Talking Rain

Optimized Beverage Concentrate System

Talking Rain Beverage Company (TRBC) produces beverages at a network of production facilities around the country per formulas and specifications. TRBC's flagship brand, Sparkling Ice, is a carbonated beverage that contains juice concentrate, natural flavors, colors from natural sources, vitamins and antioxidants, and other functional ingredients. For the preparation of each batch, upwards of fifteen individual ingredients must be precisely weighed out and incorporated per a specific order of addition. This is done on-site at each production location before being processed and packaged. This system carries with it many potential points of failure which increase risk. This batching process also requires intensive human capital; it is time intensive and requires trained employees to execute per proper ingredient handling and addition instructions. Finally it reduces production efficiency, as the batching and processing line need to be effectively coordinated to ensure the syrup batch is used with its standard hold time. It is common in the beverage industry for independent copackers to receive instead a "kit" of ingredients which reduces complexity during batching. This kit can take many forms but they all serve as a concentrated, stable system of one or more parts that reduce the number of ingredients needed for batching, thereby reducing the required amount of time, ingredients, complexity, and risk. The student team worked to design and test concentrate systems for a given flavor of Sparkling Ice that demonstrate significant improvements in efficiency and a reduction in risk vs current methods.