State workers are scrambling to fix a distribution problem that has crimped the flow of alcohol to customers across the state, as liquor stores and restaurants are gearing up for one of the busiest weekends of the year.
“For us, the timing is really brutal,” said Anthony Anton, president and CEO of the Washington Restaurant Association, who said some restaurants have been unable to get key ingredients for their most popular cocktails. “For a small-margin industry like ours, where every sale counts, that’s an issue.”
Dozens of “temporarily out of stock” signs dot the shelves of some state liquor stores, and store managers say they’re not sure when their complete product line will again be available.
State officials blame the difficulties on a glitch in a new software system that controls the movement of 18,000 cases of liquor a day through the state’s distribution center on East Marginal Way South in Seattle.
“We’re seeing significant improvements, but we’re physically not able to keep up with the volume of the orders,” said Brian Smith, a spokesman for the state Liquor Control Board.
Smith said shortly after the problem was detected June 8, the distribution center was filling only 65 percent to 70 percent of the orders it was receiving.
By Monday, the rate was up to more than 80 percent, he said.
The computer program, from Atlanta-based CDC Software, is the key to successful operation of a highly automated system in which cases of liquor are moved from shelves and sent along conveyors in time to be placed in trucks serving all 161 state-run and 154 contract liquor stores in the state.
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