How Asahi UK Cut Costs & Raised Service with Alpega TMS
Industry: Beverage Manufacturing
Location: United Kingdom
Employees: 500+
Results: 50% less processing time | €150K annual savings | ROI in 2 months
The Challenge: Managing Growing Transport Volumes
Asahi UK, one of the world’s leading beer producers, was facing the pressure of growth.
With production and distribution volumes increasing rapidly, their transport planning organization struggled to manage a growing number of inbound shipments.
“As our volume grew it became increasingly difficult to sufficiently manage all our inbound transports.”
— Glenn Burgess, Supply Chain Director, Asahi UK
Manual processes, fragmented communication (via email, fax, and spreadsheets), and limited visibility created delays, errors, and unnecessary costs.
Asahi needed a transportation management solution to automate planning, reduce workload, and improve visibility across the entire transport cycle.
The Solution: Automating Transport Planning with Alpega TMS
After evaluating multiple vendors, Asahi UK chose Alpega TMS for its flexibility, SaaS delivery, and seamless integration with SAP and carriers’ systems.
The following Alpega modules were implemented:
- twCall-off – automated transport order creation and management.
- twTrace – real-time visibility and status tracking across the transport cycle.
- twSlot – digital dock appointment scheduling to reduce bottlenecks.
The implementation was smooth and fast: just four months from kick-off to go-live.
“From launch to go-live, it took only four months to onboard users and carriers, configure the solution, and start operations.”
— Glenn Burgess
Because Alpega TMS is cloud-based, there was no software installation needed, users and logistics partners simply logged in online.
The Results: Efficiency, Cost Savings, and Record Service Levels
The impact was immediate and measurable:
- 50% reduction in internal processing time
- €150,000 annual savings in operational costs
- ROI within just 2 months
Improved on-time delivery rates and reduced errors
Shorter unloading “turn times”, from 3 hours to 40 minutes
“With Alpega TMS in full operation, we set an all-time high in customer service performance scores.”
— Glenn Burgess
Alpega TMS also centralized all communication with carriers, eliminating countless emails and calls. All actions and messages are now recorded in one platform, creating a complete audit trail for every shipment.
Enhanced Visibility and Proactive Customer Service
Using Alpega TMS’s real-time event notifications, Asahi’s planners and customer service teams receive instant alerts for any transport incident, such as a rejected call-off or delay, allowing immediate corrective action.
“This directly benefits our customers because we can react immediately to find an alternative carrier or quickly resolve an issue.”
— Glenn Burgess
Integration with SAP means all updates are automatically reflected across systems, putting an end to manual spreadsheet edits. The result? Faster responses to customer inquiries and greater accuracy in delivery data.
A Platform for Continuous Improvement
Asahi continues to build on its success with Alpega TMS. The team uses Alpega’s reporting tools (twData) to extract historical transport data and optimize planning models, further improving inbound stock management and performance metrics.
“We were able to use the data output from Alpega TMS in our planning model to more effectively manage our inbound stock.”
— Glenn Burgess
The journey doesn’t stop there, Asahi is still leveraging Alpega’s flexibility to drive ongoing efficiency and elevate service quality.
Key Takeaways
Asahi UK’s implementation of Alpega TMS transformed its logistics operations:
- Streamlined communication between planners, carriers, and 3PLs
- Improved operational efficiency without increasing headcount
- Achieved measurable savings and service improvements
Alpega TMS provided Asahi with the visibility, automation, and scalability needed to support growth, all while delighting customers.
About Alpega TMS
Alpega TMS is a modular, cloud-based Transportation Management System designed for shippers. It connects 100,000+ users and 80,000+ carriers across 5,000 shipping locations, managing over 30 million transport orders each year.
Our software enables full visibility, automation, and collaboration across the supply chain, helping businesses like yours achieve measurable logistics excellence.