<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><ns2:project xmlns:ns1="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api" xmlns:ns2="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/project" xmlns:ns3="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/fund" xmlns:ns4="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/person" xmlns:ns5="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/project/outcome" xmlns:ns6="http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk/gtr/api/organisation" ns1:created="2026-06-03T15:52:43Z" ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/projects/9B0C6A28-F60C-46A3-8431-031418DB2995" ns1:id="9B0C6A28-F60C-46A3-8431-031418DB2995"><ns1:links><ns1:link ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/persons/F8FDC4FD-6555-4073-A177-06A82B70A9A1" ns1:rel="PM_PER"/><ns1:link ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/organisations/AD1AD771-CF17-4F9E-97A1-9ABCEE0F56B1" ns1:rel="LEAD_ORG"/><ns1:link ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/organisations/AD1AD771-CF17-4F9E-97A1-9ABCEE0F56B1" ns1:rel="PARTICIPANT_ORG"/><ns1:link ns1:end="2021-06-29T23:00:00Z" ns1:href="http://gtr.ukri.org/gtr/api/funds/0F0427DA-FDAE-4CD3-BF73-244844B8A230" ns1:rel="FUND" ns1:start="2020-09-30T23:00:00Z"/></ns1:links><ns2:identifiers><ns2:identifier ns2:type="RCUK">79115</ns2:identifier></ns2:identifiers><ns2:title>KegTracker Suite: piloting a user-centric software suite for an IoT device that helps create a zero-waste supply chain in the hospitality and draught beer industry</ns2:title><ns2:status>Closed</ns2:status><ns2:grantCategory>Collaborative R&amp;D</ns2:grantCategory><ns2:leadFunder>Innovate UK</ns2:leadFunder><ns2:abstractText>The UK's hospitality and brewery sector is the hardest hit sector by the negative impact of COVID with nearly 73% of staff furloughed and 68% of staff at risk of being let go. Beer producer's sales fell 82%, and 65% stopped production---many will not manage the recovery.

**_The vision of The Smart Container Company's KegTracker project is to help the hospitality and draught beer industry to use this crisis as an opportunity to create long-term value-add and resiliency by creating a zero-waste supply chain._**

The current way to distribute beer to retail outlets such as pubs is via kegs. However, this system also comes with its challenges:

1. Retail Wastage: Nearly 20% of each keg is lost due to spoilage, theft, and poor handling
2. Poor Route Deliveries: Up to 50% of supply chain cost due to inefficient delivery routes
3. Manual Stock Control: Manual handling of inventory causes poor storage control
4. Blind Forecasting: 39% demand forecasting error b/c of lacking supply chain visibility
5. Product Spoilage: Poor temperature control causes 5% of inventory to spoil
6. Lost &amp;amp; Damaged Assets: 15% of kegs get lost or damaged each year

The cost of those problems to the industry add up to a total of &amp;pound;5bn/year---but the cost to the environment through wastage of water other resources and very high carbon footprint of beer is even higher.

Following 2 years of research The Smart Container Company TSCC has invented the patent-pending KegTracker IoT device which can be added to any standard-size keg and continuously monitor temperature, volume, and location. The KegTracker Suite will use data from the KegTracker IoT device to provide an End-to-End software solution helping the entire beer supply chain to know where a keg is, what's the capacity level, how much is consumed and what's the temperature.

This will transform the way that keg management, retail waste management, market intelligence and delivery optimisation can be done---and most importantly improve the carbon footprint of the industry:

**_Enabling a sustainable COVID recovery one pint at a time!_**</ns2:abstractText></ns2:project>