Company in Chicago, a key to employee satisfaction is work safety.
“No one wants to worry about getting hurt on the job,” he said.
Injuries are more likely to occur when teams are suffering from fatigue due to intense labor. This can form a vicious cycle if your team is depleted further by injuries and additional labor is placed upon the surviving team members. Simply put, alleviating intense labor is key to worker safety.
Heavy Lifting
Intense labor in breweries can take shape in a variety of ways. Moving and lifting full kegs is a major source of intense labor. Depending on the size, a full keg can weigh up to 160 pounds each. Whether it is stacking, performing deliveries, or transporting your beer kegs to your taproom, managing your keg inventory is a daily challenge.
Technological Solutions
Technological solutions can help manage the daily labor challenges across your entire operation. One solution is the Magliner Powered Lifting Hand Truck, as it can reduce injuries and improve productivity among your staff. The Powered Lifting Hand Truck uses a lithium-ion, screw driven, lift system that can raise up to 200 pounds, 40-inches high. You can bet your employees will thank you when they can lift over 90 kegs on a single charge.
The truck’s small footprint is also key when transitioning between your brewery site to your taproom. The Powered Lifting Hand Truck can even be used as a traditional hand truck to transport two standard kegs at once. Your employees will also be able to handle brewery supplies, not just kegs, and raise those supplies to a comfortable working height. That working height may change, whether it is in a cooler, behind the bar, or inside the brewery production facility. The ability to adjust the working height is crucial to minimizing bending and stretching, which are major risk factors for injury.
To reduce injury risk, a leading US craft brewer invested in a Powered Lifting Hand Truck. In doing so, their brewery operation became safer, and they reduced their overall labor needed.
According to the brewer, “The Powered Lifting Hand Truck made it much easier for a single employee to safely lift and move kegs around the facility. It eliminated several possible ergonomic issues and gave more flexibility to our workforce by reducing the instances where more than one coworker must complete a task.”
This means the Powered Lifting Hand Truck can be a powerful tool against staffing shortages. Many breweries have a few designated employees to move kegs based on their physical ability to lift kegs manually. Not all employees are physically capable of lifting full kegs and the Powered Lifting Hand Truck allows for more employees to move kegs safely.
Material Handling Automation
Automation of lifting heavy materials in a brewery is not the only way technology can reduce labor challenges. Other solutions such as the Magliner Powered Stair Climber can also alleviate brewery sources of dangerous and intense labor. Standard models can handle up to 375 pounds., which means the Powered Stair Climber can move two full kegs at once, with ease. In fact, the curved frame nestles kegs so that the kegs are secure when they are transported. This means that employees can safely navigate stairs onsite at the brewery, or on deliveries.
As brewers recover from the recent economic effects of the COVID pandemic, attracting and keeping employees will be key as customers return to taprooms and brewpubs. For more information on how your brewery can reduce labor demands through equipment and technology upgrades, please visit our page.
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