Success in the beer business rests on a good understanding of the market and investing in software tools that will manage the future, reports distributor Knall Beverage Inc., after the company was recently recognized by Molson Coors for its high performance.

The Cleveland–based distributor was acknowledged for its superior sales record at the Molson-Coors Sales Convention earlier this year, explained Knall General Manager Steve Cook. Knall attributes the company’s success, despite the prevailing slump in the U.S. beer market, to its ability to maximize efficiencies and maintain best-practice standards. It was this drive to raise the bar even higher that prompted the company to install new DSD software. “GBG’s software has helped the company to improve information workflow and maximize efficiencies,” Cook says.

Knall was looking for software solutions that would help the company increase its routing efficiency and enhance sales. Those recommendations came from GBG and included equipping senior management with PowerTools, a business intelligence application; upgrading the sales team with GBG’s mobile selling program, Pocket Cooler; implementing Virtual Control Room (VCR) to streamline its routing processes and adding the Distribution and Delivery Engine (DDE), a warehouse management system to improve warehouse productivity and lower warehouse costs.

“The GBG beverage distribution suite is a tremendous upgrade in information technology and business process management for us,” Cook says. “Potential base-broadening activities such as brand acquisitions and consolidations are less intimidating since we can measure the impact of adding new products throughout our entire organization.” — GBG, 120 Randall Drive, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2V 1C6; 519/746-3736; gbg.com.