In this episode of The New Warehouse Podcast, Kevin chats with Dan Betz, Executive Vice President of Operations at Andrews Distributing, a family-owned beer and spirits distributor serving 13,000 customers with over 45 million cases delivered annually. Based in Dallas-Fort Worth and Corpus Christi, Andrews is known for its commitment to continuous improvement and operational innovation.

Dan shares how a costly inefficiency in their direct-store-delivery model led them to co-develop a custom solution: the Skinny Pallet and Skinny Pallet Jack. This unique approach to delivery logistics, enabled through a partnership with Big Joe and Peninsula Pallets, not only slashes waste but also enhances service for both customers and drivers.

Rethinking Direct Store Delivery to Eliminate Waste

For Andrews Distributing, the direct store delivery model presents a logistical maze, especially when over 50% of stops require navigating narrow 36-inch doors.

“Every case, 45 million cases at Andrews, has to be checked in by hand,” Dan explained. “So you’re taking time away from a store clerk or a store manager… or we’re waiting on them while they’re taking care of the customer.”

To understand where they were losing time and money, Dan’s team value stream mapped the entire delivery process, from when a truck leaves the warehouse to when it returns. They found it eye-opening: 25% of delivery time was spent in the check-in process alone, translating into $5 million in labor costs.

“We look at that as waste or muda. Of that 5 million, we can cut it in half,” Dan shared.

The issue? Conventional pallets and jacks simply don’t fit. Not only are standard 40×48 pallets too wide, but their forklifts and jacks are too heavy to enter retail spaces, forcing teams to break down every load manually.

The Birth of the Skinny Pallet and Skinny Pallet Jack

Instead of accepting the inefficiency, Dan and his team, backed by decades of frontline experience, started designing a solution themselves.

“We said we need a skinny pallet to get through that door and a Skinny pallet jack light enough to get on the floor.”

They faced numerous rejections from manufacturers, many of whom dismissed the idea as too ambitious. But then a meeting with a Fort Worth distributor led them to Big Joe. Within seven days, Big Joe’s president and VP of engineering sat down with Andrews and asked a powerful question:

“What do you need?”

“We told them exactly what we needed for our business… They said, ‘We got you.’ And they did it,” Dan recalled. “Everything they did was exactly to spec that we needed.”

Together with Peninsula Pallets and Big Joe, Andrews created a narrow, stable pallet that could fit through skinny doors and pair with a custom jack outfitted with a weight scale, enabling check-ins by weight instead of manually scanning each case.

Case Study – Integrated Lithium-Ion Pallet Truck for Beverage Delivery

“There’s no one out there today who’s checking in product by pallet by weight… The weight scale is the gold.”

Delivering Value Beyond Beer

Initial results have been staggering. The system saves time and money, dramatically improving the delivery experience for both store staff and Andrews’ drivers.

“We just believe that, as brand builders, we can really be our very best to serve our customer and the customer’s customer.”

By reducing check-in time, Andrews estimates a savings potential of $2 to $2.5 million internally. But the implications are much broader. If scaled industry-wide, this method could eliminate $130–$150 million in waste across the U.S. beer industry’s 3 billion cases delivered annually.

“This thing can go into other industries—whether it’s water or soda. We ever store deliver.”

Dan also noted how innovation requires courage, not just from the companies seeking change but from vendors willing to take risks.

“First of all, you’ve got to state your case and state it clearly… If they can’t see that, you push. You try again.”

Thanks to Andrews’ perseverance, what began as a pain point at the back door has become a platform for innovation that could reshape store delivery across industries.

Key Takeaways

• Andrews delivers over 45 million cases annually across 13,000 customers.
• Value stream mapping revealed that 25% of delivery time, worth $5M, was spent on manual check-ins.
• The skinny pallet jack, co-developed with Big Joe, successfully navigates 36” doorways and weighs pallets for faster check-in.
• Switching to check-in by weight could cut $2.5M in costs at Andrews and up to $150M industry-wide.
• The concept is scalable to other industries like water, soda, and other store-delivered goods.