Ball Corp. may be backing away from its five truckload per SKU minimum order quantity for printed cans, according to a communication obtained by Brewbound between a can broker and a brewery.
In an email, a representative from a can broker told a brewery client they had “been given the green light to start printing single truck load runs again.” One truckload contains 204,000 cans.
The representative noted that Ball is expected to begin implementing a surcharge of $3,500 per truck for orders fewer than three truckloads later this year.
This would mark a departure from the minimum order quantity of five truckloads (more than 1 million cans) Ball implemented for non-contract customers earlier this year. The plan was announced in November 2021 and went into effect in March 2022 after the Brewers Association (BA), with the help of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), negotiated a pushback from a planned January 2022 start date.
At the time, Ball’s announcement followed chairman and then-CEO John Hayes’ statement that the company would begin to explore various ways to “recoup” its costs during a conference call to discuss its 2021 third quarter earnings. Other methods to do so included increasing prices via negotiating with customers who have longer-term contracts, redrawing shorter-term contracts as they expire, and including increases in open contracts.
However, during the company’s second quarter earnings conference call last month, Ball announced it planned to permanently close manufacturing facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, and St. Paul, Minnesota, and delayed construction of a new facility in North Las Vegas, Nevada. The company said those moves were “in response to the deceleration in customer demand late in the second quarter” and “to address localized supply-demand imbalances.”
Ball CEO Daniel Fisher pointed to the company’s customers’ decisions to increase price at the risk of growing volume as the reason Ball was forced to make the closures.
“This is 100% our customers are putting up price, and in advance of inflation, and their volume is zero, and we are impacted by the zero volume growth,” he said.
Ball did not return a request for comment.
Country Malt Group Expects Online Order Delays to Lift by October
Brewing ingredient purveyor Country Malt Group (CMG) said it expects to work through a glut of backlogged orders and resume normal operations by the end of September, a spokesperson told Brewbound.
“We are deeply sorry for the inconveniences and frustrations that some of our customers are experiencing with our services right now,” the spokesperson said. “Our teams are working around the clock to overcome these short-term challenges, get things running smoothly again and find ways to make it right with our customers.
“We feel strongly that, once we get through this, our webstore and customer experience will be better than ever,” the spokesperson continued. “We hope that customers will begin to experience the improvements before the end of the month.”
Problems began earlier this month when CMG announced it would implement a blackout period and stop taking orders as it prepared to launch a new online system and e-commerce platform, prompting customers to place “a significant influx of orders.”
“Along with the normal challenges of implementing a new system, it has put a strain on our processes and teams and caused delays in response times and order shipments,” the spokesperson said. “This is a very temporary situation, but we have learned from them and know how to do better in the future.”
Once fully operational – which is expected to be before the end of the month – the new system will provide “new account management features and visibility, greater shipment customization and improved tracking capabilities, real-time inventory tracking and malt product substitution recommendations, [and] improved payment systems,” the spokesperson said.
“The online order experience is continuing to improve, and we’re looking forward to inviting more and more customers to the new webstore every day,” CMG’s digital sales manager told Brewbound via the spokesperson.
Brands in CMG’s portfolio include Briess, Great Western Malting, Lallemand, Yakima Chief Hops and White Labs.