In a recent conversation with our buds at Xylem Technologies, we were comparing our collective number of trips all across the country to attend cannabis events, meet with current and prospective partners and clients, and just generally build our brands. The number of flights and miles from the prior month alone was staggering. This led to a broader conversation about similar feedback we both receive in emerging and maturing markets from coast to coast regarding the common or recurring hardships and pain points that brands and retailers face.
At the top of both of our lists was inventory management. Whether on the production end or the purchasing end of the supply chain, the ability to achieve equilibrium between supply and demand still eludes most brands and dispensaries.
With the industry’s largest sales day of the year looming on April 20th, we grilled the guys at Xylem about how automation is already changing the way that brands are scaling their production to remain ready–rather than constantly trying to get ready–to cash in on the calendar events and random opportunities that regulated cannabis markets revel in.
This year’s 4/20 offers a prime example of how flexible both brands and retailers need to be.
The 20th of April lands on a Sunday this year… Easter Sunday. So, will retailers run related sales all weekend long? Two days or three? Will consumer demand be higher overall than in past years, or will multiple days of deals deplete inventory at the cost of slim, sales-slashed profit margins?
The push to meet predicted demand, preparing for a holiday like 4/20, can leave operators and retailers empty-handed and exhausted in the aftermath. But the reality is that as cannabis continues to gain more mainstream appeal, the calendar will continue to fill up with events, contests, holidays, and other forms of celebration that will require optimal inventory control both for those who make the good stuff and for those who slang it.
“We see it every year,” says Bill Levers, co-founder of Beard Bros Pharms, “Brands and retailers alike either grossly underestimate demand and are left with empty shelves before their promo even ends, or they hit it right on the head but fail to account for what they plan to sell the day after the sale ends and the inventory is wiped out. It is rarely due to a lack of weed, but more a lack of labor to get that weed to market.”
Creating Demand Is Only Half The Battle – Here’s How Xylem Technologies Help You Meet It
With cannabis vape cartridge sales steadily rising, these products are sure to have an impact on what could be a record-setting 4/20.
The X4 from Xylem is the market’s fastest and most efficient solution for automating the filling and capping of cannabis vape carts. Capable of cleanly and accurately filling and capping as many as 1,650 units per hour, the output from the X4 is equivalent to what 20 skilled laborers could produce.
So, when preparing for a production push like 4/20, the 4th of July, Black Friday, or Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, etc., brands still relying on manual labor for mundane tasks like vape cart filling need to plan a month or more in advance for what might only be a 24-hour spike in demand.
Particularly in the early days of regulated cannabis, it was not uncommon to see sweatshop-like conditions at some of the larger MSO (multistate operator) facilities, with rooms packed with dozens of people manually filling vape carts with cannabis oil day in and day out. Some of them may still be doing it this way.
Inefficiency aside, how could any small to mid-sized brand hope to compete with that level of production? Back then, they couldn’t, and many fell as a result. But now, with automated solutions like the Xylem X4, the playing field is once again level.
Technology like this isn’t reserved for massive corporate cannabis ventures. A growing number of new brands with a winning game plan are factoring the short-term expense of acquiring high-quality tech into their startup budgets, confident that industry-leading machines like the X4 from Xylem will pay for themselves many times over.
“You will find very few Xylem products on the secondary market,” says Jeff Wu, Founder of Xylem Technologies, adding, “Xylem systems are among the few cannabis manufacturing technologies engineered to deliver high operational efficiency and throughput – performance metrics that enable manufacturers not only to maintain viability in a competitive landscape but to achieve scalable, sustainable growth.”
If your brand can create a demand for 10,000+ perfectly filled and capped cannabis carts per day, Xylem Technologies offers the only viable solution to boost your production without sacrificing quality or customer satisfaction.
Drew Rothe, Executive Director at Xylem, broke it down to the basics, telling Beard Bros Media, “Xylem allows companies to accelerate their manufacturing process for vape carts and packaging. These are machines made by operators, for operators”
Preaching The Principles Of ‘Proactive Pessimism’
Dating back long before it was legal, cannabis production has always operated under one main law, Murphy’s Law, which boils down to this: If something can go wrong, it eventually will go wrong.
Regulated cannabis markets remain mired in Murphy’s Law, where ever-increasing scrutiny from testing labs, no less scrutiny from law enforcement, or countless other potential pitfalls can derail a batch of dispensary-bound products. This disruption in inventory and cash flow can cripple cannabis brands or, in a case like a 2-3 day 4/20 sale, prevent them from taking advantage of spikes in consumer demand.
Major MSOs may be able to backstock a year’s worth of midgrade vape carts for situations like this, but the rest of us know that the flavor and potency of a top-shelf cartridge are measured in months, at most.
This need to remain ready is another reason it pays to have the in-house capability to create a 10k unit batch of freshly filled, high-demand vape carts in a single day using the X4 from Xylem.
If you are reading this the day it is published, it is April 14th. With enough cannabis oil and a Xylem X4, you could theoretically fill, cap, test, package, and deliver a full 10,000+ unit batch of vape carts to retailers by 4/20.
Remove the fear, uncertainty, and doubt from opportunities to succeed with proven solutions from companies like Xylem Technologies.
You can learn more at https://xylemtech.com/
