More than 35 years ago, I developed a new dialysate system, one that was more physiological for patients. And, we began selling our product all over America- and then the world.

That product was shipped in 1 gallon containers, which meant every time a new patient was to be treated, a new container had to brought to the machine, hooked up to the circuit, and used. And, many of the clinics using our products were pretty large, treating 20 to 50 patients a day.

So, we figured out how we could make our product available in bulk units- 30 and 55 gallon drums. That meant the larger clinics could hook our product up to a central delivery system to treat a whole shift (or a whole day’s) worth of patients.

Not only did that save them time, it saved them money. The per treatment cost for our product in gallon containers ran about $ 4.25 a treatment (back then); buying our product in 55 gallon drums dropped the price to $ 2.75 (and about $ 3.45 in 30 gallon drums).

The reason we could offer better pricing was two-fold. First of all, the labor to produce a one gallon bottle was about thrice that for a drum. Top that off that we collected the used drums, cleaned and sterilized them, so they could be reused and that saved us an additional $ 0.50 a treatment.

Invariably, a few drums would disappear. Folks thought they had better uses from them than we did. And, invariably, that meant they were assessed a $ 50 drum replacement fee. (No, the clinic wasn’t happy- but they made sure no more of our drums disappeared. Oh, yeah- we used a distinctive color [what we called Bicarbolyte Blue] for our drums, so we delivered and took back only what was ours.)

Given those logistics, I wasn’t surprised to hear about the problems the beer companies are having- with their more expensive units. Their kegs routinely disappear as they go from the brewery to the bar and back again. Despite the fact that their drums are more complicated (they need to maintain pressure for the beer to remain “fresh”), the shelf life for their drums is about 10 years- and they run about $ 100 apiece. (Our plastic drums had a four-year shelf-life [actually, it was more like 100 round trips between our plant and the clinic], with a new drum costing about $ 30 apiece.)

That’s why some new ventures have developed keg sensors. There’s Binary Beer in Australia and C-Keg in Washington state- and there may be a third (Kegstar) which is now considering an expansion from Australia to the States.

These new tags use IoT technology (with batteries to last 10 years- conveniently about as long as their kegs last), transmitting their location information back to the breweries. And, some of these new devices will also send alerts if the storage temperature goes up too high (which ruins the flavor of the beer), or as the keg is running dry.

The same issues with IoT exist for the kegs as is true for our fridges, washers, dryers, lights, and cars- security to ensure only those entitled to the data receive it. (Beer vendors are worried if their competitors can easily find out to whom they are selling their wares.)

Some of the issues being worked out include whether to sell the sensors or lease them. Because these sensors are not as cheap as you think. After all, beer kegs can be stored in basements, in alleys, in refrigerators- all of which complicate how the signal can be picked up by cell towers.

But, if a vendor loses 10% of their drums a year to theft, the cost of the IoT sensor becomes pretty cheap when compared to replacing that volume of drums.

Share this: